I just had this very same thing happen to me. The key was in the unlocked position and the release lever for the ride side bag pulled and acted just like it is supposed to when the key is in the locked position. Of course I was out of town when it happened (and I had all kinds of stuff now trapped in the right side saddlebag) I played around with it for an hour and finally decided without any tools with me I better get it to a dealer. So I found the nearest place and gave them a call. They said that they didn't know of any "trick" to get the bag open, but suggested that I go ahead and take it to them so that they could take a look. The tech came out and scratched his head for a little while and then he tried pushing the lid as hard as he could while I tried to release the lever. (which then became hard as a rock to pull on) Still no luck. So he went back inside to look at something in the service manual while I continued to mess around with it. In frustration I smacked the lid with the bottom of a closed fist (Fonzie style on the jukebox) pulled the lever again and the damn lid opened as smooth as butter. As if you say... "Aw come on man... I was just messing with you." I still have no idea how or why this happened in the first place or how I "fixed" it. Go Figure?