WynnD
Tuned and Synch'ed
I understand the pain. I went for the OEMs and have had them mostly mounted for 28,000 miles. I did 20K miles last summer and used them as intended. I'm extra careful when mounting them, making sure I have space for the pillion spikes that hold them in place. (you can see a line where they contact each other.) I'm also careful when transporting them off the bike. My thought is that section that sticks out where the pillion spikes go, might be easy to damage. Don't overload them. I pack fairly light and closing the bags continues to be fairly easy. I'm also not a hard rider. Just usually flow with traffic.