Received the Saddlebags!

I was extremely excited when I got home and there was that little note on the door saying I had a package in the apartment office.  I knew exactly what was waiting for me.  Unfortunately, before I could receive and mount the bags I had to go take care of some paperwork.  A marriage license to be precise.  So, this has been a totally awesome day.  I also quickly realized that the bags had a zipper feature enabling me to remove the bags and not the strap.  The original picture didn't show this, hence the slight panic in the previous post. 

 

In order to mount them on the bike I needed to make two 1.25 inch long slits for two of the three mounting points of the rear seat.  

You can see one cut just above middle on the left, and one below middle.  I just fitted the bags up the way I wanted them, then poked a knife through the two mounting points that were covered.  Piece of cake.  Later I will remove the strap and add some stitching to the edge of the cuts to prevent them from enlarging.  The strap is pretty wide, and almost encroaches upon the third mounting point that is seen in the middle to the right.  I almost want to trim back some of the leather there for a better fit with the bottom of the seat.  We will see about that...  Once I cut the holes in the leather, I just slapped the rear seat back on, and presto!, I have saddlebags.

I have several concerns that I will need to look at after I ride to work tomorrow.  One is whether the exhaust is close enough to damage the "genuine immitation leather"(thank you walter matthau).  The second, is how much wear will be created by the bag touching the rear shocks:

I clearly need to make some brackets to keep the bags off the shocks.  Perhaps a ride or two to work will not damage the bags, but time and friction will take its toll.
The bags seem of a pretty decent quality.  These are my first bags, so I don't really have anything to compare them too.  The platic clips for the straps have little locks in them, so someone cannot simply walk up and open your saddlebag.

While this seems nifty, it is made useless by the ease with which someone can unzip and walk away with your bag.  This will definitely be fixed soon, but not tonight.  I plan on adding a metal grommet to the leather behind the zipper-pull, and passing a small lock through them.  While none of this is going to stop a dedicated theif, I can at least make him think twice about the hassle of getting either my bag or its contents.