It is well known among fans of vintage iron that the only valid motivation for getting a project completed, is an upcoming event. There are TV shows whose entire plot revolves around getting a vehicle ready for an event and burning the proverbial midnight oil to do so. And so it was with the R90S Krauser bags. I decided that it would make it to the First & Last R90S Rally with the Krausers attached. Problem was, I decided this a few days before the rally. No worries, the frames were in the basement along with the bags patiently sitting and awaiting attachment.
I had some “seatbelt” attachments for the frames somewhere, so a simple job to assemble everything and mount the bags. Or not.
It turns out the frames I had did not have the seatbelt tabs, which was ok since I could not find the seatbelt attachments. Now, I did have a set of newer bags from the R100 and up family, but they just didn’t look as good on the R90S, despite attaching securely with the clasp style latches. They may be destined for ebay, or kept just in case (or something).
Undeterred, and being aware of the tendency of Krausers to depart the bike at speed anyway, I hatched a plan. I would bolt the bags to the bike, just like the previous owner of the bags had apparently done. There were two small holes in each bag where they were bolted to the frame, so all I needed was some hardware. Now you would think that with all of the metric vehicles I’ve owned, and the crates and crates of parts and hardware, I would have the nuts, bolts, and washers I need for this simple task….and you would be right.
However, putting my hands on them would possibly takes days or even years.
Muttering to myself like a 90 year old asylum escapee, I got to the hardware store at 9:54 pm, right before they closed and walked out with $5 worth of critical hardware. At 11:15pm, the bags were on the bike securely, and I retired victorious.
The next day, the bike ran flawlessly to the rally and back (read about the event in the main blog), and the bags stayed attached during stints exceeding 90 MPH. They look great too, somewhat worn and very much in keeping with the bike itself.