[fed4life]

I love my 2005 Vegas and it wasn't really in the funds to buy a Cross Country at this point so I decided to turn my Vegas into a bagger. My only problem with doing this was that all the bags i saw out there that were direct bolt on, whether they were soft or hard bags looked silly to me. Mainly due to the stock exhaust, if you have stock exhaust. All the bags i saw out there looked like peanuts attached to the rear fender and didn't offer much storage, i also thought they looked hokey and cheap. I loved the way XC hard bags looked and wished there was a way to put them on my Vegas and look good.

Enter Witchdoctor and his custom brackets! Basically you need to put a Kingpin rear fender on, buy his brackets, buy some XC hard saddlebags, paint and install and there you have it.

What follows are some pics of me doing the mock up, what i found to be easy/hard with the installation and mock up. I will also add some do' and don't's and some things i found i also needed to buy to finish the project(isn't there always hidden costs!). I will also try to provide you with the costs involved. I know there are others like me that want to do the same and feel the same about the choices of bags out there.

So here it goes.....

I apologize for the two upside down pics, they are saved right side up but for some reason they show up side down here.

What you see in the first pic is all the tins taken off the bike, i figured if i have to get the bags and fender painted i might as well get all the rest of the tins painted as well.

The second pic is the Kingpin fender and Vegas fender side by side. The Kingpin fender bolts right on to the frame with no mods, however, the Vegas taillight DOES NOT work with the Kingpin fender. The plastic backing is different and mounts differently. I ended up going with the LED Kingpin light from VictoryOnly.com but you can get that a number of places. FYI, if you have an 05-08 Vegas/Kingpin you will also need to buy the LED converter which is another $80.

The third pic is the Kingpin fender mounted on the bike with the Witchdoctors XC saddlebag bracket installed. Its really very simple to do. They provide you with a template for the 2 holes to drill and that's it. Be advised that these brackets are custom made and may not be an exact perfect fit, i had to widen some holes i drilled to make them fit but nothing to serious.

The last pic here that is also up side down is with the bag installed and how it kinda will look.

Im going to write another post right after this since this site will only let me post 4 pics at a time. The next post will have the completed pics(taken today) and the breakdown of costs, do's and dont's, etc.

 

[blkb3tty]

Keep us posted. I want to do the EXACT same mods to my 2012 Vegas. Like you, buying a Cross Country wasn't in the cards when I purchased my bike.


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[fed4life]

So here are the pics with everything painted, installed and road tested.

I ended up getting the Kingpin fender off Ebay for $180 in black. Lesson i learned here is if you can, buy a fender that comes with its taillight, even if its a few more bucks, it will save you more down the road unless you want to buy the nice LED aftermarket one.

The taillight with converter was $250.

Witchdoctor parts: XC brackets $300, 4 rubber pads at $13 a piece, turn signal fillers $40(i think), and Kingpin rear fender inside liner $40.

Cross Country Hard Saddlebags: $930 delivered to my door. The only problem with this and what i found to be very frustrating was that the bags DO NOT come with locks and keys. To add insult Victory no longer sells just the locks and keys anymore. You now have to buy a kit which includes the locks, keys, ignition and gas cap which came out to be $250. So all said and done the bags were close to $1200!!!

The next item i did was the lay down plate and bracket. Here i went with the Arlen Ness plate adapter for $30. I bought a used Kyurykan(spelled wrong) curved plate mount on Ebay for $45. The plate frame was the tricky and expensive part. The plate frame i got from Custom Dynamics. It has plate lights, turn signals and brake lights built into the plate frame itself and looks sweet. This cost me $130. You have to do some kind of aftermarket thing with the turn signals as the stock Kingpin turn signals will no longer work with the XC bags in there way.

I ended up going with the original color on 2005 which was called Solar Red, this is different then the current Sunset Red they have out now. I ordered a quart for $95.

To paint the whole bike, i.e front and rear fender, tank, side covers, saddlebags and Memphis Shades Batwing fairing: $900.

Total it came out to be $3270. My original intent was to keep it under $2300 but as you can see things add up. There are cheaper ways to do it too. Like if you have a black bike already you can get the bags and Kingpin fender in black, or if you already have a Kingpin then you can avoid that all together. I think you guys get the hint!

Anyways, im very happy with the way it came out and looks. I took it for its first ride this morning and it was nice not having to wear a backpack.

Again i don't know why two of the pics are coming up as up side down when i know they weren't saved this way...may a moderator can help me with this???

 

[fed4life]

...and a few more...

 

[fed4life]

Keep us posted. I want to do the EXACT same mods to my 2012 Vegas. Like you, buying a Cross Country wasn't in the cards when I purchased my bike.


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Hey blkb3tty, your in O'side, im in Encinitas! If you wana meet up to check out my bike i can give you a better run down of what to do and what not to do. You have a newer bike so it wont cost you as much as mine did, unless you wana go with a custom color.

 

[Bladesracing]

That looks great!! Nice work.


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[blkb3tty]

Hey blkb3tty, your in O'side, im in Encinitas! If you wana meet up to check out my bike i can give you a better run down...

Yes, Let's meet up sometime. I'd like to see how the Kingpin rear fender matched up with the Cross Country saddlebags.cheers

 

[gamuddawg151]

Bada$$thumb up

 

[BBob]

Most excellent!!

 

[DirtyDan]

Nice work, looks great!

 

[N8rfastback]

That is awesome!

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[mistaneon]

I notice cross country's have dual disc in the front. Have you considered the extra weight and stopping power needed?


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[half_crazy]

I notice cross country's have dual disc in the front. Have you considered the extra weight and stopping power needed?

Stopping potential is limited by the traction available at the front tire. If your front brake will lock your front wheel, you have all the stopping power you can use. What 2 discs up front gives you is resistance to heat fade. Unless you made several hard stops in a row, you will not notice the difference between 1 disc and 2... maybe a little less effort at the lever...

 

[Krisd]

...and a few more...

Looks awesome man- really great colour, and I seriously dig the 1/2 nose cone part, as opposed to the full nose fairing- looks totally wicked. Nicely done man!

 

[moosehead]

looks good, nice work!

 

[KingpinRider]

Cross Country Hard Saddlebags: $930 delivered to my door. The only problem with this and what i found to be very frustrating was that the bags DO NOT come with locks and keys. To add insult Victory no longer sells just the locks and keys anymore. You now have to buy a kit which includes the locks, keys, ignition and gas cap which came out to be $250. So all said and done the bags were close to $1200!!!

Total it came out to be $3270. My original intent was to keep it under $2300 but as you can see things add up. There are cheaper ways to do it too. Like if you have a black bike already you can get the bags and Kingpin fender in black, or if you already have a Kingpin then you can avoid that all together. I think you guys get the hint!

Very nice looking conversion on your Vegas! I have a black Kingpin to start with. Looks like one might need the slash exhaust to have clearance for the XC bags though ($$$). Brackets and bags would only come to $1500.

 

[paullyo]

OMFG you sir are my hero! as I have been racking my brain trying to figure out how I'm going to do it. Didn't think the cc bags would look that good but I am blown away now I have a lot better idea how im going to do mine. I too have a vegas that I would like to turn into a bagger but have it lock on or some sort of easy lock n ride. I will have a little more home work as I would like my bags narrow to match the back tire to keep the narrow look and a little lower like about even with the bottom of the back pulley or so and to mach a fender to fit the bags itll be like Jesse James nothing a lot of money and time wont fix lol. But thank you for restoring my faith of what seemed impossible. and a really great job WELL DONE!!

 

[Dieciha]

I'm doing this to my Vegas, found a pair of bags with locks off ebay for $850 too my door and kingpin fender for $170. Need to order WD bracket.

 

[fed4life]

I'm doing this to my Vegas, found a pair of bags with locks off ebay for $850 too my door and kingpin fender for $170. Need to order WD bracket.

$850 for bags WITH locks is a score...keep in mind that your taillight off your Vegas will not work on the Kingpin fender. I suggest spending a few extra bucks and getting the upgraded LED one. Also when you order the brackets don't forget to order the turn signal filler and 4 rubber pads that the bags rest on. Keep in mind as well that you have to figure what you are gonna do for turn signals, there is a 100 different ways to do it, just depends on how much money you want to spend.

 

[fed4life]

Very nice looking conversion on your Vegas! I have a black Kingpin to start with. Looks like one might need the slash exhaust to have clearance for the XC bags though ($$$). Brackets and bags would only come to $1500.

The stock exhaust will NOT work with this set up. The RPW slash works great as the curves flow with the curves at the bottom of the bag. Of course there are other companies that have a slash style exhaust that will work too. I think Hacker exhaust makes a true dual exhaust for the Vegas that will work with the conversion that will give you that dual tail pipe look at the back of the bags.