Carradice saddlebag sizes

[Brucey]

Forgot I had this photo....

Nelson Longflap with Topeak Mountain Morph secured with the inevitable toestrap..(amazing how much junk accumulates......

Looks a bit like my wife's handbag - in fact a LOT like my wife's handbag!

I daren't show the assembled throng what my Nelson longflap looks like inside. I have this terrible habit of picking up 'interesting things' from the roadside; stuff like bolts and brackets that are going to cause someone a puncture or wreck a mowing machine if left in the grass verge. The plan is always to dispose of them later but somehow they disappear into the saddlebag or side pockets only to be rediscovered when I have a puncture or something and I'm rootling about for my repair kit. Often this is weeks or even months later....

I will reveal that I have both a pump and a few spare spokes lashed to the dowel. Its been about 30 years since I broke a spoke on my touring bike, so I'm not sure that the spokes I'm carrying are even a useful length any more...

That settled it - one Nelson Longflap and classic carrier now on order (complete with proofing wax!). In a rather fetching Green colour that will hopefully go well with this ...

I've had my Nelson longflap on a similar uplift carrier for several decades now and it has served me well. In fact I like it so much that when I ditched my Brooks saddle on my most used bike (yes I've wrecked too many) I engineered a special bracket so that the uplift would fit the non-brooks saddle too.

I don't know if there is any real difference in the wearing properties of the green vs black saddlebags. Mine's black; it was that or nothing when I got it....

cheers

[bigjim]

Forgot I had this photo....

Nelson Longflap with Topeak Mountain Morph secured with the inevitable toestrap..(amazing how much junk accumulates......

Looks a bit like my wife's handbag - in fact a LOT like my wife's handbag!

That settled it - one Nelson Longflap and classic carrier now on order (complete with proofing wax!). In a rather fetching Green colour that will hopefully go well with this ...

Is that a custom made steel machine?

[bigjim]

...with the bag on its handy carrier (oh for the Karrimor one I had years ago!)

You mean like this one nov available from Carradice?

I've got the original Karrimor one in the garage. It's as new as I've never used it. I find it a bit of a faff as once you have the bag attached you have to lift and tilt it and then it has to be at a bit of a sideways angle to engage. Not easy IMO with a loaded saddlebag. maybe there is a knack I don't know about.

[rmurphy195]

Is that a custom made steel machine?

Steel, yes, custom built by Red Kite using a Condor frameset and including some bits from my old bike, with a couple of tweaks by me as I've gone along. Love riding it, hope it lasts as long as the Galaxy (with the odd replacement bit!), if it does it will outlast me!

[Brucey]

...I've got the original Karrimor one in the garage. It's as new as I've never used it. I find it a bit of a faff as once you have the bag attached you have to lift and tilt it and then it has to be at a bit of a sideways angle to engage. Not easy IMO with a loaded saddlebag. maybe there is a knack I don't know about.

I don't think it is a good idea to regularly use this arrangement with loads much over 10kg or so. The 'knack' is to engage the prongs one at a time.

I usually stand to the left of the bike, hold the bag by the top rail in my right hand , then reach around the saddle with my left hand to fit the RH prong in the saddle. Once it is in, you can let a little weight rest on it whilst you guide the second prong in. Because the prongs can slide on their rail as well as rotate, you need to draw the saddle one way so that the second prong ends up in the right place to go in.

You can do this process easily with a free-standing bike; I start with the bike leaning against me, then it can't fall away from me as I fit the RH prong (because I'm reaching round with my left hand). Once the RH prong is in, and there is a little weight on it, the bike can't fall over unless the RH prong comes out, provided you keep hold of the bag.

With practice fitting the bag like this takes about five seconds. I guess some saddles are easier than others; my 'special rail' on a non-brooks saddle is both hidden from view (under the saddle a little more than Brooks eyes are), also I made the slots both narrower and double sided ( the rail is a piece of tubing, so the prong can catch on the way in and the way out). Even so I can still fit the bag quickly.

cheers

[bigjim]

Thanks, I will have to have a practice. At first the saddle seems to narrow for the prongs. Also the one prong seem to have to be not quite all the way in as if it is this seem to stop the other one engaging. Maybe practice makes perfect and all that.

[Vantage]

...with the bag on its handy carrier (oh for the Karrimor one I had years ago!)

You mean like this one nov available from Carradice?

I've just bought one of these things. Bit of an awkward little pig to fit aren't they?
Anyhoo, is the top rail supposed to be a handle or strap rail? The photo shows the straps on the second rail down but the instructions I was sent show the straps on the top rail. The bag doesn't seem to sag like it does if strapped to the lower rail.
Just wondered.

[Brucey]

the bag in the picture is (I think) a lowsaddle bag, smaller than other bags. I think if you have a larger bag (eg a Nelson) then it straps to the top rail. The kinks in the top rail are there to help stop the bag straps from sliding round the corner, I think.

On my older Karrimor uplift, when the straps are as tight as they need to be to stop the bag from swaying, the top rail does not make an especially good handle, because it is too close to the bag.

cheers

[Vantage]

That makes sense.
Thanks Brucey.

[LollyKat]

Yes - one of the other photos on the Carradice page:

[Brucey]

BTW IIRC the bag loops are slightly different distances apart on various models of Brooks saddle. Not that I've tried all of them, but I've yet to find one with loops (built into an unsprung metal frame) where the uplift didn't fit but on a few (mostly narrower) saddles the prongs are not at the ends of their rail when fitted to the saddle.

In these instances it is doubly important that the strap round the seat post is good and snug, else the bag can sway by virtue of the prongs sliding along the rail.

cheers

[Vantage]

I wish mine sat that straight.
It's at a stupid angle atm. Do we know if there's a bracket of some sort to push the bottom rail further out away from the saddle rails?
Could something be fashioned from an inch of sticky back plastic and a used loo roll Blue Peter style?

[Brucey]

That is a lot of tilt for this kind of uplift; I wonder if the Carradice version is slightly different to the Karrimor uplift?

I had a similar problem when I modified a non-Brooks saddle to accept the uplift. I 'solved' this problem by lashing a small piece of timber to the saddle rails to act as a spacer. I reckon a better solution would be to bolt something round the saddle rails instead, eg using wire rope clasps.

cheers

[bigjim]

I wish mine sat that straight.
It's at a stupid angle atm. Do we know if there's a bracket of some sort to push the bottom rail further out away from the saddle rails?
Could something be fashioned from an inch of sticky back plastic and a used loo roll Blue Peter style?

DSC_0007.JPG

I don't see why you need the uplift if you have a rack. It is extra weight also. What else do you use the rack for anyway? I always thought the bag should hang from the saddle without extra support as the dowel is sufficient and maybe something to distance the saddle from the back of the thighs. Jobst Brandt has a Longflap like this with a piece of wood holding the saddlebag back. Don't know how quick release this is. I always struggle with the leather straps and have resorted to the heavy but efficient SQR.

[Brucey]

I don't see why you need the uplift if you have a rack.... I always struggle with the leather straps ....

Unless you are going to carry the kitchen sink you don't often need a rack once you have some kind of saddlebag support, so I'd argue that maybe you don't usually need a rack once you have an uplift...

The benefit of most decent (i.e. QR) uplifts is that they mean you don't need to fiddle with the leather straps on the bag any more...

I've always felt that the SQR (good though it is for its weight bearing capacity, especially with the larger saddlebags) does tend to hold the bag at too much of an angle; in fact I've wondered if it mightn't be a good idea for carradice to make a longflap model where the main compartment has an extension flap of some kind (as well as the flap itself) so that the bag's contents don't come spilling out when you open the bag on the bike....?

BTW on those few occasions when I've got a really heavy load and I think my Karrimor uplift won't be strong enough for the bag's contents, I simply strap the uplift to a rear carrier and use it like that. [NB If you have the right sized rear carrier it can fit really well like this; note also that there is no longer any constraint concerning saddle height vs. rack height since the bag isn't fixed to the saddle in any way.] Oddly enough the bike rides noticeably less well when it is set up like this, because when the rear wheel goes over a bump, the saddlebag can't bounce on the uplift as it would do normally; instead road shocks go straight into the load more or less.

cheers