Hard Bag Chaps
Thanks to Mark "Dutch"Haaland for his photos, descriptions and reverse engineering efforts

Ok, here's the problem.  

    You have a beautiful set of hard bags on your bike and every time your passenger climbs aboard they hit the bag with a boot and now you have another mark or, worse, a scratch.   You need to protect the top of your bags.

And the solution?

    There are a few options commercially available ranging from Kawasaki's own Fire & Steel bag protector bars (see them and installation instructions here) to less expensive (and less beefy) bars from J.C. Whitney, Cobra and maybe others. You can also attach fender bibs from Mustang Seats to your bags which will look pretty good but may not provide as much protection as you want.

Here's the 'complete protection' option you can make yourself if you have a sewing machine or can borrow one from a neighbor.  

What you'll need

Vinyl or leather, enough to cover the top of both bags as shown in the photos below

edging made of same or similar material

sew on type Velcro

Strap as shown

Buckles as shown

How To Do It

This is the pattern you can use to make fender chaps from your choice of materials		Chaps front secured over Nomad dresser bar	Velcro looped under bar holds chap in place
Chap then lays over the top of the bag protecting from scuffs		Strap fastened to rear of chap ties to the bottom	Here is the top view as cut from the pattern
Top rear of chap showing strap and buckle		Same as previous picture except shown from the side.  Note how strap is looped through buckle then sewn to chap	Felt wrapped around front end of chap to protect bag
Photo shows stitching on top of bag holding Velcro on back		Felt applied to front of chap	Front of chap looped over as it would be on dresser bar
Underside of chaps with Velcro and felt in place		Another shot of felt cover at rear of chap that shows thin plastic insert designed to protect bags	"Loop" (soft) Velcro is sewn here at front
"Hook" (stiffer) side of Velcro sewn here		Photo shows edging.  It is 1"wide folded over and sewn to cover 1/2"on the front and rear	Here is the velcro hook and loop on the strap.
This side of the strap has felt on it to protect the bags.		The plastic buckle on the back of the chaps.	The strap goes into this buckle.
once through, push it together and the velcro will hold it in place.		This is showing rear of the chaps and strap.	Another shot of the strap.  The nylon cord ties around the mount at the bottom of the bag.