FLAGS NOMAD

Flags.... how the heck do I get them to stay on there?

If your like me then you may have joined on organization that displays flags as a matter of honor and respect for out fallen military heroes and their families.

Such a group is the "PGR"

Or you may just want to display the flag of your favorite football team or some other institution. In either case here are a few ideas on flag mounts.

Understanding Flag Placement On Motorcycles - Where does it go? - Flag Code Explained

US Flag Only

If only the US Flag is on your bike, it should either be at the center, or to its "marching right" - on the right side of the motorcycle to the rider's perspective when facing forward.

US Flag And One Other Flag Of Any Type

If the US Flag is on your bike with another, it should be to its "marching right" - on the right side of the motorcycle to the rider's perspective. If the other flag is that of another nation, it should be the same size and at the same height of the US Flag - NO flag should ever be displayed higher than the US Flag.

US Flag And More Than One Other Non-National Flag

If the US Flag is on your bike with several other non-national flags (POW/MIA, ALR, Eagles, Service Banners, etc.) , it should be at center and higher than any of the other flags.

US Flag And More Than One Flag Including Those Of Other Nations

If the US Flag is displayed on your bike with those of any other nation, the flags should be same size and at the same height, with the US Flag to marching right (right side of the vehicle), and others arranged in alphabetical order to the left. Other flags should be arranged in order of decreasing importance - Nations first, states (in order of admittance) and territories second, military third (in order of establishment), and then any others. Again, no flag should fly higher than the US Flag, but the US Flag should be no higher than that of any other nation's displayed.

Rationale from the American Legion Riders

Since the small bike flags we use are all but invisible from the front (when mounted on the rear), the concept of "Flag's own right" should be used with the vantage from the rear of the bike. (This would place the Flag on the on left-hand, rear of your bike). This concept, unfortunately, overlooks a more applicable concept.

If you equate the motion of your bike with marching, and you equate traffic with a procession, another portion of the Flag Code becomes the obvious choice for display of the Flag alone, or with another:

Rule 9: "The Flag, when carried in a procession with another flag or flags, should be either on the marching right; that is, the Flag's own right, or, if there is a line of other flags, in front of the center of that line."

The second portion of this rule does not work well with most motorcycles, since there usually is no means to mount the Flag in front (in the direction of travel) of the others if all flags are to be mounted at the rear of the bike. In this case, we rely on:

Rule 10: "The Flag of the United States of America should be at the center and at the highest point of the group when a number of flags of States or localities or pennants of societies are grouped and displayed from staffs." Included in this would be POW/MIA flags and American Legion Riders flags.

Finally, if you are displaying another country's flag along with the US Flag, they both should be at the same height and the same size, and the US Flag should be displayed on the right side (again, marching right). This is basically Rule 11: "When flags of two or more nations are displayed, they are to be flown from separate staffs of the same height. The flags should be of approximately equal size. International usage forbids the display of the flag of one nation above that of another nation in time of peace. The order of precedence for flags generally is National flags (US first, then others in alphabetical order in English), State (host state first, then others in the order of admission) and territories (Washington DC, Puerto Rico, etc.), Military (in order of establishment: Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard), then other."

Available from Gettysburg Flag Works, Inc.

This in an inexpensive mount designed to attach to your License plate. It goes for around $20 dollars. Flags are also available from this site as well. These are great for parade type speeds and I will guess probably good up to 45 MPH but I would be hesitant to drive at interstate speeds with a flag on a wooden pole.

Available from SSP FLAGS, LLC

This one, is designed for car windows but seem to be marketed to work on Harley Tour Pak trunks. I have a Tour-Pak on my bike and they really don't fit like a glove, but they will work. Closing the trunk lid on the mount lip will secure the flag mount and flag. I bought these to use for another purpose shown on down the page a bit.

The next two pictures side by side are for a round rack (left) and for a square rack (right).

The last picture is for mounting on a sissy bar or passenger backrest.

Tag Flag Products

Attachment Plates are all made from quality 12 ga. 304 stainless steel, laser cut to design specifications and polished to a bright mirror finish for years of carefree use. The Plates attach to your existing tag and holder in less than 5 minutes, with one wrench. The Plate is attractive enough to leave on your bike even without the flag.

The pictures to the left are self explanatory.

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CADET

BANDIT

PATRIOT

TOMAHAWK

More links

http://www.motoleather.com/moac--motorcycle-flags.html

http://www.sjfdistributor.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=SD&Category_Code=FL

Pop in pop out flag poles

CLICK ON THE PICTURE

also available at Sam's Club

What I am doing at this point in time..

This is how I used the nylon window mount poles in conjunction with some Ram-Mount arms and ball mounts. Fully adjustable and quickly removable, the front driver's right side will be for the US Flag and the left side will be for a Tennessee State Flag as shown above. One thing about flags which is just plain common sense, do not mount the flag where it can interfere with the safe operation of your bike. These flag blow all over the place at 70 MPH. A large flag really could wrap around your head and blind you.... Just because you are going forward doesn't mean the flag will always fly directly behind you.

Each of the black poles you see is actually a 2'x 1/4"-20 pitch long headless bolt from Home Depot. The are black because they have sections of 1/4" diameter wire loom from Pepboys. The PVC pipe acts as the mount from the flags which came from SSP FLAGS, LLC. You simply slip the PVC mounted flag over the black plastic loom, put your washers at the top back on, hand tighten the down the nut and your in business. Notice the nylon insert nuts which will hold the flag so it can not slip up and off the long bolt. The PVC is 1/2" pipe and since it slides over the black plastic loom it is loose enough to be able to pivot once the wind catches the flag. Since the PVC pipe can rotate the flag cannot wrap around itself. This setup worked fine at 75 MPH for 1 hour, with no cracks or fractures in the aluminum. Angle aluminum was used to make a simple mount which bolts on the bottom of my WOMPUS rack. Really easy stuff here just measure, cut, drill, mount and finally, sand the cut corners of the aluminum with some sort of sanding device as a safety precaution. I painted the the assembly black sine I don't have a belt sander, I can not sand the aluminum down to make it look good bare.

Basic small flag seems most are this size. I really needed 11"x16" flags but a State Flag in that size is impossible to find. Well, find it cheaply.... 12"x18" flags seem to be very common at places that sell sporting flags and such.

A word of warning, Use caution when riding with a flag of any size on your bike.

The bigger the flag the more you will feel the effects of crosswinds which could affect you bikes handling.

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