One of the leather straps on the bags of my 97 RS is short! It's apparently not been taken care of before I bought it. The strap looks like it suffered some pretty serious shrinkage, and I am looking for some good tips to stretch it back out. I've got plenty of leather treatments, but they're for cleaning & protecting...
My father in law told me to soak the strap in water, then stretch it out by hand, little by little. Soak-Stretch-Dry-Treat. He said do this a couple times and I should be able to get it where I need it to be.
The bags are the hard-leather bags (ABS covered with leather) if that helps. I'll try to post pictures if I remember when I get home tonight.
**On a side note, I'm not so concerned with the aesthetics of the leather after stretching, it's the structural integrity of the 'belt' I'm worried about.