Vetter Bagman Hi-Tech Saddlebags

VETTER BAGMAN HI-TECH SADDLEBAGS

EVALUATION

A HARD-AND SOFT-COMBINATION TO BEAT

SOME COMBINATIONS WERE JUST meant to be, like Lewis and Clark, Laurel and Hardy, and peanut butter and chocolate. When the right elements come together, they create a certain chemistry that won't be denied. Other things, though, just don’t mix. They invariably clash, like drinking and driving, and oil and water.

In concept, at least, Vetter’s BagMan Hi-Tech Saddlebags belong to the first category. They’re designed to offer the virtues of both soft and hard saddlebags, an intent their construction clearly displays. The bags are hybrids, relying on a combination of elements from both breeds of bags to achieve their goal.

ABS plastic shells, for example, form the lids of the suitcase-style bags, with double-urethane-coated, 1000-denier Cordura nylon stitched over the inside lid and part of the outer, too; tape seals the needle holes. Cordura also serves as the bag's hinge, opening via a two-way

YKK zipper that runs around the bottom and sides. And two zippered nylon flaps divide each bag’s interior into separate halves. Overall, the appearance of the Vetters borrows heavily from conventional soft luggage, but the ABS shells give a hardbag's integrated look.

The mounting system, on the other hand, shows a decidedly soft-bag heritage, allowing the Vetters to be installed, or removed completely, in only a few minutes. Two 1-inchwide, webbed-nylon straps secure across the bike's saddle using plastic-

covered J-clips, and each bag attaches to the straps with two Fastex buckles and two snaps; a third strap and buckle anchors the lower front corner to a footpeg carrier or frame member. This allows the Vetters to shift around slightly, as do most nonsolid-mount bags, but not enough to bother the rider; and replaceable scuff-pads keep the bags from damaging bodywork.

Another soft-bag trait is the ability to expand slightly as the fabric stretches to accommodate two-fisted loads. That advantage might appear trapped between the BagMans’ ABS shells, but Vetter built in a zippered expansion panel, underneath the bag's main zipper. The payoff is a claimed 50-percent increase in capacity, enough so that each bag can hold a full-face helmet. Still, most riders won't need the extra room; the prodigious stock capacity can hold everything a solo pilot might want for a week’s trip, including foul-weather gear. Solo is the operative word, however, because the bags obstruct the passenger pegs on most bikes.

With all their space, though, the BagMans don't have a single exterior pouch or pocket for small-item storage, largely due to their hard/soft construction. So a rider has to burrow into the bags every time he needs something, a task that will thoroughly acquaint him with opening their top-hinged lids. Admittedly, the design prevents an opened-on-thebike bag from touching a hot exhaust pipe, but it also makes reaching into the outside lid difficult.

Those complaints can't undermine the basic concept behind the bags, though; they merely illustrate the pitfalls of trying to distill two very different approaches into a single one. But the Vetter BagMan Hi-Tech Saddlebags (available in red, white or black for $224.99 a pair, from Vetter Products Inc., Rantoul, IL 61866; [217] 893-9300) shouldn’t be measured solely against hard or soft saddlebags. Instead, the concept of combining the two is what’s important; and judged against that, they're a rousing success. Because it’s a combination that was meant to be. B3