| Author | Message | ||
     Mrmoen |
does anyone have the uly pannier set from happy trails? or any first hand experience with them, i am wondering how well the lid seals and what kind of quality they are, thanks in advance | ||
| Florida_lime |
http://www.badweatherbikers.com/buell/messages/142 838/482522.html?1249491813 Check with Chas1969 -- might be Happy Trails in his pictures. | ||
| Chas1969 |
I like very much, HT are from Boise ID and are pretty good getting orders filled (sometimes very busy- spring). The most important is the racks they make are very tuff and relative easy to install. The mounting pucks and the template you need to make will take some patients ... measure and re-measure takes some time so the holes all line-up ... the same for touratechs or other alumin-boxes. Top-loading hard cases make the bike very practical and easy ... highest utility score =  No photos available but on ADVrider I had a couple under Uly photos. Chas | ||
| Flynuly |
No leaks, no drips, nothing broken, would buy them again! HT had great customer service in 06   | ||
| Od_cleaver |
I put a set on my '07 in '07. The Happy Trails frame took a fair amount of reshaping to get it to fit. Fair hell, it took a lot of reshaping to get it to fit. The bags never leaked. I took a 20 mph spill this spring on a road that went from hard pack gravel to wet goose poo without warning. I saw the rain, but not the change in road surface. The county sheriff called it bentonite. The lower left front corner of the bag dug into the mud road surface until it found something hard to bite into. As the bag frame tore loose, it broke the Uly's tail section (left side and center). The bags remained attached to the bag frame. Nothing spilled out of the bags. The Natrona County deputy sheriffs are top notch. They loaded the Uly on one of their pickups and hauled it 10 miles to the paved road. They also helped me make some temporary repairs so that I could drive the Uly to Casper, WY. Deluxe H-D Buell of Casper had me back on the road in 3 days. I now have stock Buell bags on the bike. I believe that the rounded edge of these bags would not have dug into the road but if they did, the bag would have ripped off before the tail section broke. BTW, I walked away muddy, wet and cold, but unhurt. I would pass on the Happy Trails. | ||
| Mrmoen |
the main thing i am worried about is how waterproof they are, i love the top loading design also, minimizes dumping stuff all over the side of the road | ||
| Nutsosane |
I just installed a set on my BMW. Spend the $90 and get 'em powdercoated. Mine are bare aluminum and oxidize off, so I had to paint the inside. However, the boxes are strong, watertight, well built and the hinge design is well thought. I was able to sell my stock boxes and replace them with the Happy-Trail panniers. Only having to offset the cost of the $150 rack. Free shipping is nice! Tim at HT is great to work with too. Now, who has the pic in front of the Texas Tavern in Roanoke? I've been here 4.5 years and have yet to get a "bowl with and western cheezy" NUTS | ||
| Flynuly |
That's me. Photo was taken during the Cape Fear 1000; it's a bonus location that I must get back to. Did not have time to enjoy the food after circling the block several times trying to find the correct location.  Then the cops showed up as I was parking on the sidewalk out front but they were just there for the food . On topic. I have never had any leaks with the happy trails bags and I have ridden during some serious rain storms from NH to FL and as far west as KS. Did a afternoon frog strangler near Miami couple years ago and everything inside stayed dry. Dang tolls were every ten feet I swear. | ||
| Vwsinner |
I have a set of Caribou cases on my 06 Uly. Water tight, made by Pelican, and tough as rail spikes. They also have automatic pressure relief valves, not sure I would ever need those, but they have em. The nice thing is I'm sure they would come off the framework in a crash like you had Od_cleaver. Anyway, just a thought for anybody else looking for luggage unlike the OEM XT style. | ||
| Rivrunr |
Had a set of happy trail bags on my BMW GS, loved them. Ordered a set for my 09 uly boxes are great brackets sucked. I had the boxes pre drilled to fit the bracket where the holes were drilled prevented the rear passenger pegs from folding up. The long and short of it in my opinion buy the boxes,drill your own holes in the boxes to mount them to whatever bracket you choose, even get ht mounting pucks but don't buy their brackets until the quality of their brackets improves. If the pix of the brackets I received from ht upload you see how far off the two brackets are, they should mirror each other. Just my opinion.   | ||
| Mrmoen |
what other brackets are available? | ||
| Wbrisett |
If you have the stock Buell bags (and it sounds like you do), you might consider the Hepco & Becker Gobi bags. They fit directly on the stock frames, they are water tight, and they look great on the Uly. There are two downsides. First, while on the bike, you won't be able to put up the passenger footpegs. They dip just low enough that they block them from going up. Second, are smaller in size than the stock Journey bags. People think they are large until they open them. Because they are double walled, they loose some space. The flip side is you can buy a spigot for them and they hold 2.5 litres of water each (water is held between the double walls). You can see photos on my bike in this thread: http://www.badweatherbikers.com/buell/messages/142 838/454203.html Wayne | ||
| Prowler |
I also have a set of Pelican Cases mounted on the Hepco (Buell Uly) mounting brackets. Didn't take a lot of fabricating to make them fit, and they are about as bomb proof as you can get, not to mention a lot narrower than the Hepco bags......and cheaper by mucho $$$$..... | ||
| Mrmoen |
i dont have factory bags so i would have to buy a set of brackets, the gobi bags do look good, the 40l xplorer bags look quite nice too | ||
| Mrmoen |
how much room is there for the passengers feet with the gobi bags? | ||
| Wbrisett |
how much room is there for the passengers feet with the gobi bags? I've asked my daughter who rides with me and she claims there isn't a difference between when the journey bags are on the bike and when the gobi bags are on the bike. My wife did ride with me recently (a rare thing since she has her own bike -- the red BMW you see in the photos), and didn't mention anything either. So, I can only go by that. However, without the frame, it's probably going to be too costly to even consider the gobi bags. Wayne | ||
| Hungry_j0e |
Rivrunr (or anyone else who can help me...) Given the problems with the Happy Trail SU mounts, can you mount the Happy Trail bags to Fehling side mounts? Seems like that might save a few bucks to boot... Cheers, - HJ |
