Well, I think this is a new one...

I was out for a nice little Memorial Day ride, "bagged" a few ADV photo tags, and was on my way home on I-95 when a car pulls up alongside me and is wildly gesturing at my left rear side. WTF?

I made the next exit (I was going that way anyway) and pulled into a gas station to see what all the commotion was about.

It turns out that the outer painted plastic shell of the saddlebag's lid had separated from the black plastic inner liner.



I don't recall hearing about this little issue before. It flipped itself down until it hit on the exhaust can below.

It just looks like whatever they used for an adhesive to hold the to shells together just let go. There are apparently no mechanical latch / retainers for the outer lid. It's just glued in place?





The gas station attendant gave me a piece of box tape that they had on hand to get the thing home without any more scraping.



Unfortunately, I must have dragged the top edge of it a little on the on ramp as there are some scratches there, which you can see in the above photo. I'm not too awful upset about that as I already have some nice zero mph scratches on the lower half of both side-bags, and was planning to do the Rhinoliner on the bottom half of the bags. Now I'll have to come up with a plan "B".

That is a first that I know of. You must be 'special'.

Oh, I definitely am. :fuck:

This is probably what happens when you off-road your FJR as much as I do.

Sorry to see this. I hope it's because you're special and not a bad batch of glue or something that is going to bite more of us.

I really hate in when somebody posts something unusual up, and then out of the woodwork come all of these "Me, too!" posts. Friggin' attention whores!

But last Thursday morning, I stopped for a chicken biscuit, and when I got back to the bike, I saw a big gap at the top between the cover and the bag. I picked at it a bit, like you do with a loose scab, and saw it was really loose, so I figured I needed to go ahead and pull it off, before it fully separated and I lost the cover. I didn't know that the cover held the hinges, while the inner panel held the lock, which doesn't seem very brilliant when you think about it.



Anyway, like Fred, I then had to find a way to retain it while I finished my ride, which was only a mile from being complete (going to work.) I carry bungies and pressed one into service. (The scars on the lid are from my 2008 save-the-cat crash. Second Crash Club button in my sig if you're stupidly curious. Like a cat.)



Like Fred's it seems that the glue wasn't really fully in contact with most of the lid's surfaces. That and the fact that I think my new helmet is actually just a smidge too big for the lid when the Cardo set is attached (causing it to flex when I force the lid shut,) led to the adhesive popping loose.





So yes, Geezer, it's starting to be a rash of bag lid failures, one after the other!!!!! You're all doomed!!

It's a friggin' conspiracy! Quick, someone call Geraldo!

Fred W said:

There are apparently no mechanical latch / retainers for the outer lid. It's just glued in place?

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Not anymore, Freddie!

Seriously, and not to cut in on anybody's business around here, but wouldn't it be nice if Yama would just sell us the painted shells for our frickin' motorcycles without sending any of the hard parts. They should be able to do that for a couple bucks and save us sending the whole a bags and panels to be repainted! Cheap to send, since the paint can't weight more than a couple ounces.

In fact, for the guys who have five or six year old FJRs with only a few thousand miles on them, maybe they could buy a whole set of just paint to park it in front of their houses and everybody would think they had a motorcycle that they actually rode. Much cheaper and safer, no insurance or registration required. Hmmm, this may finally be the idea I make my fortune on.

Fred - If you decide to abandon the Beyond Thunderdome / Multistrada look, use this:

Plexus MA310 methacrylate adhesive:

https://www.jamestowndistributors.com/userportal/show_product.do?pid=4882

It's used to join boat decks to hulls, strongest stuff I know of.

Glad you made the ride unscathed.

Cheers

I guess when it happens to me I will have a couple of questions for Yamamama. First what are the bags made of. Next what is the adhesive that you are using and what is the design spec for the bond line. Also does the adhesive degrade from heat. After they refuse to answer those questions I might just send it out to a lab to find out for myself. Then post it so the rest of will know how long it will take before they all start coming apart. I guess about 10 years.

Some needn't worry -- it's only going to happen on Gen 1's

Yeah, this isn't the first someone has posted about this, but so far it's pretty rare. Wonder how common it will become as these bikes continue to get older...

Yet more proof bungee cords and duct tape can fix anything!

You both should contact Yamaha about this. It is a manufacturing defect. They should replace it.

PanAmerican said:

You both should contact Yamaha about this. It is a manufacturing defect. They should replace it.

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On 8-10 year old bikes? Pffft. And Honda should replace my carbs on 1975 CB400F because the gaskets dried out.....the warranty (even Y.E.S.) is long expired. :huh:

It's good to know that the adhesive may not last forever and we FJR owners should keep an eye on them as our bikes age though.....

Gen 1 FJRs suck big ones.

:lol:

PanAmerican said:

You both should contact Yamaha about this. It is a manufacturing defect. They should replace it.

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Yeah, because they warrant against defects forever.

wheatonFJR said:

Gen 1 FJRs suck big ones.

:lol:

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Karma is coming, dude. There is no difference whatsoever between Gen-I bags and Gen-II bags.

wfooshee said:

Karma is coming, dude. There is no difference whatsoever between Gen-I bags and Gen-II bags.

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Dude! You been drinking? Karma? Wheatie has always owned a Gen I too. It's called *sarcasm*.

You're welcome.

HotRodZilla said:

Yeah, this isn't the first someone has posted about this, but so far it's pretty rare.

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You got any details on the previous posts? I sure don't remember seeing this before.

Gorilla glue.

SkooterG said:

wfooshee said:

Karma is coming, dude. There is no difference whatsoever between Gen-I bags and Gen-II bags.

Click to expand...

Dude! You been drinking? Karma? Wheatie has always owned a Gen I too. It's called *sarcasm*.

You're welcome.

HotRodZilla said:

Yeah, this isn't the first someone has posted about this, but so far it's pretty rare.

Click to expand...

You got any details on the previous posts? I sure don't remember seeing this before.

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I don't...But I know I have seen it talked about. Maybe it was the other forum, but I'd swear there were pictures too. Don't think the plastic came all the way off like these did though. Its been about a year if I remember right...