You may have seen my first ever post, detailing ideas I had for a frame bag to put on my bicycle. It’s been over a year and a half since that post, and I have not kept up the frequency of posting I had planned initially. Who would’ve guessed.
I now find myself looking at a job description for a position I would very much like to get that involves designing and sewing and constructing outdoor gear, and the posting closes tomorrow night. So over the next day or so, I will be attempting to chronicle the last 18+ months of my gear design career in digestible pieces for a recruiters and hiring managers to peruse and hopefully be marginally impressed with.
The small frame bag is up first.
I took what I thought would be the most direct route to a good fit. I traced the inside of the front triangle and used that to pattern the bag. I wanted a larger main compartment that could hold food and a battery bank and stay aerodynamically tucked into the frame. I also wanted a slim pocket on the other side to stow wrappers and such so as to not litter when out on the roads.
Lessons learned:
- #3 and #5 zippers were far too small and not nearly durable enough for a frame bag application
- On any future half-frame bags, I will likely extend it back to the seat tube. Both to increase capacity and to provide tension from the rear to make zipping the bag on the go much easier
- I had heard that dust impacted the function of coil zippers before, but had no firsthand experience. This being used mostly on gravel roads in Minnesota, it was exposed to a lot of grit and dust. After only a summer of use, the zipper on the left side, which is more exposed than the right, skips teeth and works poorly in general. In the future, I will maintain these zippers more regularly, including regular rinsing/cleaning and lubrication.
Elliot DH 