| Author | Message | ||
     Miibradley |
Just ordered a set of Happy Trails panniers for my Uly. They said give them a couple weeks to build them and the rack before they send it out. IS this normal? | ||
| Uly_dude |
In this new world of JIT(just in time)inventory, yes, it is more and more common. | ||
| Hangetsu |
Happy Trails was and I assume, still is a very small outfit. I believe they build everything in-house - no mass production. Their stuff is way cool and very high quality. I would have gone with them had I known about them before I bought Touratech. The Happy Trail top case is still on my wish list though. | ||
| Redshiftquasars |
Love mine. Plenty of room and not overly huge.  | ||
| Idaho_buelly |
Their shop is just a few miles from my house..The owner "Tim" is a "Top Notch guy!"  | ||
| Miibradley |
Wasn't sure how they would look on the bike, great picture Red Shift. HT only has a view from the rear to show how wide they are. My wife is waiting on these things more than me. This way we can finally go to Salzburg. I told her we would only go on the bike, no trains or cars. | ||
| Uly_dude |
Hey Redshift, what is that top case rack I see on your bike? Is that a stock one, modified? Or am I just seeing things? Thanks. | ||
| Redshiftquasars |
It's a fehling. I'll see if I can post a better picture showing the fehling. | ||
| Miibradley |
Got an email from Happy Trails, still a couple more weeks. Apparently the boxes are done but the racks still need time. I guess I'm acting like a kid waiting for Christmas. | ||
| Hootis29 |
I have abused mine to the point of wearing holes in the corners, from abuse, and crashing. Would not trade them for anything! Love em. | ||
| Miibradley |
Boxes are here!!! Just not the rack, still in production. But the boxes look great and seam to work fine. Huge storage compartments. | ||
| Redshiftquasars |
Your gonna love em | ||
| Od_cleaver |
A word of advice, do not mount these bags with the supplied hardware or stay off unpaved roads. I had these bags on my Uly. I was on a dirt county road in WY following the Pony Express route. It started raining turning that road into slick clay. I went down easy and did not get hurt. The Uly wasn't so lucky. The left front corner of bag dug into the mud until it hit something solid. The bag was mangled but remained attached to the bag frame. The Uly's left sub frame cracked in half. The tail section was also damaged along with other attached parts. I spent 3 days in Casper, WY waiting for parts (Ulys were still being made then). None of this had to happen. The Happy Trail design has two basic problems: 1. It uses square corners - well rounded corners like the OEM bags would slide over the ground and not dig in. 2. The bag mounting system will not sear off. Both the bag and mounting frame will be destroyed long before the bag lets go. Good luck with your decision. I am using the OEM bags on my Uly now. On my Suzuki DRZ I went with Wolfman's soft bags. The DRZ has been down twice now with only some dirt marks for damage. I learned my lesson. | ||
| Od_cleaver |
If interested, two ideas of ways to "weaken" Happy Trails mounting system are: 1. Drill a radial hole thru the bags top two mounting screws (the ones with the big knobs on them). The diameter of this hole is a guess... maybe 50% of the screw diameter near the knob. 2. Cut some of the lip off of the plastic rail on the lower mount. How much to cut off is another guess. Maybe challenging Happy Trails with this question is the way to go. I am sure that they will say that I am full of crap and that this has not happened to anyone but this Lone Ranger. So be it, as others have said, YMMV. |
