Nice bag!  It's always satisfying to start out with some fabric and thread and make something truly useful.    For the next time I'd consider cutting out the ends of the triangle, since the space is hard to use.  Making it flat on the bottom and flat on the front, basically.  It means an extra two panels to sew, but I think it's worth it.  Also, great job on fitting the zipper, it looks really good.  I'd recommend folding the edges of the fabric back under themselves and sewing again, where you cut out for the zipper.  That's if you left enough room to do so.  It hides the raw edge of the fabric.

What's your fabric?  It looks like cordura to me, but it's hard to say over the internet.  I don't think cordura is waterproof enough to bother with sealing.  Fabrics like Xpac have a fully waterproof layer laminated inside them, but cordura is just a coating.  If I were to use a sealer I would use SeamGrip or another liquid sealer before tape; I haven't taped seams before but I'm unsure of how well it would adhere to the cordura texture.

As for using seam grip, I hear that masking tape helps to make clean lines of sealant.  I'll be trying it out sometime this week when my 8oz tube of seam grip shows up in the mail.

I would agree with AZTripper about June, and even up here in Flagstaff there's a possibility of forest closures, especially if the winter continues as it has.  We just had a few 60 degree Fahrenheit days, up here in Flagstaff, at 7000 feet in February.  June is Arizona's driest month and Montana's wettest.

Last summer the Arizona monsoon was the second wettest on record.  I heard from the folks at the Grand Canyon North Rim that it rained there for forty days in a row and looked like Scotland.  July and August would've been miserable up on the northern AZT in 2013.  But the monsoon is incredibly unpredictable and there's no telling what'll happen this year.

So I would say, just be flexible.  If you're in AZ and it seems like it's going to be another wet monsoon, then take a bus up to Idaho and do the new Idaho Hot Springs route.  The Northwest (both pacific and interior) has the best weather in the country in August, IMO.  And ending a three-month tour by soaking in hot springs might be pretty nice . . .

[And new, a facebook page:]

So after a long time doing the MYOG thing, I'm starting to sell gear!  Under the brand name Rogue Panda Designs.  I've made an Etsy page to start out:

https://www.etsy.com/shop/RoguePandaDesigns
And new, a facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/smogear

EDIT: I now have panniers, as well as framebags and seatbags on etsy.

My prices are pretty cheap but they're rising with demand.  I'll keep updating that Etsy site with more items as I make them.

I'm interested, sending a PM.

Surprisingly good!  I was a bit worried about it.  When I put it on my friend's bike and pedaled around it rubbed my legs a bit, but when I put it on my bike it didn't.  And when my friend rode my bike it didn't rub him either.  So if you're on a bike that doesn't fit you, not so good apparently.  I should have a more thorough report on how well it works in a week or two.

See my thread I just posted on the subject - I put up a pattern.  It's a complicated one, but it wasn't *too* difficult to sew.

A friend of mine requested a custom seat bag that would run along the seat post and then out behind the seat.  He didn't like how far out most seat bags go and wanted to try something more stable.  I just finished it and I'm pretty happy with it so far.  Haven't taken it on a trail yet, but he plans to do the BCT next weekend and will report back to me.

The first step was to trace his bike on a whiteboard and draw out and plan the bag (see picture of the drawing).  I was super happy to have a whiteboard for this.  With all of the tapering and weird angles, the side panels would either have to be oddly shaped or be made up of several different pieces.  I chose to try the oddly shaped panels for the promise of more difficult math, but easier stitching (I happen to be a math teacher!).  Several rounds of the pythagorean theorem led me to the red distances noted on the whiteboard (which are the actual lengths of the seams or the distances along the fabric).

The picture of the pieces drawn on cordura shows you how I drew them - I started at the left and worked right, using the distances on the whiteboard to triangulate my next points.  The end result was a series of triangles whose distances matched what I calculated.  See the photo of the pieces cut out.

After that it was a matter of sewing everything together and figuring out the velcro - nothing too fancy or difficult, just a bit tedious.  The panels came together really nicely; all of those triangles blended together into smooth curves on the side panels.

The material is 1000d cordura seconds from rockywoods - my friend and I have the same perspective on bikepacking - if it's gonna rain, we'll just go for a hike instead (we live in AZ, it's not too hard to avoid bringing rain gear out here).  So I wasn't concerned about waterproofing, more durability.  And the cordura is CHEAP - $6/yd for the seconds.  The roll top helps to compress the bag, and there are three girth-wise compression straps.  I sewed a strip of webbing onto the bottom (sewed across the webbing every 1.5 inches or so) to keep the compression straps in place.

*look up "thrifty white panelboard" for info on how to get a 4x8 foot whiteboard for $14 at home depot.  They'll even cut into smaller ones for free.

Any race on this route should include mandatory soaking times.

Coincidentally chatted with a buddy today that has made many...sew the zipper by the yard across the back of the pattern...it should be too long, you'll stitch across it later without issue. Then cut the fabric from the front side of the pattern, along the centerline of the zipper,fold each side under  and run it through again....(I think) Uuuh, Joey?

Win.  I just used this method on my framebag and I think it came out pretty good!

The BCT was awesome!  I did it one-way from Hwy 69 to Black Canyon City in two days, then hitchhiked back to my car (no luck on the entrance ramp, but riding on the shoulder of I-17 with my thumb out it took about 1 minute to get a ride in a pickup bed).  A good test trip for my gear and myself, 40 miles in two days.  I wrote a trip report on my blog, I was looking into how to add it to the website here.

http://smozilla.blogspot.com/2013/12/first-bikepacking-trip.html

Jerry,

I'm based in Flagstaff, but I've got four day weekends all of next semester, so message me if you want a partner.  I'm new to bikepacking and a relatively slow rider, 1-2 nights for 90 miles sounds about right.

-Nick

Shuttling it would be the best, but I couldn't figure it out either.  I've decided to do an out-and-back of 1 or 2 nights.  Not sure where I'll start.  I have several GPX files of different loops on the route from the Arizona Endurance Series, so I might do one of those.  It would be useful to try out my GPS, I've never ridden with one.  Figure out any kinks while I'm on a chill, easier-to-find trail with few junctions.

If you see someone riding a very black 29er with green panniers on Friday, say hi.  I thought about leaving Saturday since several things are due to show up in the mail on Friday (titanium pot, zippers to finish frame bag, GPS mount), but why wait? - duct tape the GPS on and go!  I can sew when it's snowing, right?

Nice!  I toyed with the idea of using velcro for the top straps on my own, very similar panniers (http://www.bikepacking.net/forum/index.php/topic,6264.0.html).  Haven't tried it yet, but I think I'm going to now; your system looks so much cleaner than mine does.  Mine has an experimental, inconvenient buckle system up top.

Do you have any clever ideas for how to secure the loose ends of the straps?  When mine are fully collapsed, there's quite a bit of slack left, and i haven't come up with a nice solution yet.

My first try at bags were really similar to yours, but I decided to make dedicated bags that strap down instead of a sling.  Putting a stuff sack into the pannier and getting it all strapped up was just a bit of a pain, and I usually use plastic liners (read: trash bags) instead of dry bags anyway, so there was really no incentive for me to keep the sling design.

Let me know how the buckle tie-downs work out; so far, mine seem to be ok, but I think that with heavy abuse the webbing might slip.  I haven't taken them loaded on a trail yet.  I have some 3/4" cam buckles on order from rockywoods and I'll report in my thread on how those work out when I get them.  They're pretty cheap:  http://www.rockywoods.com/Hardware-Zippers/Buckle-Hardware/3-4-Cam-Buckle-Black

EDIT: Plastic cam buckles, NOT recommended.  More slippage than regular slide release buckles.  Right now I'm testing out the "SIDE RELEASE LATCH CAM BUCKLE" from Quest.  So far, so good:  http://www.questoutfitters.com/plastic.htm#Acetal Fasteners

Anyone interested in Bikepacking this next weekend?  I'm free from Friday-Sunday, and considering the Black Canyon Trail for my first bikepack.  But really, anywhere with good weather would work just fine.  If anyone has any other suggestions on good loops this time of year, I'm pretty open.  I'll probably be doing 30 mile days, or a little more.

I've heard that hitching from the end of the BCT up to Flagstaff is pretty easy, and there's a greyhound station here.  Check the Arizona Shuttle, too; they go from Phoenix up I-17 to Flagstaff with a couple of stops on the way.  Not sure what they charge for bikes.

Finished the second pannier, which is taller and has a dry bag enclosure.  First one will as well, that's next on my list.  After that is a more durable version of the blue foam padding, and seam sealing the bags.

Pic here of the second one with the can in it, super sturdy.  Better lighting this time too.  And a pic of the first one collapsed.  I wasn't sure how well it would collapse, but it snugs up nice and tight to the frame.  I haven't figured out how to tidy up the extra straps yet.

On day six (northbound) my rear hub failed.  It would engage and disengage randomly, ultimately forcing me to abandon the race.  I was really disappointed and surprised a new for the season hub made by a quality manufacturer based in Oregon failed.  Got home and rebuilt the hub and it was fine.  Next year, I will bring a cassette tool and hope to be able to borrow a wrench and fabricate a chain whip if needed.  Of course, many flats in southern NM.  Non-mechanical and funny story was hitting a broken bottle with my front tire and sending it into my leg with a cut down to the bone.  Glad I had a first aid kit.  I have a great scar to tell stories now.

There is a touring cassette ring remover called the Stein Mini.  They had some quality control issues reportedly in the past, but I've heard that they improved the design.  I have one, but haven't had the need to use it yet.  It's quite light, lighter than a freehub or cassette tool itself.  Uses the chain, pedals and your bike frame to remove the lockring.

According to one reviewer on Amazon, it doesn't work well for lots of mountain bike frames, though.  I'll have to take it out and test it on my new bike, I've only tried the fit on my road bike.  I can't imagine it would be hard to modify to work with your bike.

http://www.amazon.com/Stein-Mini-Cassette-Lockring-Driver/dp/B001GSSCAU

EDIT: I found this one as well, looks like it's better than the Stein:  http://www.m-gineering.nl/indexg.htm  Simpler, and probably lighter still.  I can weigh my Stein if anyone's curious.

Just finished my first attempt at a bikepacking specific pannier.  I'm super excited and pleased, couldn't wait to post it up here.  Sorry for the image quality, better pictures will come later when I finish the other one and iron out some of the kinks.  The item in the pannier in the photo is my "Arizona Bear Can" - a plastic container I use for food.  So named because it protects against the most problematic Arizona critters: ravens, ringtails and rodents.  I sized it specifically to fit the can.

I wanted to make a set of panniers that worked with the bikepacking philosophy of gear, i.e. no rigid attachments and lightweight (well, relatively.  these aren't super light, but much lighter than my other panniers) .  So I made these out of 1000d cordura and nylon webbing.  The end result is solidly and redundantly attached to the bike, and overall much more trailworthy than any other panniers I've used or seen.  The downside is that, while it's pretty easy to get into the panniers, removing or installing them from the bike is a several minute process.

The bike is an unbranded 29er gravity frame that I built up from a lot of used parts.  It's my first mountain bike in a couple of years, and I'm super excited to go bikepacking.  Once the weather changes from sewing weather to biking weather, that is.

EDIT: Oh, and ignore the hanging seat bag, I didn't attach it correctly the last time I put it on.  Totally overlooked it in my excitement testing the pannier.