Bags, Bugs & Bikes.

Been a Busy "B" Lately.

Bags

A Draw Corded Ditty Bag.

I was asked if I could create a standard sized bag with a hemp draw cord by some folks in Canada, and yes; I know I said I was not going to do this type of work again, but as I happened to have a couple of unfinished bag bodies, and also because I find it hard to say No! I got to work, and below is what I came up with from my brief.

The folks from Canada never got back to me; but luckily the bag has now been sold to another more deserving person :-)

 

Hand seamed in 12oz Cotton Duck canvas, with 6 hand sewn grommet eyelets. 

Threaded with a Hemp draw cord, the ends joined with a doubled Bosun's Lanyard knot, and finished with a seizing in waxed Hemp twine.

The sliding closure; or puckering knot is a single strand Mathew Walker knot, made with my own hand laid Hemp twine; and sized with a natural sealer. 

Some of the tools of the my trade.

Puckered up and ready to go.

Bugs.

In between jobs I decided to do a little R&R in the garden; and whilst minding my own business a little Grass Hopper hopped over for a chat, before gettign down to the business of making little Grass Hopper's with his mate; whom was keeping an eye on her mate from the adjasent Rose.

& Bikes.

And on to the business of serious fun making!

I have been fetteling with my race / road training bike over the past few weeks, I still have a way's to go yet but this is what I have done so far.

I concentrated mainly on the rear wheel and wheel disks, the original Carbon fibre moulded disks I made; and had great success with; actually winning races in my class ;-) have now been passed on and I set about building a whole new rear wheel, the main reason for a new wheel was to trim a little weight off, quieten th e thundering noise I got every time I hit a bumb; and that the original rim did not have enough surface area for attaching the fabric covering.

The covering is is a very light weight ripstop nylon which is stretched and bonded to the rim before being sealed with cellulose.

here on the non drive side you can see the foil tape patch that gives access to the valve stem for pumping the tyre, the patch make the wheel more aerodynamic than if it was left with the gaping hole in it.

I then got down to the business of comfort and made a new air mesh padded seat pad, and pillow neck rest from the same materials, and I can confirm that it is too comfortable, I have been spotted napping on several occasions whilst out and presumably training ;-)

I could not help myself and had to add a nice dimpled look to the pad very cushy.

I still have the new bars I made to fit, which include a whole new brake and gear operating system, some serious chopping and modding going on there.

more to follow soon?

Take care,

Barry ;-) 

Bag To The Future!

How Do All ;-)

A bit of a departure from the expected Rope & Canvas; but no less interesting, for me in any case.

I started racing my Laid Back (Recumbent Cylce) in 2010 with the British Human Power Club, but as I have no other transport; I had to rely on outside help to get my bag of bits to the race track, later in the year I purchased a single wheel trailer which made it easier for me to get to my local circuit with all of the unnecessary crap I thought I needed to take.
Problem with the trailer is that to travel further a field would mean travelling with the bike and trailer on public transport, not an easy task getting on and off trains or navigating stairs with both items.

After seeing a set of saddle bags that fellow racer Dave T had slung over his seat and hearing that he travelled all over the country to races by train not to mention the fact he lives in the arse end of the county; down Cornwall way, talk about commitment (Hero)  ;-)
Here is a picture of Dave's bike and saddle bags; taken by me at Reading last month.

Any how I decided this year I wanted to get to more races and a set of bags like that would be just the ticket.

I first started out travelling to a race in Reading slinging a pair of Ortlieb canoe bags on either side of the seat which worked handsomely; but lacked the convenience of proper securing straps or zips to get at my stuff whilst attached to the bike still.

After making a couple of prototype designs using ideas from the afore mentioned Hero racer's bags and also details kindly given by another fellow racer Barney H; I decided the shape these guys were using did not suit my set up and the bags seem to slump under my seat, where as the cylinder shaped canoe bags seemed to sit nicely and make good arm rests too, just like a rolling armchair ;-)

Well this is where I am at now; with a  nice set of bright Orange, Polyester reinforced PVC saddle bags.
I can just sling these over my seat and ride. there is no need to have a rack mounted as the bags are supported by the seat, and the bags are joined three webbing straps.
When I get to the train station I just whip the bags off and throw them over my shoulder using one of the end straps as a shoulder strap. 

There are 3 side compression straps, so should I wish to I can carry extra items, like a full sized track pump or whatever. I have that option, the centre strap has a side release buckle for easier access to the main zip opening.

The bags sit fairly high up on the seat and close to the body so don't affect the ride of the bike or create to much drag, definitely and improvement from the energy sapping trailer with pannier bags on it.

I did think that bags like this would just swing about wildly from side to side under the seat when cornering, but they are completely stable with no noticeable movement. now all I need to add is a cup holder  ;-)

The ends on the bag bodies are hand seamed as this is easier to do by hand than machine, and gives a better and stronger finish, in my opinion anyway,

The volume of each bag is exactly 14.034 litres  making for a handy 28 litres total carrying space, same size as the average day pack.

I took some of the design inspiration from my North Face, Base Camp Duffel's, of which I have several; now battle scarred, but still going strong, a testament to their reliability and build quality, lets see if my bags last as long ;-)
Maybe at some point I will add a detachable shoulder strap, or dedicated grab handles,

Take care,

Barry ;-)