After reading Joe's review of the Nelson-Rigg CL-135 tank bag, I thought I'd post how I've "customized" my recently-purchased CL-450. I believe these are basically the same bags; they just attach differently. The CL-450 is a 3-point strap mount bag available from New Enough for $53.99.
When I received the bag and mounted it up (didn't even have to change the straps; it used the same clips as my old Eclipse!) I thought "Boy-howdy; that's one big bag there!" I rode with it "STock" for several days, but I just couldn't handle the pockets interfering with tighter turns. So I took a nice, shiny razor knife to the stitches that hold the pockets on to the sides and a few minutes later the bag was pocketless. 'Spose that voids any warranty.....
I tend to keep a fair amount of STuff in my tank bag, and with the size of this bag I really need a way to keep it all organized. I remembered seeing someone (Gene?) that had cut down some plastic oil bottles for tool storage in a Pelican box and since I've always got a few of those lying around I thought I would start with that.
I had a piece of 2x4 that was the height I wanted, so I attached a razor knife blade to the top with a few screws. This allowed me to easily cut the tops off of the bottles by standing them up beside the block and dragging the knife edge around the bottles. In no time at all I had cut down 5 Castrol (nearly square) and 1 Lucas (oblong) bottle.
Utilizing a desk stapler, I made 2 sets of 3 compartments by stapling the containers together. I then took a pair of pliers and squeezed the staples down tight, to make sure there were no points to get snagged on.
I had 3 laptop case dividers (cloth-covered foam with velcro on the ends) lying around and lo-and-behold they were nearly a perfect fit left-to-right. How convenient! The velcro holds them in place nicely.
I like to keep the back-pack strap and rain covers handy, so those were wrapped up with velcro strips and stuck in the front of the bag. 2 of the laptop dividers hold them there nicely. Then the 3 Castrol bottle compartment, another divider, then the 1 Castrol, 1 Lucas, 1 Castrol divider toward the rear of the bag which left just enough room for my spare face shield in it's fleece "sock" that my wife made me. The plan was coming together!
Now I loaded up all my STuff (this is most of what I take on longer trips): Digital camera, Spot tracker, binoculars, extra batteries for camera and Spot, kickstand disk, mesh bag, "Moon" tag and medical info, some springy paper clips, a caribiner, a lighter, ear plugs, clip-type MP3 player and headphones, Autocom cables, travel pack of hand wipes, notepad/gas log, cable caps, gum & tick-tacs, Deet wipes, small first-aid kit, pain meds, eye drops, antacid and lactose pills, pill bottle of change, hand sanitizer and sun block.
All this fits neatly in the various compartments and there is still room for a gallon zip-loc bag with Clif bars and such without unzipping the expansion!
I also attached a case for my clip-on sun glasses to the lid with some wire ties, and used a couple semi-trailer load seals attached to the zippers as zipper pulls; they are yellow and just the right size to make the bag easy to open, even while riding.
And check out the "cable caps" for the Autocom. These are chair leg caps that I found at Odd Lots for about $1 for 4. Put a shot of dieletric grease in them and cap the ends of the Autocom cables when not in use.
I hope you'll find this helpful. I know it's much easier to locate things in my tank bag now and the beauty of it is that all this was done for basically $-0-! Just be careful that you don't slice off a finger while cutting down the bottles; that would add significantly to the costs.....
Happy Farkling!!
When I received the bag and mounted it up (didn't even have to change the straps; it used the same clips as my old Eclipse!) I thought "Boy-howdy; that's one big bag there!" I rode with it "STock" for several days, but I just couldn't handle the pockets interfering with tighter turns. So I took a nice, shiny razor knife to the stitches that hold the pockets on to the sides and a few minutes later the bag was pocketless. 'Spose that voids any warranty.....
I tend to keep a fair amount of STuff in my tank bag, and with the size of this bag I really need a way to keep it all organized. I remembered seeing someone (Gene?) that had cut down some plastic oil bottles for tool storage in a Pelican box and since I've always got a few of those lying around I thought I would start with that.
I had a piece of 2x4 that was the height I wanted, so I attached a razor knife blade to the top with a few screws. This allowed me to easily cut the tops off of the bottles by standing them up beside the block and dragging the knife edge around the bottles. In no time at all I had cut down 5 Castrol (nearly square) and 1 Lucas (oblong) bottle.
Utilizing a desk stapler, I made 2 sets of 3 compartments by stapling the containers together. I then took a pair of pliers and squeezed the staples down tight, to make sure there were no points to get snagged on.
I had 3 laptop case dividers (cloth-covered foam with velcro on the ends) lying around and lo-and-behold they were nearly a perfect fit left-to-right. How convenient! The velcro holds them in place nicely.
I like to keep the back-pack strap and rain covers handy, so those were wrapped up with velcro strips and stuck in the front of the bag. 2 of the laptop dividers hold them there nicely. Then the 3 Castrol bottle compartment, another divider, then the 1 Castrol, 1 Lucas, 1 Castrol divider toward the rear of the bag which left just enough room for my spare face shield in it's fleece "sock" that my wife made me. The plan was coming together!
Now I loaded up all my STuff (this is most of what I take on longer trips): Digital camera, Spot tracker, binoculars, extra batteries for camera and Spot, kickstand disk, mesh bag, "Moon" tag and medical info, some springy paper clips, a caribiner, a lighter, ear plugs, clip-type MP3 player and headphones, Autocom cables, travel pack of hand wipes, notepad/gas log, cable caps, gum & tick-tacs, Deet wipes, small first-aid kit, pain meds, eye drops, antacid and lactose pills, pill bottle of change, hand sanitizer and sun block.
All this fits neatly in the various compartments and there is still room for a gallon zip-loc bag with Clif bars and such without unzipping the expansion!
I also attached a case for my clip-on sun glasses to the lid with some wire ties, and used a couple semi-trailer load seals attached to the zippers as zipper pulls; they are yellow and just the right size to make the bag easy to open, even while riding.
And check out the "cable caps" for the Autocom. These are chair leg caps that I found at Odd Lots for about $1 for 4. Put a shot of dieletric grease in them and cap the ends of the Autocom cables when not in use.
I hope you'll find this helpful. I know it's much easier to locate things in my tank bag now and the beauty of it is that all this was done for basically $-0-! Just be careful that you don't slice off a finger while cutting down the bottles; that would add significantly to the costs.....
Happy Farkling!!
