Five Harley-Davidson Saddlebags Perfect for Hiding Christmas Gifts From the Little Ones

Of course, for you to be able to do that, some pre-existing conditions have to be met. First, you have to be the owner of a Harley-Davidson motorcycle capable of carrying saddlebags. Then, you have to have a garage where the bike can be kept during off-season months.

Assuming those two things are taken care of, the idea is simple: instead of hiding stuff in closets and elsewhere, you could easily tuck them inside your motorcycle’s saddlebags. We can almost guarantee your kids couldn’t care less about what you’ve got going on in there.

So, if you have the required hardware to do this, you can go right ahead and try the method this Christmas. If it’s saddlebags you’re missing, read on to see what we chose as being perfect for the task at hand.

As it stands, Harley-Davidson currently sells a total of 30 different saddlebags, meant for motorcycles made from 1984 to today. As you might imagine, that covers a lot of models, but also various needs, as the hardware varies in size, material, and pricing.

We chose five, the majority of them the most expensive, selling for over $1,000. We did this because we figured if you go to all this trouble to hide Christmas gifts from kids until the moment is right, you could at least go on and buy the best items for yourself (and your bike) as well.

First on the list are the detachable saddlebags with brass trim. Priced at $1,011.95, they come with classic straps, brass buckles, and a matching brass Harley-Davidson medallion. They are detachable, of course, and have a capacity of 2,840 cubic inches (47 liters).

The things are lockable, meaning whatever it is you’ll be hiding in there is safe. It’s also protected from impact damage thanks to the hard shell design and, when equipped with model-specific docking hardware, can also be used with HoldFast sissy bars and racks.

This item is intended for a variety of Harley motorcycles, provided they’re made after 2018: FLFB, FLFBS, FXBR, and FXBRS.

If you’re looking for a more rugged look for your bike, but also more than enough space to hide ‘em gifts, then you could go for the aluminum side cases. Mismatched in terms of volume, the right one can fit 2,257 cubic inches (37 liters), while the left 2,746 cubic inches (45 liters). Weight-wise, each can support 22 pounds (10 kg).

The downside of this is they’re not for every ride out there. The aluminum cases are suitable only for 2021 and later motorcycles, and have been designed specifically for the Pan America, so they’ll only work on that. The price of such a set is $1,038.95.

For all Touring models made after 2014 (minus the FLTRXSE) Harley offers saddlebag stretch bottoms for $1,474.95. They’re a sort of compromise that allows people to maintain the factory-spec suspension travel and ride height by going straight over the exhaust, while providing a decent amount of space. They come predrilled and they should work with any saddlebag lid or latch.

If you find all of the above a bit too expensive, Harley offers cheaper alternatives as well. On the opposite side of the spectrum, the cheapest saddlebag set is the compact throw-over, selling for just $242.95 and offering just 600 cubic inches (10 liters) of space. Its contents are also not protected from impacts, given how the thing is made of leather-like synthetic materials (the thing’s shape is maintained by means of an internal reinforcement system), and can only transport 6 pounds of weight (2.7 kg).

These things are suitable for 1982 and later XL models, 2008-2017 Dynas, and Softails made from 1984 to 1999, but also after 2018.

For Trike owners, there’s only one option really, selling for $476.95. We’re talking about vinyl-wrapped rigid side bags large enough to hold two soda cans or water bottles side by side (or a total of 700 cubic inches/11 liters in all).

As you can imagine, this piece of hardware is suitable only for trikes, more specifically FLHTCUTG versions produced from 2009 onwards and 2010-2011 FLHXXX machines.

It may very well be that none of the solutions above are suitable for you. As said, there are 30 options to choose from, and you can head over here to have a look at them all.