Well I finally was able to get started on installing the new saddlebags I purchased a while back because my friend returned from Mississippi with his welders so I could borrow one to get started. It was a cold miserable day in old Arkansas had some freezing rain but I went and got the welder and plenty of scrap Stainless steel to do my mounting brackets.
I chose stainless steel because I have worked with it all my life and it is strong and totally rust free and polished up real good just like chrome. The only problem with this material is even though you can weld it with a stick welder and a wire welder the best, cleanest, and prettiest welding of this material is by tig welding which is why I had to wait to borrow this kind of welder.
I still have a ways to go but I took the time today to take pictures of my current progress and with a little luck I will get them all mounted tomorrow. so here goes with the first picture;
This a picture of the bottom side of the tail piece where your trunk mounts on. This what it looked like before I cut down the round part to allow for the mounting plate.
This is a picture of the same piece after I cut down the mounting plate of the tail piece. I cut it down with a cutting disk on my grinder but you could easily use a hack saw. I took 1/4" off which is the same thickness of the flat bar.
This is a picture of 2 pieces of flat bar 1/4" X 1" X 4" long with the holes drilled in and I also spot welded a small bushing on each to raise it high enough when mounted it would not rub the plastic side panel of the scooter.
This is a picture of one of the brackets I put on just to see if it fit properly and it was good.
This a picture of the new front mounting bracket with the tail piece bolted back on.
This is a picture of the new side pieces to bolt on the saddlebags. This is 5'8" SS round rod and the bolt up plates are made of 1/4" X 2" SS flat bar. I have already welded them in place.
This is a picture of one of the new mounts put on the saddlebag.
Tomorrow I am going to make my back mounts which will bolt on under the tail piece and the other support rods. The real issue is getting it all straight, square and in line with the scooter. Then it will be a matter of welding it all up and giving it a good polishing. I will be posting more pictures of the whole process tomorrow and I have hopes of finishing too except maybe wiring the lights.
I also forgot to mention that when I put the front mounting bracket on with the tail piece I used longer bolts along with flat and lock washers. The bolts used were 8mm X1.25 X 1 1/2 ".
Ok Guys maybe I've got things worked out, had to go on the phone with HP to solve some computer problems and hopefully all is well. It was a better day for working on the scooter at least the sun was shining today; Ok here is the next picture;
After making the front bolt mounting brackets I cut 2 pieces of SS angle for the back mounting brackets and drilled the holes. The angle is 2" X 2" X 1/4" and 1 1/2" long.
This is where the 2 pieces of angle will bolt up which is under the tail piece that your trunk mounts on. I used the two back holes and also used 2 longer bolts than the original ones.
This is a photo of the back cross piece that I made out of the same round rod that the saddlebag brackets were made of. As you can see it goes right under the angle pieces that are bolted up under the wing.
This is another view of the same piece.
This is a view of my 4 ft level that along with a square I used to get everything the same heights and straight with the scooter. At this point I have bolted the saddlebags on the sides and put the trunk on temporarally to make sure the bag lids clear the trunk and all is straight. Also I am having to be careful with all because the entire mounting system is just tacked together and has not been totally welded out.
This a photo of the mounts removed and I have welded it up and polished all the welds and with a green industrial cleaning pad have polished it up real smooth and clean. With SS you can make it look real shiny and pretty especially with some good chrome polish.
This is a finished view.
Another view of the finished job. Tomorrow I plan on taking my good camera and taking some good close ups of the saddlebags and sharing them with all.
Another view.
I thought it might be good to show some of the common tools that fabricators use to make things like this a little easier, squares, 4 ft. level, vise grip pliers and c-clamps and a good 4" grinder not shown is almost a must with cutting blades for stainlees. I have a small chop saw that I can cut angles with because all the joints on these brackets are mitered together by cutting 45 degree angles for a pretty fit. Of course you need a good tig welding machine.
Here is a list of materials and it didn't take much, I mentioned that I used 5/8" round rod< iwas in error it was 3/4" instead.
Appx 5ft. 3/4" ss round rod
8" of 2"x 1/4" SS flat bar
8" of 1" X 1/4" SS flat bar
4" od 2" X 2" X 1/4" SS Angle
4- longer bolts 10mm X 1 1/2"
Now new Stainless Steel is expensive but it's not as hard to get and you might think. All food industry plants are required to use SS metal for food contact becasue it won't rust and is easily cleaned of bacteria so if you are anywhere near a type of prepared food processing plant and have a buddy who works there you can probably get this small amount easily and in my case I have been around poultry plants all my life and I got all this scrap stainless for free!! The cost I have in these mounts is about $10 worth of gas to go get my friends welder. A person could easily used other material instead of round rod, thin wall tubing would be great. You could also use black iron but will have to paint it and I hate painting. I would like to also add that this entire mounting bracket weighed 10 lbs. If you live around a salvage metal yard they could easily have scrap stainless.
Before I close I want to add one warning of EXTREME CAUTION on tig welding on your scooter. Naturally I had to clamp these pieces together, line them up and then I took my welder and tacked it all together and took it off to finish welding it and polishing it. When you put the ground cable on the welder to the metal that is to be welded while bolted to your scooter ALWAYS UNHOOK the battery both leads. Tig welders weld by reverse polarity which means that the current that goes through the ground clamp is POSITIVE voltage which ain't good on rectifiers and batteries. Even on an automobile if the battery is not unhooked you will burn up the alternator, learned this the hard way several years ago. Always REMEMBER THIS.
One last note when you look at these saddlebags you might think boy if I have to remove the side panels to work on my scooter, look at all the junk I have to unbolt to get out of the way. NOT SO, if you take off the 3 bolts that hold the tail piece on the whole system will come off attached, tail piece, trunk and saddlebags, just a little heavy and bulky but easy to remove. All I like is the lights and I am going to hook them up to the brake light. They come with 3W wedge bulbs but I have already replaced them with LED's. thinking about finding some very small amber lights and putting them on for blinkers. Hope this helps JR
shop.vendio.com/evan2002/category/6077/This is the website where I bought them, shipping and all $129.50 and they came in 4 days. When they arrived one of the hinge lens covers had been damamged in shipping, sent them an email and picture and they sent me a new cover in 3 days so guys these people are good tp deal with. They also have different sytle and colors of saddlebags and also have an assortment of trunks. The brackets that are with these bags will not work with the 250-B scooter.
Just about got them done in fact have one side finished and took pictures of the process and show all;
This is a photo of the materials I used besides the 16ga. wiring, male and female end connectors, spiral wrap, rubber gromets, and small heat shrink. Other items needed are soldier and small wire ties.
This is just a sample of the spiral wrap, I hate loose wires everywhere and don't like to have to tape and tape so the spiral wrap, fast and makes it all look neat and will give protection to the wires. Can get it at auto parts or Wally World.
This one of the rubber grommets that I installed after drilling a 1/2" hole, after inserting it, the ID of the hole is 3/8" and the wires went in nice and snug after putting on the spiral wrap. You can also get these in different sizes and at the auto parts.
This is a photo of the wires coming in the side and hooking up to the wires to the light with male and female connectors and my purpose here was if for some reason you need to take the saddlebag off then just unplug it.
This a photo of the 1/4" rug that I cut to line the bottom. I bought a brand new welcome foot wiping floor mat on clearance from the Dollar store for $2 and just cut it to fit. It gives the saddlebag a little padded cushion and also covers up the loose wires.
As I stated before I did put extra wires in the system for later when I add the tail light and the blinkers.
This is a picture of the wires going from the bags to inside the scooter to be hooked up and as you can see or should I say hardly see they are nearly unnoticeable. I did not have to drill any holes in the panels or sides at all they ran on the bottom of the round rod and there was enough room for them to go in where the bracket bolts on! I put two little wire ties to hold them in place and done! JR
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..BAD TO THE BONE..
