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.
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.
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