It’s funny – everyone is entertained, it seems, by a bicycle carrying a 6’ long tube on the front basket. I guess they’re not used to taking the lane really meaning taking the lane.
Yesterday evening I put my P/R through its first testing carrying an awkward load and it passed with flying colors. Whenever I order materials for my little messenger bag business, I have them shipped to my office, since getting delivery at home from any commercial carrier is an excercise in futility and frustration (even FedEx “home delivery”, who can’t find an address to save their…ah, but I digress).
This means that I need to get partial rolls of fabric home by bike (if you’ve never seen fabric on a roll, the fabric is typically 5’ wide, which means the whole thing is about 6’ wide) up until now, I’ve been carrying them on the front of my Nishiki. Even though they’re not that heavy (tonight’s was 6 lbs), they’re extremely awkward, especially as they place a lot of the weight far away from the centerline of the bike. On the Nishiki, I’d be completely exhausted from fighting the steering when I got home (and at 4.5 miles, it’s not a long ride) . Keeping a straight line was tense, turning more so, and evasive maneuvers completely out of the question.
Not so on the P/R – it was almost no more effort to ride the bike with a roll of fabric tied to the front basket than it was unloaded. I got home just as relaxed as usual – I had no problem riding the bike with one hand, drinking from a water bottle, or fiddling with my headlight.
Awesome.
I’ve got a new name and new website for my bags – the name is Zugster Bags, and the new website is http://www.zugsterbags.com. While the site design is fairly rudimentary at the moment, it has all the information that’s in the store section here.
Over the coming weeks I’ll be filling out the new site with more details and a better gallery, and this blog will go back to being just about bikes. There will be a blog section on the Zugster Bags website too, where I’ll keep posting new developments related to the bags.
Comment [1]
These are some things I’m working on:
Website Changes
I’ve got a new domain for my bags! I started this blog intending that it be for my bike-related interests, with occasional DIY bag posts. Well, obviously the bag-making part took over, and it’s time to move it to its own site. Then this space can be taken over by lots of bicycle photos when my Kogswell Porteur arrives later this summer.
Bags & Accessories
I’ve got two custom bags and a handlebar bag in my build queue right now, and I’m excited about all three. Each one is unique, with its own little touches and challenges. Some of the things I’ll be working on after that include a laptop sleeve design, a prototype for a track tote (a.k.a. a keirin tote), and possibly some small tool pouch variations.
Sacha White’s new Vanilla bicycles poster has completely rekindled my love for Art Nouveau, and specifically Alphonse Mucha, so I have in mind to design a new bag for myself with a Mucha-inspired flap design, plus some new features of course. That probably won’t happen until the autumn at the rate these things go.
Comment [1]
This is what I carried home from work today:
20 yards of Cordura, a couple of hundred yards of grosgrain, and a bunch of hardware, plus my usual tools, U-locks, and sundries. Probably about 35 lbs – the beefed up removable strap did very well, no slippage.
I’ve been updating my flickr photostream with tags related the bags I’ve been making. Flickr’s tagging capabilities are great for this—if you want to see what a size Large messenger bag looks like, I’ve got a size: large tag for that (and small and medium, of course).
Want to see what Hot Pink looks like in a bag? Check out the cordura: hot pink tag. My color swatches photo has notes on it linking to every color for which I have photos of.
I’ll be continually adding links to the messenger bags store page for colors, features, and sizes as they’re uploaded.
I just placed an order with Outdoor Wilderness Fabrics. I really like OWF – they don’t have easy shopping-cart online ordering, but they’re knowledge, have great service, and a fantastic selection.
So, sometime next week I’ll have many more colors on hand. Some are only in one yard increments – until I’m doing a much higher volume of work, I can’t justify keeping large amounts of yardage of expensive fabrics in a lot of colors in stock. (not that I wouldn’t ‘like’ to, of course…). But one yard is enough for at least one messenger bag and a hip pack or two, plus the occasional pocket or appliqué.
So, here’s the list of what will be available soon:
- Brown
- Black
- Medium Purple
- Eggplant
- Turquoise
- Navy Blue
- Light Blue
- Hunter Green
- Olive Green
- Celery
- Red
- Khaki
- Yellow
- Spanish Yellow
- International Orange
Plus I’ve got silver, sand, burgundy, hot pink, and a few other random colors in smaller pieces suitable for appliqué
If you want something in one or more of these colors, getting an order in now will put you in the queue to have it made as soon as the material arrives.