ST1100 Saddlebag Repair

Kodiak

Kodiak

Trucker by day, rider by night. Noob at all times.
Joined
Mar 10, 2019
Messages
83
Age
31
Location
Chico, CA
Bike
1991 ST-1100
The right side bag (case?) has some pretty good size cracks around the bottom, going up the back a couple inches and around the latch. There's also a hole in the corner close to the latch. I was thinking of trying to repair it with resin, epoxy or something of the sort, but would it be worth doing? I'd like to keep the bags because they hold so much and look pretty good. I've looked for good used ones online and they're a couple hundred dollars give or take. If it's not worth replacing, are there better options for bags that can hold just as or almost as much gear? I plan to take a couple trips this summer, so packing everything I need is pretty important. I'm also debating a top case as well, but one step at a time.
 
cheap, easy, takes a little time to get the hang of it. I used a soldering gun, but use a small pic or screw driver to hold the screen down while the plastic cools. do both sides, very strong repair. Light coat of body filler, prime and paint. Stainless steel screen from ebay.
 
One option might be to talk to the manager of a auto dealership that has a large used car department. When used cars arrive at a dealership - either through trade-in or after being purchased at auctions - they often have dings & dents in bumper covers at the front and back. Used car dealers rely on independent artisans who travel from one dealer to another and carry out repairs (fixing & painting) on-site. Such an artisan would have the experience needed to determine if they could restore your saddlebags. I'm sure that the manager of a used car department would be happy to provide a referral - perhaps you could meet up with the artisan next time they were at the dealership, and if an agreement is reached, you could leave the saddlebag with them for repair & restoration.

Michael
 
After a ride to RI I got back to AZ and found a whole in the gray portion of the right pannier.
I found that grey abs cement (from home depot that time) matched the gray exactly.
I didn't use any mesh, I just built the hole's side up until they met.

Good luck!
Mark
 
Thanks for the advice, everyone! I'm really liking that plastic welding video, looks pretty fun to me actually! I think I'll give it a shot over the weekend and see how it works out. If it does a good job, I think I'll go back over and spread the ABS cement into whatever remains of the cracks to fill them nicely, then sand and primer. Al, I looked on Ebay quickly for the mesh, but there's alot of options to look through. Any you'd recommend?
 
Also SEM Graphite paint matches the gray bottom of the ST1100 bags perfectly -

SEM Color Coat Flexible Coating #15303 Graphite

I used some standard body skim coat to fill in some scratches on a bag I bought (top was perfect) and just painted over the spots I patched -

Saddlebag After Cleanup Small..jpg
 
My ST buddy had some cracks in the fairing repaired on the inside and they were solid. But the cracks still showed on the outside. For the bottom of the bag Unk's fix looks worthwhile.
 
I have repaired cracks, holes and made new tabs on my plastics. I went to a junk yard and got a broken ABS fairing and practiced on that first. On the front side I use masking tape to hold the crack in place or to cover up a hole. On the back side I use plumbing ABS glue and drywall mesh over the crack applying three coats of glue. For a broken tab I will cut a piece of ABS pipe and glue it in place. Then I will file it to shape and drill a hole if necessary. I have used shavings from an ABS pipe to fill a hole and then file and sand it.
 
Alright, so I got 90% of the major cracks repaired using the plastic welding Al suggested. Was actually pretty easy and honestly rather fun. It seems like it'll hold pretty dang well, but only time will tell how good of a job I did.

 
Interesting technique, I wonder how much different that method is from using fiberglass mesh with epoxy, like doing fiberglass repairs on a boat. Anybody tried both methods and have any comments??
 
After a pretty long (200 miles total) group ride yesterday and a lot pretty bumpy roads full of potholes, the repair appears to be holding up just great! No obvious further damage or cracking, so I call it a success so far :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom