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Drum Dyeing – This method gets the best results.  The leather is fully immersed in the dye and tumbled so that the dye penetrates as fully as possible.

Antacid Leather – One color is applied over another to create an antique appearance.  Sometimes this is also called distressed.

Aniline – The leather is immersed in a bath of transparent dye. Natural marking show through, so usually only the best of leathers are used.

Styles

Plain – Plain saddlebags have no adornment.  They do though, have a nice, classic look to them.

Studded - Rivets are used to decorate this style of bag.  The rivets should be rust proof and don’t compromise the bag in anyway.

Full Dress – This style bag is decked out.  It might have braided edges, rivets and fringe.  It is a bag made to be looked at and a feature piece of your bike.

With all bags you want to watch for a few things about construction.  It needs to have rot proof thread, rust proof rivets and thick enough leather to hold up to use.

One thing you don’t want is a sagging bag.  You can’t check for this at the time you buy your bag, it tends to happen later, after you have had your bag for a while.  One way to prevent sagging bag is to get a leather lid insert.  The leather lid insert re-enforces the bag making it hold it’s shape.

Saddlebags for Low Riders are styled to compliment the flow of a Low Rider.  Slanted and usually a bit smaller to fit in between the taillight and rear shock, these bags look great on a bike.  They do tend to be a medium size bag, but still large enough to handle a lot of storage.

Options with Low Riders needing a saddlebag are as plentiful as with other bikes.   Look for superior construction. Now is not the time to compromise on cost, it will show up on how well your bag looks in the future and how it stands up to the elements over time.

Superior construction includes thick, top grain leather and thread, rivets and hardware that won’t rot or rust.  You can get this bag either as a throw over or bolt on and then don’t forget, you still get to pick out if you want plain, studded or full dress.

Consider what protection the bag has against sun and rain.  All full grain leather has some natural protection.  Depending on how and when you ride your bike, you might want to consider additional weatherproofing for your bag.

Time, use, sun and rain will cause leather bags to sag.  It is usually just part of a life cycle of a leather saddlebag.  It doesn’t have to be if you use a leather lid insert.  This additional re-enforcement makes a leather bag retain it’s shape.  All you see from the outside is a bag that looks great, the re-enforcement to eliminate a sagging bag is all done inside the bag without taking away from your storage space.

It is possible, but you are taking a gamble.  We all know that we can often get things cheaper online.  Great, until construction and materials have been compromised.

Ebay is good for a lot of things.  Saddlebags aren’t necessarily one of them.  This isn’t to say you shouldn’t buy a saddlebag online.  Just go to a reputable company’s web site and purchase from them.

Often time’s ebay sellers offer things as “what you see is what you get”.  Ok, fair enough, but pictures can be a bit deceiving and you need a little more reassurance than that.  Other Ebay sellers do offer a stronger guarantee, but you have to be careful.

Finding a reputable company online isn’t that difficult.  They will usually show off how they stand behind their product and that is what you want.  Look for guarantees and feed back.  Do they give you a physical location as well as a phone number?  What type of security do they use in processing payments?  Call them up and talk to them.  You will get a good feel for what they are about.