Saddlebag Clamp Latch Failure

[jfbarron]

Hi Folks,

Has anyone here experienced a clamping latch failure for their BMW saddlebags? I would be interested in hearing about how it was dealt with.

I was riding the other day at about 70Km/H and hit a sharp bump in the road. Next thing I know, the right sadddlebag was sailing along beside me tumbling end over end.

The bag had 9 lbs of stuff in it, clothing and a knapsack. Good thing it happened close to home and not on a tour....

As you may imaging it looks beat up pretty badly. The clamping mechanism latch that holds it to the rack failed and snapped.

I am not sure if it is salvageable with plastic body filler and a new latch-if it is available.

Anybody have any thoughts or experience with this scenario?

[ASQTec]

Yeah, it has happened to a few of us with R's and RT's.

No matter what you hear, it has nothing to do with rider error in attaching the bag to the bike in most cases. Must be a twisting frame thing.
I use a ROK strap from one handle to the other. Someone will chime in shortly about a better fix.

[AirForceDirt]

The only sure-fire way of keeping your bags attatched, that will keep them on through the fires of hell, is to pin them. There are threads on the procedure around here somewhere. I would hazard a guess that the bags are desinged to break away, like for a crash or something, but I don't know what the benefit of that would really be. I've crashed my bike once, have ridden over some very nasty bumps and still haven't managed to dislodge a bag. Take comfort in the fact that you are not the only person this has happened to and there IS a solution to this problem.

I'm not sure you can repair the bag though, if the latch hook mechanism is broken off. You could try to fab a new hook and try to replace it, but I've never heard of anyone repairing the a broken bag. You might end up having to buy a new bag, or new inboard half, if you don't need the new lid.

[ebincia]

This has happened to me three times already. I pinned both bags...it will not happen again. If you pin the bags in place (thanks cyclerob) then the latch/clamp is unnecessary and does not need to be replaced. I have not had a latch on my left bag in over 20K miles and no problems.

[CycleRob]

The big safety pin installation restrains the bags so they do not move around to stress the latch mechanism. Here's the link:
http://r1150r.org/board/viewtopic.php?p=145251#p145251

[jfbarron]

Hi Guys,

Thanks for all the tips and advice.

The pinning solution looks like the plan of attack for me.

I didn't know that this situation was so common. Can't help but wonder if BMW is working on improvements on their newer saddlebag designs.

The latch looked like some cheap diecast piece that needs some heft to it. I'm going to dismantle the thing this coming weekend....

Thanks again!

[AirForceDirt]

I suppose for 95% of uses, and assuming road conditions aren't super poo, the design is adequate.