Saddlebags - Choose Your Leather With Care

Today's technology has made it difficult for even an experienced leather crafter to recognize natural leather. After finishing, many of the composition (man-made) leathers are hard to distinguish from (and many are as good as) natural cowhide! Look carefully at the inside of the bag. Natural cowhide will be rough or have a "grainy" appearance. If the inside is slick, it may be composition leather. If the back of the leather shines, a finish was likely applied to it; while it looks good on the shelf, it won't stay that way and the life of the leather has been compromised.

Next, examine the thickness of the leather. The industry rates thickness in terms of ounce weight. Each ounce weight of leather is 1/64 of an inch thick. Good bags are made of a minimum of 12-ounce leather (3/16").

Now, look for flaws in the leather. Cattle are not smart animals and occasionally walk through barbed wire and cactus. The scars from these cuts often leave blemishes in the tanned leather. If the blemish is near a seam line or on a stress point, look at another pair!

Using a ballpoint pen, try to lift the lacing or stitches. You should not be able to get a pen under threads or lift any of the laces. The thread used to stitch saddlebags should be about as thick as a kite string and should not have any loose ends.

Stitching should be recessed below the surface of the leather. Stitching on top of the leather is subject to wear and will break prematurely. Stitching should be symmetrically spaced, with no less than five stitches per inch. Laced bags tend to leak and are not as strong standard sewing. If you really want leather lacing, the braided style stitching is preferable to the single loop heavy lacing.

Saddlebags should be made with 3 pieces of leather. One, making up the front, bottom, back and flap (with sharp 90-degree bends) and two side panels. Because of the weight of the contents in most saddlebags, the bottom should never be sewn into place. Each piece should be precision cut, to fit together without gaps or pinches. Finally, the edges of the leather should be finished (slick and slightly hardened) so that you cannot scratch them with your fingernail.

The dyes, conditioners and finishes applied to the leather will determine the longevity of the finished product. Too many saddlebags are finished with a coat of black dye and a cheap acrylic finish. Rub a Kleenex over the surface, it should come away without any color on it. If it looks wet so much the better! A "wet" look means the leather was conditioned with Neatsfoot Oil before assembly. Next flex the leather, it should do so without cracking the finish, then readily return to its original shape.

Handmade may be the most expensive, but they are also the best. Seek a reputable crafter, insist on seeing samples and ask about guarantees. Quality handcrafted leather is a work of art produced by someone with years of training, practice and hundreds of dollars in special tools. Regardless of who made them, examine the bags closely and make sure you are getting quality.

Scott Curtis is a professional leather crafter who learned to work leather from his Grandfather (a real cowboy born in 1898 near Tombstone, AZ). His saddle bags are guaranteed for the life of your bike and start at about $350. For more information regarding his products, pricing and guarantees please contact him at Muletraks@aol.com.

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