Rode my XR today and when I got back I noticed bug guts all over the right side saddlebag bar. Sitting on the garage floor and started cleaning and noticed a huge gap at the front (toward drivers seat) of the bag! I can about stick my finger into the bag. Looked at the left side bag and it is pretty snug but not great. The rubber seal looks fine so I don't know why the gap is there but it is big enough that alot of water could come in there if I was riding in the rain. Is there anyway to adjust the bags? The bag or the lid may also not be made right so if that is the case I have to take a 2 hour ride up the road to get my dealer to fix or maybe even replace the bag.
I took a picture of the problem, the first is the right bag with the large gap and the second is the left bag with a little better fit.DSCN1469.jpg
Many of us have complained about the lack of tightness in the hard bags, but that's certainly the worst I've seen.
The only adjustment seems to be putting a dowel inside the rubber tube thingy by the lock, but that's not a major adjustment. Are the hinge bolts all still in, and tight?
I checked all the bolts when I noticed the gap and they are all tight. The bag with the biggest gap has also been the most loose one as well where the lid seems to have a lot of movement to it. Putting a dow in the foam peice at the lock does not help because it actually raised the bag up more. After posting this I messed around my garage and found some door seal tape I had lying around and put a small section where the corner of the lid is and that helped, may pick up some thicker door seal tape and try that. I also looked at the back corner of the lids and noticed that the bag with the front corner gap problem is pretty snug on the back but the other bag that was good up front has a bigger gap in the back corner. If there was a way to mess with the hinges where you could move the lid around would help but looks like that is not an option. I will stick with the door seal tape for now since I don't plan on riding in the rain any time soon. I am not even sure the dealer can do anything about it and getting new bags may be like pulling teeth and who's to say if the new ones won't have the same problem.
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2011 Cross Roads Sunset Red
OEM short windshield, passenger backrest, crash bars, saddle bag bars, heated grips, vinyl closeouts. WD lay down licence plate.
Actually, mine looks similar -- not as bad, but somewhat similar. I just went out to the garage, to look up, from sitting on the ground, underneath that area. I put a flashlight in the corner, inside the bag, aiming up, and turned off the garage light. I couldn't see any light from inside the bag.
Mind you, the inside of my bags gets filthy from dust, so it's definitely a poor design, or implementation, or both. (Haven't had a problem with water getting in, but I haven't done much riding in the rain, either.)
You have a big flashlight you can put inside, and a dark garage, so you can do this test? And are you sure that you've clicked the bag lid closed -- I mean, can you pull on the outside latch, and not have the lid open?
Yeah, I did the flashlight test before I started this post. On my left side bag I could see just a small bit of light but the right side let out alot more light. I've had this bike for 7 weeks now and never noticed the gap and wouldn't have had I not been sitting down next to the bike. If I had to guess I am probably not the only one with gaps at the front corner big enough to stick your finger into, just most have not looked up to notice it. Normal rain will not get in but I figured riding down the interstate in the rain would. The door sealing tape has snugged it up some so it is up in the air if I take it to the dealer or not, just wish Victory would have done a better job since these same bags go on the full blown CCT's as well.
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2011 Cross Roads Sunset Red
OEM short windshield, passenger backrest, crash bars, saddle bag bars, heated grips, vinyl closeouts. WD lay down licence plate.
Have you removed the bags at any point? If so it could be from binding when you reinstalled them, it could be from the dealer installing them as well. The bags have some flex in the material, if you force them or don't take some care in mounting them they twist up and won't fit nicely. Try removing the pins that hold it in place and moving them around a little until the pins go in smoothly and you should see those gaps line up a lot better.
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2013 Victory Judge
Stage 1 Tri Pro
Bar End Mirrors
Lock and Ride back rest for the OL.
Removed all the stickers.
You paid too much money for this bike take it back and have the dealer look after, this is not acceptable.
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Blue 2011 Cross Country, hard lowers and trunk, Ipod in lowers, HID and saddle bag bars, stage 1, heel shifter, front and back chrome fender guards,Garmin GPS, fairing wind deflectors, heated Gerbing hook up, Dain skull brake pedal, rear brake master and reservoir cover, custom cheese wedge cover, clutch cover, Witchdoctor cam covers, Wolo Bad Boy horn, heated grips and seat.
Have you removed the bags at any point? If so it could be from binding when you reinstalled them, it could be from the dealer installing them as well. The bags have some flex in the material, if you force them or don't take some care in mounting them they twist up and won't fit nicely. Try removing the pins that hold it in place and moving them around a little until the pins go in smoothly and you should see those gaps line up a lot better.
Took your advise and took the bags off and the gap is still the same. Put the bags back and still there. Everybody ought to check the front of their bags and see how much of a gap you have, I might not be the only one because it is something you really don't notice unless your looking at the bag from underneath. This is the downside to buying a motorcycle where the closest dealer is 2 hours away, a pain to have to take it in for these kind of things.
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2011 Cross Roads Sunset Red
OEM short windshield, passenger backrest, crash bars, saddle bag bars, heated grips, vinyl closeouts. WD lay down licence plate.
Tried searching the web for more problems like this and found a youtube video from somebody in my neck of the woods and one from another Victory website.
I have a 2012 XCT and the inside of the bags always have a thick layer of dust in them. Initially I thought this was going to be a huge problem as I expected them to fill with water in the rain. I have ridden in some hard rains and things seem to stay dry. So I've just lived with the dust problem. I bag everything before putting it in a saddle bag on this bike. I've never had such a dust issue on any of the several sets of hard bags I've had. I hope Victory does something about this issue before its time to make a decision on my next bike.
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2012 Cross Country Tour
2008 Royal Star Venture
saddlebag lid problem
2010 Victory Cross Roads
2012 Victory Judge
Linear Mode
