free website stats program What is a bagger? | Harley Davidson Forums

What is a bagger?

Q

quiticokid

Member
What constitutes the definition of a bagger? Is it a roadking with hard bags on the side or does it have to have a tour pack or what? What is the true definition???
 
smitty901 said:
Frame is what makes it a bagger.
What you hang on it is your call. The first in the line of baggers in the RK from there they just keep hanging more stuff on

And a bagger frame with no bags on it looks sick
Click to expand...

i Agree, a bagger without the bags is a sorry sight!
 
smitty901 said:
bagless bagger notice the frame so much different than all the rest
100_0344.jpg
Click to expand...

HEY SMITTY - your bagger is NEKED!!!!!!! :small3d031: haha!
 
IMHO, a bagger is big and fat, has a sturdier frame, bags (hard/soft) and can handle 2 up riding with no problems. I don't really like some of the bikes that start out as baggers but end up being stretched to 9 ft and has to be trailered to the show. Only good for looking at.
 
Over the years we referred to any touring bike as a bagger...But then we would call the Electra glide Classic and Standard(rip)...Dressers...and the Ultra as a Full Dresser...might have been a mid-west thing..
 
Imho, a bagger is also the original HD. And by that I mean, if you take the machine from their inception and follow the evolution of them from decade to decade...the true pedigree becomes a bagger.

Re-quoting another party from this forum...The touring frame machines (baggers), are truly the "flagship" of the motor company.

The first time I heard the term "Bagger", was about ten years ago. A gent at work traded his Softail Custom for an Ultra. His comment was, "Randy, I never thought I'd see the day I would be buying a "bagger"..."

I worked with another colorful gent at work named Bill. Bill was an old Harley rider from way back. He always bought the Electraglide models and they were always set up for touring with hard bags, tour-pack, fairing etc. Now I never heard Bill ever say the term "Bagger". However if you ask him what kind of cycle he rode he always replied, with a twinkle in his eye..."Harley-Davidson (pause) FULLY DRESSED.":s
 
I'm leaning toward others statments that "bagger" is a relatively recent term. I don't remember hearing it before the mid 90's. "Dresser" was the usual term (geezer glide after they left). But like Smitty says, the touring frame is what defines it for me. I have a Dyna Glide with leather saddlebags, and a big leather bag mounted on the luggage rack, as well as the large convertible windshield. I have never thought of it as a bagger (or dresser).
 
smitty901 said:
Frame is what makes it a bagger.
What you hang on it is your call. The first in the line of baggers in the RK from there they just keep hanging more stuff on

And a bagger frame with no bags on it looks sick
Click to expand...

Smitty, point well taken. However...if HD made a new touring frame machine that would look good without the bags, I would have bought one in a skinny New York minute, last August. Instead I bought a Softail Deluxe. But oooohhhh, the ride of a touring frame machine is SO much better. I kept my Roadking so I now have the best of both worlds...and I am a happy camper.
softail-pick-up-2.jpg
 
What Smitty said,:) the touring frame bikes are built for bags hence the name "baggers". When you first start and you're young you say "why would I want bags on a motorcycle? I might as well have a car! Then you ride for a few years and you realize what four doors and baggers are for. To have both a bagger and a bobber would be bliss but having to pick just one, baggers carry my baby doll and stuff in style! It's so nice to have those few essentials with you and be able to pick up a few things at the store--more excuses to ride!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top