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So, I got the Icon profile tank bag... It is a really small bag, but actually big enough to hold dress paints and a dress shirt when riding to work on the extremely hot Monday and Tuesday this past week in the Northeast.

I ride to work up the NJ Turnpike, across the George Washington Bridge, a couple miles across the Cross Bronx and then up Webster ave.

So, I get home and pull the tank bag off my bike....

Scccccratch....

So, fellow noobs/newbs... Don't do that unless you want to see primer. Apparently, there are little bits of metal all over the place throughout my commute. And these little bits of metal must be ferromagnetic. And some of them stuck to the bottom of the magnet on my tank bag. I pulled them off after scratching the hell out of the tank.

My bike is in for the 3100 mile service and when I pick it up tomorrow I'll be purchasing (if they have it) a little bit of red Kawasaki screw up paint.

RhadamYgg

I don't understand how the tank got scratched...

Were you leaning on it or something?

HYPERR wrote:I don't understand how the tank got scratched...

Were you leaning on it or something?

Little bits of metal from the road stuck to the magnet and when I pulled the bag off, it scratched the paint on the tank.



I didn't actually think it was something that was all that likely. When I pulled the tank bag off (admittedly I didn't pull straight up) I just didn't think there would be anything rough on the underside of my tank bag magnets.

RhadamYgg

Little bits of metal? On the road... that somehow got under your bag. How big were they? Anything bigger than the size of a thumbnail seems unbelievable.

ChemicalTaste wrote:Little bits of metal? On the road... that somehow got under your bag. How big were they? Anything bigger than the size of a thumbnail seems unbelievable.

The bits of metal don't have to be very big to cause a lot of damage. the pull of the magnets is very strong, so it takes a good pull to take them off the tank. If you drag the bag off, anything caught under the magnets acts just like 80 grit sandpaper. I've done it myself when I used a magnetic tank bag on my first bike.

After I spent $250 to get my tank repainted, I tried not to make that mistake again.

The metal more than likely came from where you stored the bag at work... I doubt anything could have flown up and under your bag during the commute.

I haven't found any metal stuck under the tank bag.

Make sure when you remove it that you store it somewhere clean. It's easy to forget there's strong magnets under there.

I'm with Dr_bar. The chances of something somehow flying off the road and getting between the magnet and tank are infinitesimal if they exist at all. My tank bag picks up crumb all the time when it's off the bike even when I'm careful. I have to always brush the magnets off before putting them on the bike and then I take care to remove each one carefully.

Next bag will be strap on.

RhadamYgg wrote:

HYPERR wrote:I don't understand how the tank got scratched...

Were you leaning on it or something?

Little bits of metal from the road stuck to the magnet and when I pulled the bag off, it scratched the paint on the tank.



I didn't actually think it was something that was all that likely. When I pulled the tank bag off (admittedly I didn't pull straight up) I just didn't think there would be anything rough on the underside of my tank bag magnets.

RhadamYgg

That's very odd that there were metal particles floating around. That's the first time I heard of somthing like that.

Regardless, when using a tank bag, if you care about your bike's finish, make sure the tank is spotlessly clean, and put a fresh coat of wax on it before mounting the bag. And definitely gently lift up the bag when removing.

ChemicalTaste wrote:Little bits of metal? On the road... that somehow got under your bag. How big were they? Anything bigger than the size of a thumbnail seems unbelievable.

Hmmm, I didn't save them but they were really little bits. Not dust, but far smaller than a pebble.

Of course, I'm not really sure how big a pebble is.

RhadamYgg