Carradice

[crs1953]

I have just thrown away the tattered remains of my VERY old carradice longflap saddle bag and have been looking at a replacement. On their website I saw the 'Bagman Support which comes in fixed or quick release versions. One of those would be ideal I thought, but then I saw a customer review which said that it will not fit on the rails of a Brooks B17 !! The website blurb says : Other features:
Fits to most saddle rails.
Steel Saddlebag support.
Holds saddlebag vertical and reduces swing.
Maximum load - 10kg
Suitable for Cadet, Nelson, Nelson Longflap, Camper Longflap and
Super C Saddlebags.

The Brooks review from someone who bought a B17 on Wiggle says : "Wanted the retro look to go with my steel tourer. Surprisingly comfortable straight out of the box and more so as it gets broken in. Bit of a pain having to keep rain off and the rain cover supplied only just fits. Also doesn't work with Carradice bagman saddle bag supports. But overall brilliant english craftsmanship - love it!"

Does anyone know of a similar bag support that WILL fit the rails of a B17 or attach in some other way ?

Thanks in anticipation

Colin

[tooley92]

Hi Colin,

The bagman support will fit on a B17 so long as you have at least 10mm of the parallel part of the saddle rails spare behind your seat post.

[tatanab]

Since a B17 has bag loops it makes sense to use the "classic uplift" https://www.carradice.co.uk/products/sa ... lebag-rack
I do not know why the reviewer says the Bagman does not fit B17 rails. Rail width is set by the saddle pillar clamp and they are all the same. The clamp of the Bagman will fit just fine provided you do not have the saddle a long way forward or the clamp on the saddle pillar is unusually long.

[crs1953]

Many thanks for your prompt responses folks - clearly the person doing the reviewing was wrong. I shall go ahead and order one

[fastpedaller]

The Andrew Hague saddle bag quick-release clamp was particularly good - I'm surprised nobody's copied the idea.

[honesty]

It does fit as this is what I have. You have to have the saddle pushed as far back as possible though to have enough rail at the back for the bagman to attach to though. If you have the saddle set up any other way there's probably not going to be enough room.

[Bowedw]

All who have a b17 with a quick release bagman must have different seat posts to mine. I have several of this combination and the only way to make them fit, was to take a file to the support and file out 2 fairly deep channels, for the seat rails. As the support is made from good quality alloy and the bag is mainly supported from the underside I had no problem to do this. I would think the seatpost would be more likely to fail before the bagman.

[andrew_s]

To use the Bagman support, you've got to be able to move the saddle 10 to 15 mm forwards from the normal position.
It is allowed to get a seatpost with a bit more layback.

[landsurfer]

Just my opinion ...
I have bought 2 bagman supports .... silly me.
And sold them on ebay ...
Very heavy, and not that great support to be honest ... fantastic bags from Carradice but the bagman support is not that clever.

[Bowedw]

To use the Bagman support, you've got to be able to move the saddle 10 to 15 mm forwards from the normal position?
I would suggest that you move the saddle back to have more available rails at the back of the saddle, or am confused.
As I posted I have fitted several to B17's and with different seat posts and every time I have had to modify the bagman. Maybe a seat post with a very short length fitting area to rails may be ok but such seat posts are known to be the cause of saddle rails breakage.
Also it beats me how someone can ride with an unsuported saddlebag. We are all different I suppose but half a mile of the bag beating the back of my legs would see it thrown over the nearest hedge.

[LollyKat]

There are various ways of keeping the bag off your legs. Sometimes a small under saddle or underseat bag is enough, or you can make a spacer out of foam pipe lagging - some good pictures on this page.

[rmurphy195]

Since a B17 has bag loops it makes sense to use the "classic uplift" https://www.carradice.co.uk/products/sa ... lebag-rack
I do not know why the reviewer says the Bagman does not fit B17 rails. Rail width is set by the saddle pillar clamp and they are all the same. The clamp of the Bagman will fit just fine provided you do not have the saddle a long way forward or the clamp on the saddle pillar is unusually long.

The B17 rails flare out a lot behind the parts that fit the saddle clamp, and this is the problem with it with many bag supports. The uplift using the bag loops is the answer unless you have the saddle set well back in the clamp.

[willem jongman]

I decided on a Nitto R10 for more support. It is excellent, and looks the part. However, it will not fit properly on very large or very small frames.

[andrew_s]

To use the Bagman support, you've got to be able to move the saddle 10 to 15 mm forwards from the normal position?
I would suggest that you move the saddle back to have more available rails at the back of the saddle, or am confused.

Moving the saddle forwards is an easy check of how much parallel rail there is behind the clamp (see B17 flared rails).
If you can't move the saddle that far forwards from the current position, you'll have to move the saddle backwards from current in order to accommodate a Bagman. If you do have to move the saddle back, you've changed your riding position, which could possibly give problems (though it's also possible that it would be an improvement).

[Bowedw]

APOLOGIES for my misleading information.
Working from memory I gave the wrong reason why I have had to modify quick release bagman supports.
Yes the B17 rails are long enough to take a seat post clamp and also a bagman support, but because they do not go back parallel enough towards the rear, the quick release portion of the bagman fouls on the vertical bends of the rails. This is why I have filed out two channels in the alloy of the quick release. Without this modification it binds up against the rails before the clamp is fully tightened.
If only the quick release portion was 5 to 10 mm longer to prevent this happening.
This was not a one off situation, I have four of these combinations and each one had to be modified.
The reason I have these support as being a bit short, My seat is low and with 700cc wheels the bag would foul the tyre, or jamb the mudguard up against it.
A non quick release bagman works fine with a B17.
Apologies again.