One more DIY frame bag

[Ultra Magnus]

Here's my attempt at a frame bag that I finished about a month ago.  I learned a lot from these forums and learned even more while doing the project.  Overall I'm ok happy with it, but I have left over fabric so I might give it one more shot. 

Things that didn't turn out so good -
I messed up the seam allowance for the french seam (won't do that again- bind it or something else)
I had one more lower strap on the seat tube that you can't see in the photos that ended up interfering with my front derailleur.  This preventing me form being able to get into granny gear.  I have a pretty tight relationship with my granny gear so that is unacceptable.
The zipper is too short.  I originally intended for he zipper to be higher up on the bag, closer to that top seam, and because it's such an acute angle, the length changes a lot every little bit it moves up or down.  I'll have to dial that in better next time.  Also, the zipper pull is upside down.  That's not so much of a problem, but it just bugs me.
And not a mess up, but all I had available to me was white Velcro.  If I did another one, I'd get some black stuff for sure.

When I sewed the 2nd side panel on to close it up, even though I started out lined up properly, everything shifted while sewing and I ended up off my more than an inch, resulting in a twisted bag.  So, I had the opportunity to get to know my stitch ripper really well.  I was more careful the 2nd time around.

I also made a gas tank, but it flopped to the left and right too much so I ditched it. 

Question- when I put on my straps, I first sewed on some nylon webbing, and then sewed the Velcro to that with a box stitch X deal.  But I recently watched a porcelain rocket video and it looked like he was just sewing the Velcro tape straight to the bag.  Is that good enough?  That would save a lot a work.  I mean, that's a lot of stitching to attach all that Velcro to the webbing.

I've been using this bag for commuting to work, and it'd done the job well enough.

BM

[elitheknife]

This looks really good!

Straight to the Dyneema X, brave man!     I like that stuff.

I haven't produced a video of making a bag, but I do build a fair number of framebags with the velcro sewn into the seams of the framebag.  It works out just fine, and is plenty durable, with quality materials.  Your way is also good, just a bit more time consuming, as you mentioned. 

Keep at it. 

Scott

[Ultra Magnus]

This looks really good!

Straight to the Dyneema X, brave man!     I like that stuff.

I haven't produced a video of making a bag, but I do build a fair number of framebags with the velcro sewn into the seams of the framebag.  It works out just fine, and is plenty durable, with quality materials.  Your way is also good, just a bit more time consuming, as you mentioned. 

Keep at it. 

Scott

I ordered the dyneema before I really even knew what xpack was or where to get it.  If I did, I probably would have gone that route instead.  But either way, 1yd of dyneema is like $24 or so, and it didn't take much to make this bag.  I probably didn't even use 1/4 of that yard, so that's like what, $6 in fabric?  Oh, and what the pictures don't show is the inside is lined with blaze orange silnylon for visibility.  I have a picture of the inside somewhere but couldn't find it when I put the post up.

The question now is do I dare trying my hand at a seat bag and a handlebar harness.  There's not a lot of functional difficulty in a frame bag, but seat bags and handlebar bags need to ride nice and stable, holding their shape...  sounds more intimidating.

Thanks for the encouragement.

BM

[Eric]

For what it's worth I have had several cases where un-reinforced hook and loop rip out along the top tube (where all the load is) rip out after a year or two. So we beef up all of ours on the main load bearing flap. It's less of an issue if you are putting in like a whole string of 2" strips.  On your bag where there are 2 after the shock mount (ie- not much else supporting the vertical load) I'd reinforce those for sure. Typically do not bartack velcro alone, unless you use a nice and wide pattern you'll just perforate the crap out of it and make it weaker.

[Ultra Magnus]

For what it's worth I have had several cases where un-reinforced hook and loop rip out along the top tube (where all the load is) rip out after a year or two. So we beef up all of ours on the main load bearing flap. It's less of an issue if you are putting in like a whole string of 2" strips.  On your bag where there are 2 after the shock mount (ie- not much else supporting the vertical load) I'd reinforce those for sure. Typically do not bartack velcro alone, unless you use a nice and wide pattern you'll just perforate the crap out of it and make it weaker.

Thanks for the advice.  I'll definitely take it into consideration on my 2nd bag.  I think I'll do the full top tube velcro flap deal and maybe a couple other refinements. 

BM