Saturday 2nd September 2017 Overboard Duffel/Saddlebag shelf extension.

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Saturday 2nd 48-60?F, 9-16C, ground mist, completely still, with bright sunshine out of a clear blue sky. Walked along the harvester tracks up to the woods as the last of the mist disappeared. Then curved around the edge of the field and back past the marsh to the road. The first deer took one look and vanished into the sweet corn. The ducks were fairly quiet this morning as a mostly brown flotilla sidled around the edges watching me intently.

A second deer was grazing on the last of the track and seemed unconcerned as I walked within 50 yards. I kept snapping away as I walked a few yards and paused. It raised its head looked around and went back to grazing. This went on for a while until it lifted its head again and bolted into the marsh. Too busy for a ride today.

The images show the inexpensive, black plastic, draining board tray cut down to 10" deep as a rack shelf extension. The choice of black, over white or magenta, was my wife's suggestion.

After sawing off the waste area I filed the cut edges smooth to avoid wearing through the bag material. The tray weighs very little indeed but feels sturdy enough for this job. Half a tray is even lighter!

Then I drilled pairs of small holes to just clear the Trykit rack. Three pairs on the front raised rim and two in the sunken corrugations to avoid rubbing the bottom of the bag. The tray fits the Trykit rack to perfection.

I followed up with five, black, zip ties tensioned around the rack tubes to maintain the shelf extension firmly in place.

The corrugations and raised rim should provide an extra degree of stiffness over a flat plate of greater thickness and weight.

The final image shows the lightly stuffed, Overboard Duffel bag in place on the extended rack. I have re-tied the shoe lace which stops the bag shifting sideways. The trike can be literally laid on its side without the bag moving. How's that for a stealthy support system?

The 40 liter Overboard Duffel bag dwarfs any other bag I have tried and can even be filled with its full height to make more space. It is claimed to be completely waterproof even allowing for full immersion.

I hope you will agree that it offers a superbly large, yet compact, smart and high visibility saddlebag for the touring and shopping tricycle owner. It absolutely trashes any of the usual saddlebags for carrying capacity.

It even offers a neat and secure, heavy duty pocket for the Dreadnought Class, Abus-ASBO, Mini-U-lock. With incredibly strong Velcro fastening to avoid loss or casual pilfering. Bright reflective strips adorn the vertical edges of the pocket. There are a further two, flat pockets inside the bag but no internal dividing panels.

I like this lack of obstruction because it offers a large, flat surface area for easily arranging shopping by weight and fragility. Considering it has twice the capacity of the Carradice Camper it cost considerably less and weighs less. I doubt the Overboard bag will last for decades, as do the Carradice bags, but it seems to be holding up well so far.

Sunday 3rd 60-66F,  16-19C, calm with a few sunny periods. No walk today but I was sent to the more distant shops on my trike in still, comfortably warm conditions. I saw several cyclists out training or enjoying the countryside. A bunch of unhappy teenagers were standing around the usually flooded road in their swimming trunks. It seems they wanted to start a water polo team but were to be disappointed by the lack of rain. I detoured on the way back including the biggest local climb. Where I started off at 80rpm but soon got into my stride with a cadence of 92-95rpm and even hit 105 at the top as the hill slowly eased off. Going well again today. 20 miles.

Click on any image for an enlargement.

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