I sometimes carry a revolver in a pocket holster in a Mountain Feed Bag on the bars.  Have thought about molding a kydex holster with attach points that would mount within a frame bag.  Anyone have experience with something like this?

Now that I have an ultralight 44 Special revolver, I'm definitely interested in frame bag carry.  We call it "Bear Spray."

I rode from Wager Gulch (somewhere on 22) to Durango in 2 days and it wasn't leisurely.  Riding that in 5 days would require way too much food to haul around - you could backpack it on foot in 5 days, its not much over 100 miles.
As for gearing, I spent a lot more time in the granny ring than in the middle ring - on most of the ups I'd want the little ring, and most of the downhills are steep enough you won't be pedaling anyway....
not that I'm a SS expert or anything.

just sew on silnylon or nylon scrap reinforcement patches and put webbing loops onto that to tie the tarp up.  sure, you can't move them, but I prefer to have one "standard" tarp setup method that works most places.

SOLD to some crazy guy in Alaska!

fabric can generally only be ordered in 1 yard increments, and 50 - 60 inch width.  even for a large frame bag, that will be enough.  add in a couple feet of continuous coil zipper, #8 or #10 size, enough velcro, good poly thread, and you've got it.

if you really want the exact fabric area, its back to high school math:
area of one side panel = 1/2 * (top tube length) * (perpendicular distance from top tube to bottom bracket)
area of tube panel = (3.5" or whatever width you pick) * (triangle perimeter)
total area = 2*(side panel area)*(tube panel area)

but I've never calculated that number, at least not in a very long time.  The thing that matters more cost wise is how you lay out the pieces to minimize scrap.

Well folks, I moved to the desert, went back to school, and now am getting married.  Since these things will be useful about twice a year now I may as well pass them on.

Homemade pogies, not much use on them.

Gore tex outer shell with reflective strip and a couple zipper pockets
Synthetic insulation liner, 3M thinsulate I think.
Fleece lined interior.
Velcro interior straps to connect them to L bar ends for stability.



$90 shipped to the 48 states, anywhere else, you pay shipping.

Last weekend I mounted up Everything Bag V1.0 with some P-clips on the commuter bike.  Since then I've put a little over 100 miles on it.  So far, so good, for commuting and a bit of snow covered rocky dirt road exploring.... with 35 mm slicks.....
Works great.  It might wiggle a bit more than if it were mounted too real water bottle bosses, but it stays put.
Today I took the wrong way home to celebrate the end of the semester.
Versions 3, 4, and 5 are being made by the little elves at the North Pole right now.
The hardware store only had up to 1" P clips, which fit on the Fisticuff fork, but I'll need to order something bigger for the suspension forks.  The plan is to buy a few common P clip sizes in bulk and have them available to customers so its ready to go, right out of the box for your needs.

Using P-clips to hold the bag on a fork would work.... but it would need to be off center and that bugs me structurally and aesthetically.
On the bike commute back home from school today an obvious idea hit me on how to have the bag centered on a fork with P clips.  It will work and work well, I'll just need to change the mounting part of the design ever so slightly.
Once finals start wrapping up next week I'll do some more prototyping.... hopefully.

offering an option that will fit on ANY fork will be the next project, especially so I can test them on my commuter bike and mountain bike without the fat front, just the standard shock fork!
p-clips are a great idea, I'd only thought of the hose clamp route so far... I might just need to test that out.

Got the new Ergon saddle, rode it for a few commutes maybe 100 miles (1 week of commuting) at the very most - anyway it doesn't work for me and its back to the WTB SST.

So if you want a new and "innovative" endurance saddle that some really are liking, grab it here for a bit less.
$105 shipped to the 48 states.  I'll ship worldwide but will charge accordingly.  email me at jeremycleaveland (at) gmail for more info.  Paypal or local pickup only.

After hearing "internet forum rumors" that the Salsa Anything Cage was commonly breaking after under 1000 miles of Tour Divide style riding, I was riding and thinking one day... and it came to me. The idea of using a framesheet rather than a waterbottle cage was inspired by an impromptu repair by none other than Fixie Dave.And so I realized that a plastic framesheet with a fabric and webbing harness would work splendidly well and avoid the major weaknesses of the Anything Cage. Yield stress is not a concern for this application - aluminum tubing is plenty strong as are fabric and plastic. The problem will be with fatigue loading. Here, the fabric and plastic will be much more resistant to fatigue loading due to the material properties. Also, when the bike is laid down and the cage hits the ground, a soft fabric bag will just squish and be fine, while a metal cage will risk being bent.

And so the idea was born. Two prototypes followed and testing began.  One ride confirmed that it held the cargo well and was easy to handle.

The bags started out with standard cam buckles on them, since side release buckles don't hold well over tight radii.  They later were upgraded to metal spring loaded cam buckles for the ultimate in cinching power and ease.







Later I rode the bags up and down The Ribbon.  Most riders shuttle to the top of the Ribbon... and most bring full suspension.  But I proceeded to start at the bottom with a fat front and two liters of water strapped securely into prototype Everything Bags. After pedaling up a long ways, it was finally time to descend and really test the bags out, at 25 miles an hour on slickrock. The did well. So well, I didn't hardly notice their presence. The Ribbon wanders for a ways through typical rocky Grand Junction singletrack which finally converges to a long slickrock uphill. Sit and spin or stand and mash, or change it up a little - you'll be going up for a while. Once at the top, its time to wish your brake rotors had a coolant system as you smoke your way back down going close to 10 times as fast as you did on the way up.  Its a good test for new bottle bags.







A bag then got sent off to SW Utah to get more mileage on it, and its finally time to go public with them. So, if you have a Salsa or Surly fork with the 3 bottle cage bosses in the fork, you now have a fatigue resistant option that should last longer.



So there you have it. I'm slammed with school and wedding planning until finals week (Dec 10-15) during which I could sew a little, then not until January after the honeymoon.



If you want to try out an early model Everything Bag, they'll start at $50 each including 6 fender washers and 3 long bolts to securely mount them on your fork.




check out www.cleavelandmountaineering.blogspot.com or email me at jeremycleaveland (at) g mail (dot) com for more info or to place an order!

Its been beaten to death over on mtbr.  here ya go.
http://forums.mtbr.com/bikepacking-bike-expedition/bikepacking-gear-bags-who-makes-em-766873.html

All my riding is in trail runners with platforms - I've never clipped in.  Having a more substantial trail runner helps reduce foot fatigue on rough long mountain downhills - with a softer sole, the pedal pushes up through and has more pressure points on my foot.
Also, a more even tread profile helps too - the big open mud lugs don't grab the pins as well.
I have the wellgo MG1 pedals on the mtb and Primo magnesium platforms on the commuter.
Shoes are a few kinds of Montrails - 08 Hardrock, new Hardrock, Mountain Masochist, and Rockridge.  The pair that didn't work well was some Inov-8 shoes - very soft sole, really open big lugs - nice for running, not nice for biking.

I cut the fabric to 3.5" or 3.75" and for bags with a front taper, I taper the front 10" from 3.5" to 4.75"

Appreciate the post and photo Jeremy. I realize it's not "rocket-science" so to speak to add pogies to bars but it's nice for visual folks to have a reference when using a product for the first time, not to mention experience with it.

Sure isn't rocket science.  I didn't even have to run any calculations, simulations, or experiments to figure out which thread to use!

I modified my homemade pogies to fit JJ Loop bars.  A strap that goes through the loop and and hole in the fabric to put the mirror/bar plug through (to keep the mitt in place) did the trick.  Pack a few grocery bags around the bar/control area to seal the big hole up better, or open it up to vent.

The only thin closed cell foam I've found is rather floppy, I've looked far and wide for a very stiff thin foam and haven't found anything available in small quantities.  I believe Cross Linked Polyethylene (XPE) is the stuff to look for.
Here's where I get my foam
http://www.seattlefabrics.com/neoprene.html#Closed Cell Foam

I've tried 1/8" closed cell foam in bar bag slings, top tube bags, and seat bags, and it seems unnecessary in each of them.  I do use this foam as padding along the bottom and stem panels on the top tube bag and for frame bags with padded tubes and tapered fronts, and in those applications it works well, but one thing it does not possess is stiffness.  If you want real stiffness and structure, look for high density polyethylene plastic (HDPE) I use 1/8" for seat bags and pannier framesheets and 1/16" for top tube bag side panels.  I've even used neoprene in place of foam in a pinch for padding and that works fine too.

sew the velcro on in a place that doesn't interfere.

Summer Sale!

Temporary price drops for summer, yes, all of summer:


Frame Bag base price $100


Seat Bag $90


Bar Bag $65


That's $10 off each of the big items, or a total of $30 off the full collection - that'll buy you a bit more trip food!
I have more time to sew in the summer than in the school year so may as well use it.
There's a few bar bags already in stock ready to ship out too!
Here's the latest:
16" Karate Monkey, map pocket, tapered and padded, hydration tube hole, bright orange lining.  Came out super nice.

a spear duct taped to my top tube worked wonders in the peloton....

you could probably fashion an entire frame bag out of duct tape on your bike if you really wanted too.... just not sure how to close it.