Odds and ends
A super-large rando bag I’m making for a friend. This one is 32×22×15cm, with a 5cm deep front pocket, 2 5×10×15cm rear pockets, and a couple of 3cm deep side pockets with elastic in the tops (the elastic is fighting it out with the fabric and, I’m afraid, losing; I need to unsew one end of the elastic band and draw it a whole bunch tighter to make it close up more.)
(And when I get it sewn together, I’m going to set it in the shower and let it be showered on for about 5 minutes to see just how waterproof it will be.)
The interfacing is sticking out from the top of the bag because I’ve not yet sewn everything together; one of the requests for this bag is a removable waterproof lining, which will require a 37 inch separable zipper, and those are moderately difficult to find and I’m not going to sew the whole shebang together until I’ve either sourced a nice one or devised a workaround!
Comments
Alas, it’s not intended for a decaleur; the bicycle it’s going onto has a moderately tall headtube and I’m not sure if any of the commercially available decaleurs will reach far enough forward to reach the front rack on the thing (I put a Velo Orange decaleur on the mlcm and I had to replace my 10cm stem with a 7cm one before I could actually mount my rando bag onto it.) I’ve been agitating for a decaleur – custom if needed – but to no avail yet :-(
When the bag is sewn together, it’s going to be pretty rigid, so looping a couple of toeclips around the not-quite-D-rings and the drops should keep the bag from shimmying around too vigorously when it’s out on the line. If Graydon was in town, I’d braze up a decaleur and better rack for him, but, alas, he’s conveniently located in Toronto and my process (for lack of a better word) still involves a lot of feedback and this won’t work at that distance.
Thanks. Yes, there seems to be a lack of good decaleur options. I have a friend that may make one using ortleib pannier hooks (as a quick release) and other materials. I’ll let you know if anything comes of it… But straps should be keep that bag secure (if they’re even needed). Neat bike too.
It’s not as though Toronto is precisely starved for custom welding shops, should it come to that.
Current plan is to stick bent stays up the rear corners, presuming Orc can provide sleeves for the purpose in the bag without running melancholy mad from having so offended the Sewing Gods; the front rack (Mark’s Rack from Rivendell) has two mount mounts for stays and I’ve only got one place on the fork, so the second set ought to do something.
But, well, it’s an experiment. :)
Comments are closed
The bag looks great! Is it intended to be used with a specific decaleur (or no decaleur)?