System case doesn’t line up with rubber block

[Rupster]

Hello All,

I just rescued a ‘95 R1100RS and the molded stabilizing slot on the leading edge of the left side System case is about 3.5 inches outboard of the rubber block on the trailing edge of the passenger foot peg bracket. (See photo) Not exactly close! Is there a replacement bracket that I can buy which steps outward to engage with the bag? 

[Rupster]

I’m considering drilling through the rubber block and the inner tang of the bag, and using a short length of small diameter allthread and some nuts and small fender washers to secure the bag to the footpeg bracket, standing it off at the appropriate distance. 

[Dave P]

My first guess is that the bike has the wrong left side bag. Maybe its an RT bag? Dave

[szurszewski]

1 hour ago, Rupster said:

I’m considering drilling through the rubber block and the inner tang of the bag, and using a short length of small diameter allthread and some nuts and small fender washers to secure the bag to the footpeg bracket, standing it off at the appropriate distance. 

 

Don’t do that. There is something not right here because that shouldn’t be happening. We need some pics from farther out for perspective. Either you have the wrong bag, you’re trying to mount it incorrectly or your brackets are not properly positioned. I’m sure someone here will be able to tell what’s going on with the right pics. 
 

 

7 minutes ago, Dave P said:

My first guess is that the bike has the wrong left side bag. Maybe its an RT bag? Dave

 

The mounts are all the same, but the higher exhaust bikes do have a different bag for the exhaust side. Is the bag hitting your exhaust?

 

Edit to add: I didn’t notice the very obvious exhaust - is that hitting the bag?

[9Mary7]

6 minutes ago, Dave P said:

My first guess is that the bike has the wrong left side bag

+1

[Michaelr11]

2 minutes ago, szurszewski said:

Either you have the wrong bag, you’re trying to mount it incorrectly or your brackets are not properly positioned

I’m more inclined to think that the hooks at the top attachment to the rack aren’t positioned properly.

[Lowndes]

The right saddlebag for R1100S.doc

42 minutes ago, Dave P said:

My first guess is that the bike has the wrong left side bag. Maybe its an RT bag? Dave

 +2.  Obviously.

 

The file above shows the compatible bags for different models, L&R.  The top mounts seem to be very similar on some models but the bottom mount can be way different, along with the muffler cut-out.

[Rupster]

Thanks all for the input. I’ll follow up with a   Zoomed-out photo. What I can tell you in the meantime is that 1) the bag is hanging correctly on the top rail and 2) if anything, the bag appears to be very generously cut out to provide clearance for an exhaust can, almost extravagantly. Which makes me wonder if this could instead be a case for a high exhaust bike, like a GS?  Very strange. 
 

some background: I bought the bike from a gentleman whose father owned it, and who bought a newer bike which he crashed and although he’s still with us, he suffered injuries which ended his riding career. The newer bike may well have been an RT, as in addition to two sets of hard cases, the son also gave me a seat which I later realized is for an RT. (Which I’ve put up for sale on ibmwr). I need to see if the left side case from the other pair mounts any differently from this set. More questions than answers at this point. I’ll post more hopefully tomorrow. Thanks again for the comments! 

[Rupster]

Oh and Dave P, no the exhaust is not fouling on the case. You mentioned the high exhaust bikes, I’ll bet that’s it; I didn’t mentally put it all together until now, but viewing the bags from the rear there is a certain ‘Mutt and Jeff’ quality of the pair. The RH case appears appropriately proportioned while the LH case is strangely distanced from the hanger rail. They’re keyed alike though! 

[szurszewski]

If you look at the attached file from @Lowndes you will see all the bags should fit your RS. If there is really a lot of cutout, you may have a left bag from a GS or R. In any case, any left bag should fit your bike (unless someone switched up the exhaust). 
 

Let’s see a pic of the bike from the rear with the bags. 

[Rupster]

Thanks @Lowndes for the file I’d overlooked until just now, thanks @szurszewski for pointing it out. Serves me right for trying to catch up on the thread at the last minute before going to sleep! Again, I’ll follow up with a couple pics after I get off work today. 

[Wayne Johnson]

looks like a right side pannier? compare the two to one another?

[Rupster]

Ok, I’m on my lunch break. Here are more pics. Btw I mentioned I was given two sets of cases with the RS,  but they are identical, so I have the same problem with way. 

[Rupster]

“Same problem either way” is what I meant to say.  Although I’m going to backtrack about the GS idea, now that I’m looking at the bag more critically,  the exhaust cutout does indeed appear to not really match the exhaust canister configuration of the RS. 

[Lowndes]

Rupster,

 

Seeing that they gave you two identical sets of cases that don't fit, maybe they gave you the wrong bike.

[szurszewski]

This is what your luggage should look like from the back 

 

[Rupster]

Lol @Lowndes It’s crazy, but I think I know what happened. The seller (The PO’s son) brought out the two sets of bags from his garage, and I asked him about the other set that I spotted way in the back of the garage and he told me,”oh, those go with my Dad’s other bike”, but in hindsight I’ll bet he had it backwards and that set may well be the ones for this bike. I’m pretty sure his dad did not ride 117k miles on this RS w/the wrong left case! Trouble is, he’s five hours away and was a little recalcitrant  (why I wasn’t more insistent about checking out those other bags) so I’m sure he wouldn’t be willing to do any shipping exchanges with the bags now. Plus I wasn’t aware that the bags could be different. At least I made sure I had a key for every bag he gave me! Oh well.

[Rupster]

Ah! That’s the ticket, @szurszewski!

[szurszewski]

Here is the “other left bag” that came with the plain R bikes and the GS

 

 

 

I thought (<—- note that this is speculation!) though you could mount the cutout bags on the other bikes with no problem. Which is to say, I thought all the mounting points were the same and only the exhaust itself caused an issue. 
 

If that’s correct, I wonder if your left bag mount has been bent in or somehow misinstalled?

 

I really really think - though it was a good number of years ago - you could swap the larger bag directly to the R and GS if you “simply” moved the exhaust down. 

[szurszewski]

@Rupster  What part of the world are you in? I’m sure someone will come along that actually knows what’s going on here, instead of just my guesses, but it’s also possible you’re close to a current board member who has an oil head you could compare with in person. 

 

Speaking of people who would know, I bet Tim or Mr. Kroeger could look at this and just tell us what’s wrong. @tallman ? @elkroeger ? Either of you around?

[Lowndes]

43 minutes ago, Rupster said:

Lol @Lowndes It’s crazy, but I think I know what happened. The seller (The PO’s son) brought out the two sets of bags from his garage, and I asked him about the other set that I spotted way in the back of the garage and he told me,”oh, those go with my Dad’s other bike”, but in hindsight I’ll bet he had it backwards and that set may well be the ones for this bike. I’m pretty sure his dad did not ride 117k miles on this RS w/the wrong left case! Trouble is, he’s five hours away and was a little recalcitrant  (why I wasn’t more insistent about checking out those other bags) so I’m sure he wouldn’t be willing to do any shipping exchanges with the bags now. Plus I wasn’t aware that the bags could be different. At least I made sure I had a key for every bag he gave me! Oh well.

Rupster,

 

That sounds very plausible, except recalcitrant or not, 5 hours aray or not, I'd contact him on the basis that he doesn't want to have the wrong bag for his "Dad's other bike." and might be willing to swap, maybe even meeting half way.  It would be cheaper than finding, buying, and shipping a new bag.  Won't cost much to ask.

 

As for the keys, I have a "Dukes mixture" of bags that came with several bikes as "the bags" or extras, plus a few I've bought extra.  On several bags I've removed the "pins" from the lock cylinder so that any key will open them.  That makes finding the right key easier.  And they still look "locked".  Thought I had an extra left side that might work for you but I don't.  Sorry.

[Rupster]

Thanks @Lowndes for checking! I may yet contact the guy and see what we can work out. I’ve also done a quick check on eBay as well.

 

[Rupster]

I’ve just bought a bag on eBay, it’s cheaper than my time, gas, mileage, and bummer quotient dealing with the bike seller. Thanks everyone for your input and guidance! I appreciate the warm welcome.

[Rupster]

In the meantime, can I interest anyone in some LH side cases? Just don’t store your rally snacks in them because my right-side key fits it too...

[Rupster]

1 hour ago, szurszewski said:

@Rupster  What part of the world are you in? I’m sure someone will come along that actually knows what’s going on here, instead of just my guesses, but it’s also possible you’re close to a current board member who has an oil head you could compare with in person. 

I’m in NE Illinois, a bit west of Antioch. 

[szurszewski]

3 hours ago, Rupster said:

I’ve just bought a bag on eBay, it’s cheaper than my time, gas, mileage, and bummer quotient dealing with the bike seller. Thanks everyone for your input and guidance! I appreciate the warm welcome.

Please do post up to let us know if it works when you get your hands on the “new” bag. 

[elkroeger]

Looks like it's already been decided, but yes, you have the wrong bag.

 

One thing that hasn't been mentioned is that you should have just one key that fits everything (ignition, seat, and both bags).  If you have two keys, well... you know what that means:  That the previous owner is very likely to have your bags, and perhaps no keys to fit them.  My guess is that he would be more amenable than you think, to have the correct set of bags for their remaining bike.  Sort it out and offer to send both sets back, if he'll send the correct set.  Or sell both sets on ebay and use the money to buy and ship the correct bags from the previous owner.

 

The light's not great, but here's a couple pics of my 1996 RSL.  You can see the front mounting tabs line up as they should, and there's no exhaust cut out.

 

I'm no expert in deciphering which bags you do have, but the higher exhaust on the GS makes that seem more plausible than an RT.

[Rupster]

Thanks, @elkroeger for the thoughtful response. I’d previously (naively) thought the cases were all the same, but now know, thanks to you all, that the LH cases aren’t. I honestly don’t know the rhyme or reason behind what the seller gave me of his dad’s, since I bought an 1100RS with bags for a GS or R, and spare seats for an RT. Best not to overthink it any further, I suppose! I’ll await my correct LH case and eBay the rest of my semi-inexplicable accessories cache. 

[Rupster]

Bag received today. Proper Palladian symmetry has been restored. 👍

 

Now it’s time to get her registered and hit the road! 
 

Thanks again, everyone! 

[Dave P]

Ha! and list that other left side bag for sale. Did you figure out what bike it's intended for? Dave

[Rupster]

Yep, the Left’s which I had, are for the R / Rockster / GS. 👍
 

[BABABeemer]

I had the same problem with my Rockster. I bought left and right bags on our classified section because they had the narrow city lids on them. The left didn’t fit because of the muffler so I just swapped the lid to my standard system case.

[MGB Guy]

Rupster, do you still have the left bag for an R1150R?

 

I got a great set of R1150RT system cases and then found out that the left side is different. Muffler clearance is not an issue as the prior owner installed a shorty slip on muffler.

 

The only issue with the bag is the lower mount and I can't find any way to make it fit.