[VTXorcist]

Well, update on the homemade brackets. They turned out great, in my opinion, with one serious flaw. The eyebolts I used are too thick. The stock bolt in the fender isn't long enough for the nuts to go back on with the saddlebag brackets under them. An additional potential problem I see is that the eyebolt pushes into the indent for the nut, so the bolt coming off the eye digs into the fender rail.

I'm thinking of two different solutions. Either one requires me to put a washer over that groove so the eyebolt sits flat on the fender rail. First, I'm going to look for some sort of "capped" nut that will fit into the eye of the bolt but with an end piece that will keep the eyebolt from sliding off it.

If that fails, I guess I need to find some longer bolts for the fender rail. I'm trying to avoid that because it will be a much bigger pain to take the saddlebag brackets off if I need to go under the fender and swap out the fender rail bolts as well.

If I can find a nut that works, I'll let you know. If not, and you're thinking of making your own saddlebag brackets, I recommend Tonckawa's method; it will actually fit on the bike!