When I bought my BMW R1200C motorcycle, it came with some cool looking leather saddlebags.

Apparently these are “B-Bags”: made in Italy, sold in Germany and imported into the US by Chase Harper.

While I think they look cool, from a functional standpoint they are lacking. Having to undo the straps to get into them is a pain, and they are pretty small. When I put my foul weather gear in the left bag there is not much room for anything else, and my laptop bag just barely fits into the right one. With gas at $4/gallon I’ve been riding to work *a lot* and there just isn’t much room to carry stuff.

So I decided I wanted larger bags. I went with the BMW “Touring” set for the R1200C:

They wereepricey, but they are also *huge*. I think they look good on the bike as well.

I plan to sell the B-Bags on eBay to recoup some of the cost of the BMW bags, and this winter I hope to have these black bags color matched to the bike.

I’ve seen some bikes done this way and I think they look gorgeous. The only question left is “pinstripe” or “no pinstripe”.