Wednesday, June 21, 2017

Leather Saddlebags From Rusty Knuckles For Harley Dyna's and Softails, Built For All Of The Lane Splitters

Rusty Knuckles custom leather saddle bags with acid etched and hand stitched Harley Davidson emblems

Creating a set of saddle bags from raw materials and building to fit a bike can be quite the challenge. For a good while now, ideas have been inked on a well thumbed page in the sketchbook as a project to get done. Luckily for us, the years of hard work and showcasing our capabilities allow for customers to spring up that want unique custom items. 

One such customer out of Pennsylvania just so happened to want a set of narrow saddle bags that would fit their softail and to be in a deep cherry color to match their bike. I presented my sketches to them for a style of bag and we hatched a plan.

These bolt on saddle bags can easily be built to fit onto any bike, its just a matter of what mounting bracket that is intended to be used. We asked the customer to pick up a set of their choosing and would attach the support slot for the bracket accordingly. They chose to pick up these Saddlemen Brackets from J&P Cycle and shipped them over.

Being the fact that we also wanted a deep color to the bags with a unique look, we picked up some extra heavyweight ox blood leather in 10 oz. Then to achieve the color choice, opted to dye it some more after a light top scuffing and air brush the edges with a black fade. Another aspect that was key was a very tight fit and profile so match the bike. Nothing too bulky for hauling groceries, but a solid set of bags that could pack your leathers, some tools, oil and any other quick essentials you might need for the road. 

Needless to say we are quite proud of these bags and working to produce a line of them now starting in deep black and full custom color options. We have one more round of prototypes to produce to work out any more bugs with brackets and hardware and will then be offering them as a new product in our online stores. Lots of options to also work in such as quick release mounting bolts and a locking option.

Check out more of our leather work

Shop our etsy store for much more of our custom leather gear

Back panel of saddle bag showing top bolt holes for fender strut and lower stitching of mounting area for bracket

Mounting the Saddlemen S4 Universal Support Brackets on our 2000 Dyna FXDX for mockup

Old saddle bag picked up from swap meet for mock up purposes

Creating working templates with design specs for some of the leather pieces to cut out

Slip through support slot for universal support brackets for easy on and off mounting

Shaving the underside and rounding over the top flap for machine stitching for top of saddle bags

Saddle Bags in mockup stage before final coats of color are to be added
Custom etched aluminum emblems that were attached by drilling and hand stitching

Top view of saddlebag to show the narrow width of the finished bag. (bag isn't fully bolted on, just in mockup stage)

Saddle bags fully finished and ready for shipping.

Thursday, June 8, 2017

Billy Don Burns Summer Tour Dates


Billy Don Burns Tour Dates! BDB is open for booking! Contact him on Facebook or email directly  at catiedo52@gmail.com 

6/10 House Concert for John Bowers - Fayetteville, Arkansas / Richard Burnett Sun
6/11 Jimmy Driftwood Tribute Concert - Mountain View, AR. / Tim Crouch, Pam Setser, Josh Morningstar and The Tallent Brothers
7/1 House Concert for Jim Ross - Mountain View, Arkansa
7/6 Friends of Camilla's Acoustic Gazebo Sessions Nashville, Tennessee
7/8 Castle Bridge Event Center, St.Joseph, MO. / Josh Morningstar 
7/21-22 Lincoln Caverns - Huntingdon, PA. / Josh Morningstar 
7/23 Silver Maple House - New Eagle, PA 
7/28 Ruckus in the Boonies - Heppner, OR. / Urban Pioneers / Husky Burnette, and many others
7/30 The Volcanic Theater Pub - Bend, Oregon Mon,
7/31 Down Town Ale House - Red Bluff, California Tues
8/1 House Concert / Sheana Davis - Sonoma, California Thurs
8/3 The Waterwheel Pizza Saloon - Sonora, California / JonEmery Dodds
8/5 House Concert / Angel Dean - Sacramento, California 
8/8 House Concert / Dennis Yellowhorse Jones - Paradise Valley, Arizona
8/9 Radio Interview on Dennis Yellowhorse Jones show "The Real Deal" - Phoenix, Arizona
8/10 Roosters - Mesa, Arizona 
8/12 The Lumberyard - Roscoe, Texas / Dale Watson, Dallas Moore, Josh Morningstar, Sarah Gayle Meech, Richie Allbright
8/19 Benefit Concert for cancer victim Dwayne Newman - Mountain View, Arkansas
8 25 "The Bakersfield Gig" - Bakersfield, CA 
9/2 Chuck Reeves BBQ - Mountain View, Arkansas
9/23 Checkered Flag - Indiannpolis, Indiana

The Ditchrunners Embark On Summer 2017 Tour

The Ditchrunners Embark On Summer 2017 Tour
The timber punx from the wild north of Wisconsin are hitting the road and bringing their style of rootsy honky tonk punk down the Mississippi River and to the dirty south. Be prepared as they bring one hell of a live show and will soon have some of the catchiest new songs stuck in your head for months upon end.

6/3 Outlaw MC Annual Ripper - Madison WI
6/6 Livewire Lounge - Chicago IL
6/7 Gabe's - Iowa City IA
6/8 Pondstock - Trenton NE
6/9 Pondstock - Trenton NE
6/10 Lindberg's Tavern - Springfield MO
6/14 Blackbird on the Pearl - Tulsa OK
6/15 Depot Obar - Lubbock TX
6/16 Ray Genes It'll do - Longview TX
6/17 The Grotto - Fort Worth TX
6/18 Blackthorn - Joplin MO
6/20 Hightone Cafe - Memphis TN
6/22 Best Friends Bar - Lexington KY
6/23 Highland Taproom - Louisville KY
6/24 Motorcycle Collective - Chattanooga TN
6/27 The Thirsty Devil - Tupelo MS
6/29 Capone's - Johnson City TN
6/30 Ground Zero - Spartanburg SC
7/1 Heavy Rebel - Winston Salem NC
7/2 Heavy Rebel - Winston Salem NC
7/3 The Pour House - Raleigh NC
7/4 Philly Mike's - Raleigh NC
7/8 Flambeau River Park - Fifield WI
7/25 Lyric Room - Greenbay WI
7/27 Summer Twister - Birnamwood WI