Moving Forward: Setting Back A Carradice Bag

A couple of weeks ago, I described one of my rainy-day DYI projects that resulted in an easy-on, easy-off Carradice Nelson bag for my commuter.


Now, I'll describe another project I did the same day I did that one.  It also involved a Carradice bag:  in this case, the Barley.  Actually, it involved two of them.


Some cyclists complain about "thigh slap" when using traditional-style Carradice saddle bags, particularly on racing bikes.  That is because those bags were designed when bikes, even the racing variety, had shallower angles.  That meant that saddles sat further forward on seat posts and seat tubes than they do on modern bikes.  Also, Brooks saddles, for which Carradice saddlebags are designed, sit further forward and have less room on the rails to set them back than most saddles designed at a later date.  


The so-called Bagman is designed, in part, to alleviate this problem.  It looks well-made enough, but it weighs and costs nearly as much as some good racks.  (I own one, which I haven't used yet, for the possibility of using the Nelson longflap on Arielle or Tosca.)  Plus, it's not the easiest thing to install.  Finally, it mounts on the saddle rails and, depending on your saddle and where it's positioned, you may not have enough room on your rails to install it.


So, I adapted someone else's idea and added one of my own to set the bag back.  

Here's the idea I adapted:  I took two short pieces of PVC pipe, which you can find in any hardware store, screwed them together, filed one end to fit on the seat post and wrapped them in black tape. Then, instead of using the strap Carradice provides for attaching the bag to the seat post, I took a cheap strap and threaded one end through the pipe, into the part of the bag designed for the strap, and back into the pipe, which I cinched around the seat post.


After I installed the bags and rode them a couple of times, I discovered something else.  Canvas bags, like leather saddles, become more supple with use.  So the bag "collapsed" around the pipe, and sometimes (depending on whether I slid back on the saddle), my thighs grazed the ends of the bags.  

If you're familiar with these bags, you know that there's a wooden dowel that runs across the top.  When you attach the bag to the slots or loops on a Brooks-style saddle, you loop the straps around that dowel.  Well, I installed another dowel like it across the bottom of the bag, at the point where the pipe meets the bag.  

I fastened the dowels with small wood screws.  That is how Carradice attaches the original dowel, so I figured those screws wouldn't harm the fabric.


A few days after I made the modifications, I got caught in a pretty fair downpour.  (Is that an oxymoron?)  I am happy to report that everything I had in that bag--my camera, notebook, an extra layer and, ironically, a tube of sunblock--remained as dry as Charlie and Max were in my apartment.

Day Is Done

Last night, I stayed up much later than I'd planned.  There was a technical glitch, and I got a bunch of angry e-mails from students and a couple more phone messages from the technical school in which I taught a couple of classes this year.  It turns out neither the college nor the students got the grades.  For some students, it's not merely an inconvenience; it can actually affect whether or not they can register for some of the courses they need, or get financial aid.


And I got another message from the college telling me that I hadn't taken some online training course in sensitive communications (a subject about which I know absolutely nothing) or some such thing.  When I opened the site for that course, which is not maintained by the school itself but by an outside contractor, it crashed my computer.  Of course their IT department denies that their software would ever do any such thing to my computer.


So, after scrambling to fix those things (I'm still not finished with the course), I got to bed much later than I'd intended.  That meant, of course, that I got up later than I'd planned.  But at least at this time of year, in this part of the world, you can get away with that, as days are longer.  In fact, it turned out rather nicely.  I'm talking about the day as well as my ride. 

And now, appropriately enough, I'm listening to Nick Drake's "Day Is Done."

A Sign On A Nearly Perfect Day

We know we're committed to something (or someone) when an absolutely normal, routine day of it is utterly satisfying.


Today was such a day.  I didn't take a long ride:  Just enough to meet my friend Bruce, whom I hadn't seen in months, for lunch and to wander some side streets of the East and West Villages in Manhattan.  


I'll admit, though, the weather was glorious:  warm, but not overly so, and sunny, with a few clouds and moderate humidity.  


The ride itself was its own reward.  But even if such hadn't been the case, the ride would have been worth it for this:

His sign reads:  "Keepin' It Real.  I Need Weed.  Spare $1.00. Respect the (I couldn't read the last word.)"  


It wouldn't surprise me if he didn't actually smoke weed.  Actually, I hope that's the case, if only because it would show that the man has a talent.  Perhaps one day he will be able to use it, and won't need to stand with a sign like that.


Then, hopefully, he'll make some other cyclist's--or someone else's day.  It might even be on a day like today.

At The End Of The Day

OK, for the 300th post on this blog, I will reveal all of the secrets of the universe, at least as they relate to cycling.


All right...Now that I've got your attention, I'll do something a little more mundane.  (Did I just do a bait-and-switch?)  I am going to show you, at least in some way, what it means to cycle home from work on a Thursday night in my neighborhood.

Astoria and neighboring Long Island City are the Queens--and New York City--neighborhoods in which one can come closest to living in Manhattan without actually living in it.  So, even though the streets and houses have the feel of a smaller urban area, everything seems to point in the direction of Manhattan, directly to the west.  


So, depending on the time of day, one can see the sun setting directly ahead, as I did today.  


And, of course, no ride home from work is complete without stopping for something to eat, or the ingredients to make it.  Today that meant ciabatta and anisette biscotti:

I blame Marianela. She claims the light in that place--and the block at the end of the day--brings out her natural glow.  How come that line doesn't work when I use it? ;-)

Czeching Out My Options

Some of the more interesting experiences I've had were results of plans that changed unexpectedly.  Something like that seems to be happening again.


I had expected to teach a short course for July and part of August.  However, that course has been cancelled.  C'est la vie.  Also, the plans of a friend I was going to visit in Paris changed.  I could have gone there anyway and spent my time walking or cycling the streets and lingering in the museums (especially the Rodin, Picasso and d'Orsay) and galleries.  But, as I've lived in the City of Light and returned several times, I would have preferred to have done those things with my friend.


So, deciding I wanted some adventure in the time I had off this summer, I booked a trip to Prague. 


Now I am trying to make a decision.  You might have already guessed what it is.  Should I:

• bring one of my bikes with me,
• rent a bike 
• buy a bike there (I even thought about buying a cheap one and selling it or giving it away when I leave), or
• buy a cheap bike, bring it with me and leave it there?

I returned from my last European bike tour--in the Alps--a few weeks before 9/11.  That was also the last time I brought a bike on a flight.  Things were relatively simple then, at least on international flights.  Passengers were allowed two checked pieces of luggage, with a maximum weight of 44 kilograms (70 pounds.)  A bicycle in a box or carrier was counted as one of those pieces of luggage.  Air France and KLM, in particular, were accommodating to cyclists (Are you surprised?) but I never had trouble on other carriers I used, including Air India, Tower Air (remember them?) or Laker Skytrain (R.I.P.)


Lately, though, I've heard some horror stories from people who brought their bikes on flights.  They don't include what airlines charge for doing so.  It seems that policies regarding such things are made in situ by whoever happens to be on duty.


As I'm spending ten days in Prague, and don't plan to spend all day every day on a bike loaded with panniers and such, I'm not quite as fussy about what I'll ride.  I want it to more or less fit, of course, and to be at least reasonably satisfying (to me, anyway) to ride. 


This is one time having a Brompton might have been handy.  I thought about buying one a while back.  But Hal, who set up my Mercians said that while he is satisfied with the quality of the bikes (Bicycle Habitat, in which he works, sells them.), he doesn't like the fact that they have proprietary parts that are necessitated by some of the nonstandard dimensions of the bike.   Also, while some Brompton riders have told me they like their rides, what they and others have told me indicates that the bikes still have some of the qualities I disliked (some of which have to do with the ride) in folding bikes I've owned  and ridden.


I guess I could stretch (and hopefully not blow) my budget and buy a Brompton. Or I could buy some less expensive folding bike.  Or I could do one of the things I listed earlier in this post.  Or I could stop beginning sentences with "or."  Seriously, if you have any suggestions, please let me know.


P.S. I had intended to post this last night.  But I had trouble with my Internet connection.  I guess that's the price one pays for being cheap:  My Internet connection is free.