Hi Brian,

I have exactly what you describe. I can't say the sissy bar is from Hondaline for
sure, because it was already on it when I bought the bike. However, it is the
chromed tube steel version that I have seen on any other VLX that has a sissy bar
around here, so I believe it is a Hondaline product. Mine has a polished brass
(with black paint in-fill) "Shadow" mounted to the chrome plate on the back of
the backrest pad.

I bought saddlebag guards through my dealer about 18 months ago. I can't remember
how much they cost, but it was less than $50. I installed them myself using the
hardware provided with the guards. The dealer bought them through his Parts
Unlimited catalog, but I think they were made by M/C Enterprises.

It took me about 2 hours to install them. You have to remove your seat, and the
bolts that hold the sissy bar frame to the fender frame. The bolts that came with
the kit were not long enough to pass through the whole combination of guards,
fender frame, fender and sissy bar mount. I cut the heads off of the stock bolts,
had a friend weld them on to the new bolts that came with the kit (which were
longer than stock), and then I finished the installation. The hardest part of the
assembly was starting the nut onto the bolts that are most forward (i.e. towards
the front wheel). There isn't much space between the tire and fender, so it took
a lot of tries to get the nut on the bolt and turned a few times to get it
started. Once it was started, I used a socket wrench with a universal joint to
get around the curve of the tire. I also had to bend the mounting tab at the
forward end slightly, since the bolt holes did not match up exactly with the
stock holes. Two pairs of channel locks did the job for this. I did add a washer
with the nut to the forward mounting bolts. And...I used some Loctite on the
mounting bolts so they wouldn't work themselves loose.

The result has been a very secure installation. I have had no problems since then
while riding nearly every day.

Hope this is helpful.

Kevin Holm
Whidbey Island, WA

Brian wrote:

Just to clarify here:

1. The bag guards WERE made for my bike. The thing is, Shadow VLX's like
all Shadows, don't come with sissy bars. We bought the Hondaline sissy
bar, and now honda says that bag guards (MC Enterprises/VLX) aren't
designed to work with a VLX that has a sissy bar.

So I am most interested in finding a bag guard that will work with the
hondaline sissy bar, if mc enterprises won't work, then another
manufacturer. I saw Highway Hawk has some..........

So is *anyone* riding a vlx with a hondaline sissy bar and bag guards of
any kind?

Brian

On Sat, 8 May 1999, Mudflap wrote:

$125 for putting a couple of bag guards??!!? Get real!! As long as the
dealers can keep convincing people that they don't have enough brains to do
some of the work on their own, they can keep charging these ridiculous
prices! If he says they won't fit with the sissy bar, make him show you
why. I've got a buddy that works for an independent shop that makes bag
guards, their is not that much to it. He will take a piece of metal rod cut
it, bend it, weld a washer to each end of it, and paint it. That is it.
What's my point? Screw the dealer, put em on yourself.


My girlfriend has a VLX with a Honda Sissy Bar on it, and was wanting some
bags. We got the Willie and Max park avenue bags. The dealer recommended
we use Saddle Bag Guards, and I agree. So we told the dealer to put some
on. They are the MC Enterprises bag guards.

The dealer calls us and said, that the Bag guards can't go on with the
Honda Sissy bar, without manufacturing/machining some parts and
retrofitting.

I find this alarming. Surely someone has to make bag guards for a vlx
that will go on with just some screws and no serious kluding of the bike?
Does anyone have a vlx with a) honda sissy bar/backrest b) bag guards? If
so, mind telling me who makes the guards?

You would think the package would say "Does not work with honda sissy bar"
or something if that were the case. I am going down their to talk with
them and hopefully we can work something out. Its $150 for the bags, $50
for the guards, then 1.5 hours labor to put them on originally ($125).
Now they say that to do this would take $100 more, so that would bring
total cost of bags, guards installed, to $400, which is a bit high I find.