10:00 to Yuma

I've been wanting to get out and do a "long" ride on the Sportster. I set the goal of crossing the state line, figuring that would require a reasonable number of miles. After watching the movie "3:10 to Yuma" with Russell Crowe I decided I'd make the ride out to Yuma myself and take a look at the fabled Territorial Prison.

I left Sunday at 10am, a bit later than planned but early enough to make it out and back before dark. I dressed warn (for SoCal) with thermal shirt, short sleeve shirt, and a sweat shirt under my leather jacket. For pants I went with my standard riding trousers, the Arbor pants from Aerostitch. In past, the cold air on my face has created quite a chill so I covered up with a bandana. I probably looked like a bank robber but my face was warm. I also thought the look appropriate for the ride.

The Sportster motored along the San Diego freeways very smooth. The ride is significantly more comfortable than that of the Suzuki SV I previously owned, and even the BMW F650 GS Dakar I had. I stopped and topped off the tank in Alpine and then headed East on the 8.

The Harley is a great ride, I particularly like the forward controls as they allow the legs to extend. The Harley-Davidson windscreen is great for keeping the rider on the seat but it does create some serious turbulence around the head. With the ear flaps, riding goggles, and bandana I was pretty comfortable.

The temperature at 4,140 feet was pretty chilly, even with the multiple layers. I knew I definitely wanted to get through the mountain pass on my return trip before nightfall. Once out of the mountains the desert floor was warm, probably high 60s and that made for a nice ride. We went right on through El Centro, and the gas light came on about 30 miles outside of Yuma.

I crossed the Colorado into Arizona and then went for gas. I knew I could rely on at least 35 mpg but didn't want to push my luck, we had ridden about 35 miles since the light came on. I filled up and then headed for the Historic Territorial Prison. I had to take a couple of pictures of the Sportster in front of the sign and then took a quick walk around to check out the site. The prison itself looks to be mostly gone, there are some touristy type areas and large grounds for walking, biking, etc.

I did take a walk down to the cemetery where 104 souls are buried, the graves are obvious but there aren't any markers telling who is buried in which spot. There is a central marker listing the names of all those buried, I did not see "Ben Wade" from the movie, so I guess he escaped as promised.

The ride back from Yuma was pretty quick with a stop in El Centro to fuel my tank and top off the Sportster. We made it back to San Diego well before dark and had only a brief delay in the College are due to an accident. The entire trip was just over 394 miles, run in under 7 hours 15 minutes. I averaged about 39 mpg for the trip, which doesn't seem at all bad, though I was hoping for closer to 50. I'm thinking that a set of Screamin Eagle slip-ons may be just what it takes to get a few extra miles out of a tank of fuel.

Installing the Tour Master Cruiser II Slant Saddlebags

As mentioned in previous posts I recently purchased a set of the Tour Master Cruiser II Slant Saddlebags, size large, from Tonker.com. I was impressed when the bags arrived two days after ordering (free shipping) and quickly went about getting them installed.

I'd already installed the Harley-Davidson Saddlebag Supports (see previous post) so the work requiring tools was pretty much done. The Tour Master bags out of the box hung a bit high on my 2008 Sportster XL1200 Custom so the first step was to adjust the length (or width depending on how you want to look at it) of the yoke. This is very easy to do, simply untie the know, remove the laces, and then lay the bags across the rear fender.

I aligned the top of the bags with the rear frame rail and then matched the holes on the two sides of the yoke. The overlap was four holes in. With this set I laced up the pieces and tied the knot securely.

To keep the bags from shifting Tour Master provides buckles and links made out of nylon strap. Simply find a spot on the bike to attach the strap and snap the buckle to the bag. I fastened the straps to the saddlebag supports at the back and to the frame below the oil tank/battery cover up front. This is probably overkill but I've read enough posts about accidents caused by luggage getting wrapped around to the rear wheel to get a little freaked.

Bottom line, the installation is very easy, the product very nice, and I'm very happy with my decision to go this route. The bags are not big enough to hold a laptop computer, especially with the slant, but there is enough capacity for my leather jacket (no armor). The bags make the Sportster more versatile, making runs to the video store, post office, etc. very convenient. And for longer trips the bags have enough capacity to store extra shirts, hats, etc. handy to have when riding in areas where the climate and temperature change significantly.

Installing the Harley-Davidson Saddlebag Supports

When I finally made the decision to go with the throw-over saddle bags from Tour Master I also decided to use the Harley-Davidson Saddlebag Supports, figuring that while a bit pricey ($100) they would be of good quality and fit for my 2008 Sportster XL1200 Custom. I purchased the supports from San Diego Harley, took a quick look at the instructions and thought it looked like quick work to do the install.

I set the Sportster's jiffy stand on a two-by-four to get the bike near level. The Harley kit covers multiple Sportster years and has a variety of hardware. I read through the instructions in detail to pull out the specific nuts and bolts required for the install. The first thing I noticed was that the rear mount for the support is assembled using a 2 3/4" bolt that runs from inside the fender and is finished with an acorn nut. Having recently completed the turn signal relocation project I knew that given the low height of the Custom there wasn't much room between the tire and fender.

Removing the original bolt, that runs from outside the fender to an inner nut, and then trying to fit the new, longer bolt it was obvious there was not way to get it through the fender and frame rail with the rear suspension attached. Getting the rear suspension detached is easy enough, I simply rolled over my floor jack, with large rubber pad, positioned it under the Sportster and raised the bike to full extension of the shocks. With the shocks extended I removed the bolts and carefully balancing the bike raised it to the point where I could fit the new bolts through the fender and frame. Having the bolts close by made this a fairly easy and low risk task. With the bolts in place I gently lowered the bike to the point where I could reattach one of the shocks.

At this point I slipped the saddlebag supports over the rear mounts to gets sense for how they would line up (on the side without the shock attached). The supports are overall "close" to fitting but they do not exactly line up with the frame and shock assemblies. The instructions are nebulous about the installation of a spacer for the rear mount but given the gap between the rear and forward mounting positions I put the spacer on the outside of the support.

I thought that the forward, shock mount would be very easy, simply align the support and run the new, longer bolt and cover. I then discovered the that new cover, which in all fairness is marked for 1994-1999 models did not have a large enough hole for the newer Sportster shock bolts. Back to the original cover; unfortunately the original cover has a deeper recess and when the bolt is tightened the saddlebag support will crush the edge of the cover. Even with the spacer on the outside of the cap the support did not fit properly with the cover. Ultimately I decided not to use the cover, I could only stare at the pieces for so long. I may get another spacer but for now I'm claiming success for the installation.

Saddlebag Update

I've got to give a 'shout out' to Tonker.com, great prices, great service and FAST shipping. In my last post I mentioned ordering the large Tour Master Cruiser II Slant saddlebags from Tonker.com, the company had the best price I could find online and free shipping on orders over $75. I ordered the bags over the weekend, received shipping confirmation on Monday and was amazed to find them on my door stoop Tuesday morning. I'll do a full write up on the bags in a future post but have to say I am very happy with my decision to go with the Tour Master product, very nice bags, easy to install, and I'm already getting compliments on how the look on the Sportster XL1200C.

For those of you who didn't get it in the above, I highly recommend Tonker.com and the Tour Master Cruiser II luggage.

Saddlebags for the Sportster

I've been thinking about saddlebags for my Sportster for quite some time. Even before I purchased the bike I knew I wanted bags, ideally to carry jacket, extra shirts in cold weather, and my notebook for going back and forth to the office. When I rented the Sportster from the local dealer it was equipped with the Harley-Davidson "Sportster Leather Saddlebags". I found the bags to be very flexible, large enough to cram a long armored jacket into, and liked the easy to use clips under the chrome buckles. I was less excited when I found out the bags are almost $600 not including all the bits required to get them attached to the Sportster.

For the last couple of months I've been looking at various options for saddlebags, searching for the right mix of style, capacity, quality and price. I took a look at the bags people were using on the XL Forums, a lot of nice options are out there. I looked at Willie & Max, Saddleman, and LeatherLyke and several others but didn't find what I was looking for, something that maintains the clean crisp look of the XL1200C Custom. I knew I didn't want rivets, conchos, etc.

Then I found the Tour Master Cruiser II Slant saddlebag. I've used Tour Master products in past and have found them to be of good quality and reasonable price. I did a little research on the web and found others using the bags and happy with the results. The Cruiser bags paired with the Harley saddlebag supports seemed like a good, fairly economical option for Sportster luggage. I purchased the bags online from Tonker.com for under $144, a great price with free shipping. I've not received the bags yet, ordered just the other day, and will review when they arrive.

I did go down to San Diego Harley to purchase the saddlebag supports. They were in stock for the the list price of about $100. I did the transaction and got my points. I'd already installed the rear turn signal relocation kit (that's another story) so the supports are the last thing needed in preparing the Sportster for the bags. I'll write about the installation in a future post, let's just say I'm still amazed at how Harley-Davidson provides just enough information to do to the work, with a little head scratching and creativity required to complete the job.