Hard Bag Chaps, Make 'Em Yourself

Thanks to Mark "Dutch"Haaland for his photos, descriptions and reverse engineering efforts

You have a beautiful set of hard bags on your bike and every time your passenger climbs aboard they hit the bag with a boot and now you have another mark or, worse, a scratch. You need to protect the top of your bags.

And the solution?

There are a few options commercially available ranging from Kawasaki's own Fire & Steel bag protector bars (see them and installation instructions here) to less expensive (and less beefy) bars from J.C. Whitney, Cobra and maybe others. You can also attach fender bibs from Mustang Seats to your bags which will look pretty good but may not provide as much protection as you want.

Here's the "complete protection" option you can make yourself if you have a sewing machine or can borrow one from a neighbor.

What you'll need

• Vinyl or leather, enough to cover the top of both bags as shown in the photos below
• Edging made of same or similar material
• Sew on type Velcro
• Strap as shown
• Buckles as shown

How To Do It

• 
  
  This is the pattern you can use to make fender chaps from your choice of materials
• 
  
  Chap then lays over the top of the bag protecting from scuffs
• 
  
  Strap fastened to rear of chap ties to the bottom
• 
  
  Here is the top view as cut from the pattern
• 
  
  Top rear of chap showing strap and buckle
• 
  
  Same as previous picture except shown from the side. Note how strap is looped through buckle then sewn to chap
• 
  
  Felt wrapped around front end of chap to protect bag
• 
  
  Photo shows stitching on top of bag holding Velcro on back
• 
  
  Felt applied to front of chap
• 
  
  Front of chap looped over as it would be on dresser bar
• 
  
  Click Here to open the full image in a new window for printing.
• 
  
  Velcro looped under bar holds chap in place
• 
  
  Another shot of felt cover at rear of chap that shows thin plastic insert designed to protect bags
• 
  
  "Hook" (stiffer) side of Velcro sewn here
• 
  
  Photo shows edging. It is 1"wide folded over and sewn to cover 1/2"on the front and rear
• 
  
  The plastic buckle on the back of the chaps.
• 
  
  This side of the strap has felt on it to protect the bags.
• 
  
  The plastic buckle on the back of the chaps.
• 
  
  The strap goes into this buckle.
• 
  
  Once through, push it together and the velcro will hold it in place.
• 
  
  This is showing rear of the chaps and strap.
• 
  
  Another shot of the strap. The nylon cord ties around the mount at the bottom of the bag.