Side Cases Flying Off?

[canucklehead-biker]

*edit to remove stupid poll questions*

Ever since my adventure with side case surgery Click Here!!, I've been wondering how many folks have lost a side case in transit, and whether or not they can all be attributed to pilot error. Given what we know about the locking mechanism and how it can skip teeth (which renders the bag susceptible to taking flight), how many people have actually lost one?

Please vote in the above poll, I'd like to get some data. If the bag can fly off without warning and without pilot error as a contributing factor, maybe it's time to log an incident report with the NHTSA (US bikes), Transport Canada (Canadian bikes), or whatever organization looks into potential safety issues in your particular geographic region.

Post up folks... Enquiring minds wanna know!

Griff

 

[fastpappy]

I've never had one come off as yet but I did have one pop open as I was rounding a curve and ground the the top a bit. I'm not really sure if I didn't have it properly closed or not though I thought I did. Bummer. :angry:

 

[Fred W]

I heard it could happen, so I pinned mine. They couldn't fly off now.

 

[frayne]

Drilled and pinned mine as well.

 

[Geezer]

Never happed to me. I do check the bags carefully and pull on them in every direction every time I put them on to make sure they are on correctly.

I have had the lock screws come out and almost lost a lock. I found one lock very loose and the other out of the socket and sitting on top of the bag.

 

[petey]

Never happed to me. I do check the bags carefully and pull on them in every direction every time I put them on to make sure they are on correctly.

What Geezer said...

 

[bigblue]

It did happen to me :blink: I'm pretty sure I locked it down properly. Man it is turning out to be real pain in the a_ _ :dribble: to find a replacement, 2005 right side. Cost for a new one is crazy. Once I finally come across a replacement I'm going to pin them both down. Can't stand riding bagless.

 

[FastJoyRide]

On the way home from CFR this year I found the right side bag had spun several lock screws almost out and the tab was sitting beside the hole not in it. Tightened and locktited both sides and drilled and pinned them as soon as I got home. I could have sworn I had already locktited the screws but that must have been on my '04.

 

[beemerdons]

Never happed to me. I do check the bags carefully and pull on them in every direction every time I put them on to make sure they are on correctly.

What Geezer said...

I'm with Geezer and Petey, it's never happened to me. But, Gregory and I were riding with ShinyPartsUp on a twisty and bumpy road at WFO and we saw SPU's right saddlebag launch itself off his bike!

 

[kaitsdad]

Drilled and pinned mine as well.

Gunny that. Thanks, Toe !

 

[wheatonFJR]

When I got my replacement FJR that already had 22k miles on it, griff helped me check those screws...sure enough NO LOCTITE. ...and easy peasy to unscrew and apply loctite to.

 

[rogdeb]

Drilled and pinned mine as well.

Gunny that. Thanks, Toe !

Add me to that one.

BUT -- before I did that, I rolled up my son's sloped driveway from the sidewalk too quickly one day. Suspension compressed and released and I heard a loud cracking sound !! Got off the bike and found the right case had popped off the rubber mount at the rear. The plastic tabs on the case bottom were sitting atop the rubber mount and the case was jammed real tight. I can imagine in a worse scenario it might have been lost. I pinned them that afternoon.

Latch screws have been loctited since first week of ownership.

 

[canucklehead-biker]

I'm pinning mine this weekend (and checking the Loctite again).

The point of the post is that it is possible to mount the bag correctly and still have it come off because the internal mechanism isn't doing it's job. Curious how many have actually gone airborne.

I know of a few, and I nearly lost one of mine. Just curious ...

Griff

 

[MCML]

Yes, twice, but file in Missing Category - "Yes, but due to other laws of physics"

Screws Loctite'd

Pins purchased but not yet installed

 

[canucklehead-biker]

Yes, twice, but file in Missing Category - "Yes, but due to other laws of physics"Screws Loctite'd

Pins purchased but not yet installed

Which "other law of physics" are we talking about?

 

[beemerdons]

Yes, twice, but file in Missing Category - "Yes, but due to other laws of physics"Screws Loctite'd

Pins purchased but not yet installed

Which "other law of physics" are we talking about?

Oh Boy Griff, you have got some real guts / balls to ask Joseph this on a Friday. Buckle up and hang on tight!!!

 

[FjrVfr]

Drilled and pinned mine as well.

Gunny that. Thanks, Toe !

I owes the Toe as well.

 

[wheatonFJR]

So...there are 4 so far...out of thousands of owners.

...and what percentage is operator error is unknown in this scientific survey...as the "self reporting" has no easy external vetting process.

 

[MCML]

Which "other law of physics" are we talking about?

Not sure, Chuy, how this one turns in a dog pile but perhaps I am a bit naive.

I have had my port-side saddlebag go flying.....twice. The first time was on Tioga Pass Road when a fellow on a Harley, Vito was his name, decided that, rather than rear-end the automobile directly in front of him, he would come across a double yellow and take his chances with an oncoming line of FJRs. Couldn't go right - cliff downhill. Couldn't go left - cliff wall. Two moving targets. Vito was swerving quite a bit, as a result of his aborted panicked stop, as he came at us and, eventually, his "engine guard" smacked into my case. Good news is, if he'd hit three to six inches closer to the front of the FJR either my left leg or, my pillion's, would likely have been severed at the knee. Best news is that nobody got hurt. The bag rode home with me held on by a bungee net that MM2 just happened to be carrying with him. Still grateful for that.

Second time my bag went flying was when I crashed on the Dalton. My fault entirely. Lack of gravel skills/muscle memory/proper reactions. Failing to clean the dust off my visor likely contributed, too. Ripped my mirror, driver's peg, saddle bag, muffler bracket and muffler off the port side. Fortunately, the clutch lever was merely cracked and bent but was serviceable. That bag was left in a dumpster at the Arctic Caribou Inn after having been transported the fifteen remaining miles to Prudhoe Bay by one of the ubiquitous pipeline security guards who came along in his pickup truck about three minutes after I hit the gravel. Nice fellow, as were the folks at the welding shop.

The Loctite did not help nor, I think, would have safety clevis pins. Heck, maybe there's even a case to be made for breakaway saddle bags!