Pannier / Backpack etc

pangolin

The pannier thread has got me thinking.

Recently, being a manly man, I learned to use the sewing machine we got for a wedding present. Mostly to make manly gear like backpacks, camping stuff, doilies etc. I made a backpack, it went quite well. Here it is



It's orange, not pink. It's the lights. I swear. I learned a lot making it and have ideas for backpack mk2 already. The problem is we live in a small flat and bpmk1 + bpmk2 start to take up space. Less space = less happy wife. Not good!

I also want to try making a frame bag as an alternative to panniers / backpacks on the bike. So we are now in the territory of bkmk1 + bkmk2 + fbmk1 + fbmk2. It's a vicious cycle.

My point is, does anyone want a frame bag or backpack? I wouldn't want to sell them yet and throwing them away seems a shame. I wouldn't give anyone mk1 as it would be more likely to break and no-one needs that.

Any willing guinea pigs? I won't take more than 2 or 3 requests at the moment as the bag took a while. Once it's ready I can either meet up in London or post it if you cover postage. For a frame bag you will need to let me know the dimensions of the area you want it to fit in (angles of frame, length of different sides of the bag, how wide you want it etc). For a backpack let me know roughly how big you want it in litres I guess.

Pangolin packs come with no guarantees whatsoever. There is no charge and no returns. The design of the pack can and will change at any time for no clear reason. They may fall apart and it is recommended you check the stitching on your pangolin pack before heading out to avoid catastrophic failure and probable death.

clarkey cat

That is pink!

pangolin

It's orange. Your rapha backpack cover is pink

clarkey cat

Yes... yes it is.

Can you do one with compartments for nappies, bottles... and with a fold-out changing mat?

pangolin

Erm...

No?

spasypaddy

i'd take a free backpack. cant promise how often id use it but i'd love a free backpack. im also in london

pangolin

Cool! I don't expect you to use it every day. Use it a few times, let me know if it works ok, what you'd change, if it's still in one piece. That's all really.

Couple of questions for you then. How big would you like it? Would you like zip or roll top closure? Do you want pockets on the outside? Do you want it to have a hip belt / sternum strap or just 2 straps?

mudcow007

pangolin wrote:

Cool! I don't expect you to use it every day. Use it a few times, let me know if it works ok, what you'd change, if it's still in one piece. That's all really.

Couple of questions for you then. How big would you like it? Would you like zip or roll top closure? Do you want pockets on the outside? Do you want it to have a hip belt / sternum strap or just 2 straps?

i'll test one for you aswell if you want

i use a backpack daily (my trusty bergahus airflow thing)

one thing i would really like on the back of a pack, is mesh on the back similar to a "hump" pack cover to enable a light to be inserted etc

pangolin

Awesome thanks mudcow. Can you let me know the other info for the spec please? Either on here or pm.

That's all for backpacks in that case, thanks for reading! Would take 1 frame bag order if anyone is interested. I'm thinking along the lines of something like this

spasypaddy

pangolin wrote:

Cool! I don't expect you to use it every day. Use it a few times, let me know if it works ok, what you'd change, if it's still in one piece. That's all really.

Couple of questions for you then. How big would you like it? Would you like zip or roll top closure? Do you want pockets on the outside? Do you want it to have a hip belt / sternum strap or just 2 straps?

i wont use it every day. i use pannier rack now most days. its just when i take a different bike it doesnt have a rack.

anywhere between 15 and 20 litres would be perfect.

Roll top is more waterproof as i imagine you aren't going to use taped zips.

side pockets would be handy for my gore packable coat and my keys.

Hip belt would be amazing (and a chest if you are offering)

pangolin

Rolltop it is, hip and chest straps are fine. I'll try to make it fairly waterproof.

Can you both let me know (PM if you prefer) your waist and chest size, and the distance from your waist (where your belt is) to your shoulders please?

(this combined with DDD's expenditure thread is really just a big identity theft attempt)

optimisticbiker

I'd say yes, but just bought two Gourdon 20L rolltop drysacs, and they arrived by courier just before I opened this thread ! Your's looks remarkably similar*




*No suggestion of plagerism intended, a backpack is sometimes just a backpack, to plagerise Freud

spasypaddy

i'll do those measurements when i get home from work later.

do you want anything in exchange for the expenditure to make these?

pangolin

OptimisticBiker wrote:

*No suggestion of plagerism intended, a backpack is sometimes just a backpack, to plagerise Freud

No worries! I have a gourdon 20l and a gourdon 30l. The 20l is a really good pack, and was the reason for the compression straps on the one I made. The 30l is alright, but I don't find myself using it nearly as much. Alpkit are awesome, I have one of their new filo jackets which is great.

pangolin

spasypaddy wrote:

do you want anything in exchange for the expenditure to make these?

Thanks but not for these two. I have the stuff to make them already and I'm not confident enough yet in their durability to charge anything.

spasypaddy

even better!

this is starting to sound like a great idea

optimisticbiker

pangolin wrote:

OptimisticBiker wrote:

*No suggestion of plagerism intended, a backpack is sometimes just a backpack, to plagerise Freud

No worries! I have a gourdon 20l and a gourdon 30l. The 20l is a really good pack, and was the reason for the compression straps on the one I made. The 30l is alright, but I don't find myself using it nearly as much. Alpkit are awesome, I have one of their new filo jackets which is great.

On your 20L Gourdon, does the chest strap fasten straight across, or at a diagonal?

<edit>don't worry, on closer inspection (while not half asleep) I discovered that the straps are moveable!</edit>

pangolin

Second test pack made. Roll top on this one, which needs something a bit stiffer on one side in the next version. It's a lot smaller, more cycling sized. Went for a ride with it loaded up and nothing exploded.

Next one will be slightly in nicer (red!) fabric for spasypaddy.

spasypaddy

that looks awesome!

apreading

pangolin wrote:

Awesome thanks mudcow. Can you let me know the other info for the spec please? Either on here or pm.

That's all for backpacks in that case, thanks for reading! Would take 1 frame bag order if anyone is interested. I'm thinking along the lines of something like this

I would love something like that - hate backpacks with a vengeance and use a pannier, but this would be alot more aerodynamic and unlike many of the frame bags that one looks like it would hold a fair bit. To get one made to fit the dimensions of the bike would be awesome...!

If you want a guinea pig still, let me know and I will get you dimensions.

Cheers

pangolin

apreading wrote:

I would love something like that - hate backpacks with a vengeance and use a pannier, but this would be alot more aerodynamic and unlike many of the frame bags that one looks like it would hold a fair bit. To get one made to fit the dimensions of the bike would be awesome...!

If you want a guinea pig still, let me know and I will get you dimensions.

Cheers

Hi Mate

Yeah get some dimensions together and I'll see what I can do. No promises on timescales though! I'll need the length you want each side, along with the angles between each side. And how wide you want it to be. Think about how wide you can have it before it would annoy your knees, and also whether it will get in the way of bottles.

jimmypippa

OptimisticBiker wrote:

I'd say yes, but just bought two Gourdon 20L rolltop drysacs, and they arrived by courier just before I opened this thread ! Your's looks remarkably similar*




*No suggestion of plagerism intended, a backpack is sometimes just a backpack, to plagerise Freud

They do indeed look similar - pleasingly minimilist, I've just spent six hours on Kinder with the red 20 litre gourdon, I've become quite a fan of Alpkit, having bought the gourdon and gamma headtorch.

Off topic, someone had been busy:


This was about 100-yds from Kinder Gates

It was quite icy - ice spikes meant that I could walk up the stream shown:

pangolin

This place?

http://www.peakdistrictinformation.com/features/kinder.php

Looks cool!

jimmypippa

pangolin wrote:

This place?

http://www.peakdistrictinformation.com/features/kinder.php

Looks cool!

Pun intended?

That's the place - the waterfall was the top of Crowden brook
Not quite cycling speed: 15-miles in 6 hours. But I did keep stopping for photos. Kinder Gates are a couple of rocks in the middle of the plateau, through which the River Kinder flows. It's best to go up there when everything is frozen solid, though I saw several injuries today from people not wearing microcrampons or equivalent. I also saw several near misses, from people who can't have been having fun.

Headhuunter

pangolin wrote:

apreading wrote:

I would love something like that - hate backpacks with a vengeance and use a pannier, but this would be alot more aerodynamic and unlike many of the frame bags that one looks like it would hold a fair bit. To get one made to fit the dimensions of the bike would be awesome...!

If you want a guinea pig still, let me know and I will get you dimensions.

Cheers

Hi Mate

Yeah get some dimensions together and I'll see what I can do. No promises on timescales though! I'll need the length you want each side, along with the angles between each side. And how wide you want it to be. Think about how wide you can have it before it would annoy your knees, and also whether it will get in the way of bottles.

How many of those frame bags do you want to test? I've been thinking of getting something like that for a while. I'm basically looking for something to shove puncture kit in when on a ride. I find that the bags that sling under the saddle and the "tri bag" type which sits behind the bars on top of he frame both generally attach with velcro or have velcro straps etc which end up wearing holes in my lycra gear. I'm trying to find some kind of solution which would keep the lycra away from the velcro or a bag without velcro....

pangolin

pangolin wrote:

apreading wrote:

If you want a guinea pig still, let me know and I will get you dimensions.

Cheers

Yeah get some dimensions together and I'll see what I can do.

@ apreading - Just a thought, it might be easier for you to cut out a piece of paper so it fits the way you want it to? So just get a sheet of A4 and cut it until it's the right shape and matches the inside of your frame. Then you could post me that. Up to you.

pangolin

Headhuunter wrote:

How many of those frame bags do you want to test? I've been thinking of getting something like that for a while. I'm basically looking for something to shove puncture kit in when on a ride. I find that the bags that sling under the saddle and the "tri bag" type which sits behind the bars on top of he frame both generally attach with velcro or have velcro straps etc which end up wearing holes in my lycra gear. I'm trying to find some kind of solution which would keep the lycra away from the velcro or a bag without velcro....

My topeak tribag really annoys me. The velcro seems to be just the wrong size and it flops from side to side, looking ugly and hitting my knees. Poor knees.

Anyway. So do you mean you don't mind velcro as a rule, but where it's positioned means it rubs between your thighs or on your knees (and so wears out your gear)...? Had any thoughts about what you would prefer? I guess I could attach it with a bit of webbing with a popper on it, but you still end up with a strip of webbing going where the velcro would have, which might have much the same effect.

Headhuunter

pangolin wrote:

Headhuunter wrote:

How many of those frame bags do you want to test? I've been thinking of getting something like that for a while. I'm basically looking for something to shove puncture kit in when on a ride. I find that the bags that sling under the saddle and the "tri bag" type which sits behind the bars on top of he frame both generally attach with velcro or have velcro straps etc which end up wearing holes in my lycra gear. I'm trying to find some kind of solution which would keep the lycra away from the velcro or a bag without velcro....

My topeak tribag really annoys me. The velcro seems to be just the wrong size and it flops from side to side, looking ugly and hitting my knees. Poor knees.

Anyway. So do you mean you don't mind velcro as a rule, but where it's positioned means it rubs between your thighs or on your knees (and so wears out your gear)...? Had any thoughts about what you would prefer? I guess I could attach it with a bit of webbing with a popper on it, but you still end up with a strip of webbing going where the velcro would have, which might have much the same effect.

I'm not really sure what the solution is, I don't mind velcro as long as it's positioned so that it doesn't wear holes in my clothing! If there's some other way of attaching it may be all the better... At the moment I tend to try to stuff everything in the rear pockets of my jersey but sometimes with puncture gear, tube, couple of bananas, phone, money, credit card etce etc the pocket starts to stretch so I'm quite keen to find some kind of bag that fits somewhere! Is there some way of covering the end of the velcro in some way do you think? If this is all too much hassle for you then feel free to tell me to b*gger off so that you can find a less high maintenance guinea pig!

Nik Cube

Happy to try a frame pack or a back pack

I use a7.5 ltr back pack pretty much every day 20'mile round trip at least. Would like to get the Pack of my back it poss. I need to carry two sets of keys food and two items of cloths so happy to try frame pack daily and pay your costs

pangolin

Nik Cube wrote:

Happy to try a frame pack or a back pack

I use a7.5 ltr back pack pretty much every day 20'mile round trip at least. Would like to get the Pack of my back it poss. I need to carry two sets of keys food and two items of cloths so happy to try frame pack daily and pay your costs

Sorry Nik I'm going to stop taking requests for a while, till I catch up. You'll be first if I finish these and still want to do more.

Headhuunter wrote:

I'm not really sure what the solution is, I don't mind velcro as long as it's positioned so that it doesn't wear holes in my clothing! If there's some other way of attaching it may be all the better... At the moment I tend to try to stuff everything in the rear pockets of my jersey but sometimes with puncture gear, tube, couple of bananas, phone, money, credit card etce etc the pocket starts to stretch so I'm quite keen to find some kind of bag that fits somewhere! Is there some way of covering the end of the velcro in some way do you think? If this is all too much hassle for you then feel free to tell me to b*gger off so that you can find a less high maintenance guinea pig!

Haha, well no need to bugger off just yet. I'll have a think about ways around it and let you know if I come up with anything. In the meantime could you send me the dimensions of the bike in the section where you would like it to fit?

pangolin

Spasypaddy's pack is complete! And sort of in his club's colours. It needs a couple of bits tidying up but it's basically finished.









Pretty pleased with this, it's better than my previous attempts. It has a hip belt and sternum strap (just basic webbing straps). The mesh pocket is divided into 3, like the back of a jersey. It needs some shockcord for compression and the straps need tidying up a bit, then it is done.

Spasypaddy, shall we meet up one evening on the way home? Maybe pm me to organise.

No other packs are currently in the works, as everyone has spectacularly failed to send me the dimensions I asked for! First one to send me some frame dimensions gets a free attempt at a frame bag.