Minimalist, ultra-lightweight trike rack for a saddlebag.

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3rd July 2012.

The Carradice Camper saddlebag needs a firm mounting but I had no desire to add the usual trike rack. I didn't have the usual, brazed-on fixing points on the seat stays. Nor the funds to buy a new rack. Though I could have silver soldered my own screwed bosses in place it seemed like a lot of unnecessary effort. I would need a trike rack to be able to position the screw bosses accurately.

It occurred to me that most saddlebags do not enjoy a rack to support them underneath. They merely hang loosely from the saddle loops. I decided I could do even better. By providing a more gentle strap support and something for the bag to lean against.

The problem was finding suitable clips to fit the Higgins tapered chainstays. Then I discovered brake clips. These come in a range of sizes at quite modest cost at most cycle shops. About 12-15kr or £1.20-£1.50 (equiv) each locally.

It should be mentioned to those who still have some paint on their seat stays that these clips are easily opened wide to place over the stays. They can then be closed by finger pressure alone. With care, this will completely avoid paint damage. One could slip a length of tape inside each clip. Sticky side out. To avoid paint damage when the clip is tightened and then finally adjusted while still fairly tight. 

At first I fitted an alloy tubular crossbar to support the bag straps and thought I was finished. Unfortunately the bag curled its "toes" around the trike's seat stays. Which was great for bag stability. However, with the already minimal heel clearance for my size 11s I found these protrusions got in the way while I was pedalling. So I added another crossbar lower down to push the bag away from the trike's seat stays. This also keeps the bag more evenly supported at the bottom.

One Carradice bag owner even added his own, matching, internal dowel at the bottom, inside the bag, for extra stiffness. I did not want to screw through the bag fabric. Since it was probably unnecessary with my minimalist rack in place.

Now I needed some screw heads which would not slowly bore their way through the bag's cotton duck material. I found dome-headed screws in 6mm x 25mm long. With a square shank under the large head for locking against rotation. Much like a coach bolt but fully threaded. The screws were also lightly galvanised. I already had plain and Nyloc nuts and washers.


The clips did not want to lie flat against each other so I added a plain nut and spring washer between each pair. This avoided the clips trying to bend the alloy crossbar around the seat stays as they are tightened. A Nyloc nut safely avoids it ever coming loose.

The 12mm clips fit the alloy crossbars. The latter were made from scraps of old aerial tubing. I gave the tubes a rub with wire wool to remove the worst of the oxidation. I suppose I could have polished them in the lathe but decided to see how they fared in use first.

The top crossbar was drilled for the 6mm screws to simplify matters. Otherwise I would have had to use two more clips. The screws alone look much neater, I think. They are placed between the seat stays to give the straps a clear run without distortion. Nor are there any sharp edges to fret at the edges of the traps. Only time will tell whether the tube has been weakened by the drilled holes.

The whole arrangement is very simple, cheap and incredibly lightweight. The clips are quite substantial and springy enough to allow some leeway in sizing.

I used 15mm clips for supporting the bottom crossbar fixing. Here the seat stays are larger than at the top. There are no real loads on this crossbar. Though I added a cord to stop the bag lifting or bouncing over severe bumps. Using the same riveted, strap fixing tab as is normally used to strap the bag to the saddle pillar on a bike. (see bottom picture)

Note: In retrospect the bottom stay clips should have been placed between the seat stays too. This would avoid all chance of heel contact with protruding screws or nuts. One can easily saw off an over-long screw but risk ugly rust on the bare metal. Stainless steel screws would be better, if available.

Hopefully, the pictures show all the details required. The spacing of the clips is critical on the top crossbar only if the tube is drilled. If two pairs of 12mm clips are used then the clips can be tightened at whatever height they need to be on the trike's seat stays. The only requirement is that the hanging straps have a clear run around the alloy crossbar just outboard of the trike's seat stays. This sets the minimum height for the crossbar due to the angle between the stays. Trying to bring the hanging straps inboard of the seat stays is likely to place the bag far too low.

In retrospect, avoiding drilling the tube may actually be a good thing. It probably does weaken the tube. Though this shouldn't really be a problem in use. Since the leverage is very low and very close to the hole and the supporting clip.

Update: I moved the clips between the seat stays on the lower crossbar. I also added a second nut instead of the spring washer to each side between the clips. This pushes the bag slightly further away from the seat stays. Perhaps avoiding rubbing the seat stay paint away at all.

One could add adhesive protective strips to the rear of the seat stays. Such as those which are commonly attached to the chainstays of posh racing bikes. To protect the paintwork from the chain when the wheel is dropped out in a hurry.

One could also stretch some cords or webbing between the top and bottom crossbar to keep the bag further away from the paintwork. Or, perhaps the easiest solution: Just use longer screws and then increase the packing between each pair of clips. This should help to move the bag even further away from the paintwork on the stays. The image shows the latest set-up. The bag only contacts the crossbars now instead of the trike seat stays.

Alas, it is much too late for my Higgins.  Assorted, dangling sports bags have already rubbed away much of the paint from the rear of the seat stays. I promise to make good some time soon. 

Later I cut some over-long, plain, red, garden hose to slide over the lower crossbar. This helps to stop the bag from being marked or rubbed away by the bare, alloy crossbar across the bottom. The top crossbar does not contact the bag. So it can be safely left as naked alloy. There is always some vibration of the trike from road surface roughness. So anything which isolates the bag from rubbing and sharp contact points is a good thing for a very long life. 

A perfectionist might use clear tubing instead of garden hose if appearance is a very high priority. Stainless steel tube might also be used. Though with some weight penalty over light alloy. 10 and 12mm diameter stainless steel tube is readily available from DIY outlets and builder's merchants. Even in a smart "brushed" finish. Weight could be saved by making the top crossbar much shorter. Mine is much longer than necessary. I think I may try to find a pair of 10mm clips. Then use a shorter length of the brushed stainless steel tube I have lying about.

This very simple rack is a vast improvement on all my experiments with sports bags and cut-down, rucksack frames. The one factor which made it at all possible is the natural stiffness, and internal dowel stiffening, of the Carradice saddle bag. The downside is the limited capacity of even this largest Carradice model: The Camper Longflap. As stated elsewhere the Achilles heel of all sports bags is always the zips. Convenient, but very short lived. The thin cloth used on many of them is prone to rapid wear too.

Another update: I found two more 12mm clips in another bike shop. I  also bought some longer M6 x 30mm A4 stainless steel screws with quite large, domed cross heads. So now I could push the rack well away from the seat stays at the top as well as the bottom. The effect is that the rack is now parallel with the stays.

The image shows how I used a short length of smaller alloy aerial tubing to space the clips well apart. The bag now clears the seat stays nicely and no paint frettage wear is likely.

I haven't found any 10mm clips yet. So the stainless steel top crossbar is on hold. I have now made a shorter, top crossbar from a new piece of tubing without any holes to weaken it. It was squared off and polished in the lathe this time. A fine file and steel wool would do just as well. I may update and compress this post when the latest mod is fully assessed on the road.

This is the latest iteration.

I hope you agree that the appearance of the trike is not diminished by using these "brake clips" and simple crossbars. Since the clips, at least,  are standard bicycle spares. I think they look the part. The bag sits absolutely rock steady in use. A luxury and feeling of total bag security, on bumpy corners, I have not enjoyed until now. Interestingly, the bag settles into a central position where the straps do not contact the clips or stays. So any wear is due to the polished tube from which the bag straps hang. The straps should last for decades!

I'm getting more dexterous with the Carradice buckles now. The main trick is to allow the buckle locking pin to drop out of the way when undoing the straps. Or to deliberately push the pin down first. The Longflap device is valuable to make much more room for carrying goods. Though I still miss the capacity and large open top of even my smallest sports bag.

Had the Camper bag been the size claimed by the manufacturer it would hold considerably more. Doing so, without ever resorting to the Longflap option. I see this as a lost opportunity of tragic proportions. The manufacturer's may save a 3" wide strip of canvas, for the missing bag sides and bottom, but they cripple the bag's potential carrying capacity. 

Click on any image for an enlargement.

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Carradice Camper Longflap Saddlebag review

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As I mentioned in my ride diary this was a present from my wife. It arrived only a few short days after ordering it online direct from the Carradice factory.

Unfortunately Wiggle were out of stock and I was simply too impatient to wait for another  fortnight. One cannot be sure of the new stock prices but Wiggle were asking much less than any other supplier. As well as offering free postage to Europe! An easy saving of £12-15 over Carradice or the other online outlets.

I had an exchange of emails with Carradice over their lack of European postage pricing when ordering. Overnight the order form remained stuck at zero P&P. I'm an incurable optimist so was rather disappointed when they finally asked for £7.12 for P&P next morning.

The postage is only added by follow up email after one has entered all one's personal details. Including one's bank card. I do not think this is remotely acceptable for any online trader! Least of all one with a very limited range of stock items.

I do not accept that they are unable to weigh and work out the postage price for every bag regardless of destination. The postage world is neatly broken down into zones and has been for years. They know the dispatch weight of all their goods. Or certainly should by now! A little extra code on their website is all it takes.

Perhaps this is why I was 'punished' with a full price but "seconds" undersized bag? For having had the temerity to question Carradice's 'traditional' business methods? Perhaps the quality you will see below is the standard which they set themselves for all of their customers? Who knows?

Tragically for those who drool at the mere mention of traditional cycling goods manufacturers I owe no particular loyalty to Brooks or Carradice. I bought their products in good faith as an ordinary customer. If they failed to provide what they claim then I will mention it here. I will clearly show the problems in my own photos. A picture is worth  thousand words. "Handmade" is just ever more desperate sales hype if machines can do far better. Judge for yourself: 

As there will be so many images involved I shall keep them modest in size out of respect for those on a slow Internet connection. We can't have people waiting all day for the page to download just because their government doesn't give a shit about their nation's Internet speeds! Click on any image for an enlargement.

First I must freely confess to having pinched the idea of a crossbar support from Alan. My fellow English tricyclist. Who is also living in exile here in Denmark. He used a wooden dowel and his existing, rack fixing, screw bosses to hold his bag in place. I had no rack fixing points. So had to use clips. I also prefer alloy tubing as I have tons of old aerials lying in a pile from another hobby. Besides I know that any untreated wood quickly goes black in my bike shed.

Here are the clips I rode 70  miles to buy. (35 miles there and back) I believe they are a standard spare parts for brakes. Though I can't imagine where they are used. I had previously searched for something similar in local builders merchants and DIY stores without success. Ideally they would have been P-clips but beggars can't be choosers. It would not be too difficult to reform them into a P-shape. I added a plain nut to take up the unwanted space between the clip and the new crossbar.

First, I very carefully matched the bag supporting strap spacing against the exact clip height on the stays. I wanted the straps to have a free run around the the crossbar. Only then could I mark and drill the alloy tube. The higher the clips the nearer they are together. Lower down, the straps would have bent themselves around the outside of the trike seat stays. Putting the clips between the stays leaves a clear space for the straps.

I shall use dome headed, stainless steel screws and Nyloc nuts once I am satisfied with the set-up.

Now comes the unpacking! In best YouTube style, but without the moronic dialogue or unnecessary arm waving.

My wife reiterated my tragic pedantry in having recorded the packaging for posterity. I told her it is for my doting blog audience. And, that she should be very grateful I didn't make a 20 minute HD video with dialogue and background music! :-)

The obverse. Neat packaging. The blue metallic, plastic bag was the outer protection for travel through the post. The neat, taped fold in the inner, clear poly bag shows some thought has gone into presentation. As do the carefully dressed straps. This avoids them being bent backwards and taking on an unwanted 'set.'

Enough teasing. Now unwrapped in all its glory!
The honey straps lift the décor from the olive drab fabric.
The reflecting safety patch may sit rather high to be useful when the bag is well packed. Though the Carradice alloy label is shiny enough to catch car headlights from behind. While the black strap is provided for hanging lights in winter. Its final angle will depend on how much is packed into the bag.

Sadly the Carradice nameplate merely draws attention to the poor quality of the messy stitching overall. The riveting is sloppy and uneven too. The famous Carradice name badge is already scratched before it comes out of the wrapping!

Is this the standard by which Carradice has become almost legendary in conservative, cycle touring circles worldwide?

Here the top of the inner, nylon sleeve extension can be seen. The Longflap remains folded here. The press studs keep the extra length of flap out of the way until it is desired to increase the capacity of the bag. A neat trick for those with poor self-discipline when it comes to packing for a trip. Handy for those for whom life's main purpose seems to revolve around supermarket shopping. The extra straps stay neatly inside the bag until required. Then drop down to fit the usual flap holding buckles when necessary
The side pockets are larger than I am used to. They swallowed a lot of useful stuff compared with the previous pink bag. Leaving the main bag totally free of its former detritus. 

The plain (front facing) side of the bag. Note the round holes for the fixing straps. The D-rings would have been perfectly placed on the bottom corners of the bag for fixing to a trike! On the top they will only allow you to fit a shoulder strap. Useful should you want to carry the bag away with you.

After careful measurement I will agree with Carradice's front and back surface dimensions. (only just) However, the depth is well short of their 23cm claim. In fact it is only 16cm deep inside if a true box shape is demanded. Well-stuffed the bag might well stretch to 23cm in the middle. But that is not the true, box dimension. Carradice cut the sides to make a bag 16cm deep but advertise it as 23cm? How does that work with the local Trading Standards Officer? It is nearly 3" short of the claimed front to back depth! That's an awful lot of useful volume in any saddle bag! My wife asked if I had been sent the wrong model! I just felt even more cheated by Carradice.

The bag is only 14cm deep externally measured at the top. It is supposed to be 23cm. A 9cm difference. Or 3.5" too small in imperial measurements. This is a huge difference in volume and usability.  The stiffening dowel further reduces the depth of the mouth for filling the bag.

The bag lightly stuffed to show the general proportions. An enclosed leaflet shows assorted hanging methods and Carradice racks options for fixing the bag to ordinary bikes.

Three loose straps are provided. Two for hanging the bag and one for securing the  bag to the seat post. The perforations in the straps are all well formed. Allowing easy penetration by the buckle pin at all points. All the straps are of consistently high quality leather. With no sign of weaknesses or roughness anywhere. I believe they are sourced from a Belgian tannery.

Here, the bag is strapped to the newly fitted, alloy crossbar. The buckles are placed inside the bag for security and neatness. The tube was made long enough to avoid any chance of the straps being pushed off the ends. Note how the hanging straps are perfectly straight without any distortion from the seat stays or fixing clips. Which bodes well for a long life. The tube is much kinder to the hanging straps than most saddle eyelets. Many of which are just stamped out without later fettling. A matter of a few seconds with a small file.

The bag feels very resistant to sideways movement. I tipped the trike right on its side without the bag moving from its place. Though ironically the top fitted, D-rings would have been perfect for strapping to the seat stays or any tricycle rack had they been fitted at the bottom. I doubt they'd be interested in hearing my constructive suggestions after this review!

The inside of the bag. Showing the hanging straps and buckles. These are well tightened inside the bag for security. They go around the bag-stiffening dowel and the alloy tube clipped onto the stays.

Carradice's clever "seamstress" has signed the inside bag label to continue the 'handmade" theme. The label is fitted just below the very badly offset, leather reinforcing strip for the hanging straps! Fully 3/4" or 18mm off-centre!! That'll be the "handmade quality" again, I suppose?

A front view of the alloy crossbar and bag in place. I made the tube deliberately over-long to completely avoid the straps slipping off the ends. I might relent and shorten it a bit and fit end plugs to keep the bike shed spiders out.

The double D-rings fixed to the leather straps, on top, are for adding rolled-up gear.

The leather reinforcement and D-rings for straps to hold rolled items. Things like sleeping bags, sponge camping mattresses, tents, bulky clothing, etc. Highly visible to anyone admiring the Carradice bag's "handmade" quality.

The stitching on this one is a bit untidy/offset/wonky but just acceptable.





Considering this is right on top of the bag, and always highly visible, I don't think this other side is acceptable at all.

Carradice claim 6-18 months of training before their "highly skilled" seamstresses are good enough for production.

Should have gone to Specsavers?

Main flap, hold-down strap stitching.

Almost rectangular but still not a pretty sight!

The other matching flap hold-down strap on the left. Even worse!

The same manufacturing and quality control problems as elsewhere. Must have been a Friday afternoon. After the annual factory party and during a fire drill! 

"Handmade" is just empty sales hype when machines can do far better.

One is judged by ones deeds. Words are cheap. Unless you actually pay someone to make up all your commercial hype.






Thank goodness the old blue, rucksack frame has finally gone! It used to catch the backs of my thighs sometimes. Particularly when hanging well off the trike on sharp corners. Nor could I straighten my legs completely when trying to stretch tight calf muscles on a long ride.

My first ride, tomorrow, will tell whether I need a secure bottom fixing for the bag. I might use zip ties for greater security against casual theft. Why make life easy for the scum of the earth? It saddens me that nobody offers a security device which permanently maims bicycle thieves. I'd happily pay for one. If I could still afford it.

Click on any image for an enlargement.

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Carradice Camper Review II

Ist July

My first chance to try the new Camper saddle bag in earnest. By sheer chance it seems to naturally curl its lower, front corners around the Higgins seat stays. This, the internal dowel and the stiffness of the cloth, keeps the bag completely stable in use. Much better than any of my floppy, old sports bags.

I took two jackets today. Just in case the promised rain actually showed up. Or it turned suddenly cold. It didn't on either count. So I already had excess baggage.

 The well hung, Carradice Camper Longflap. Now safely fitted on my Higgins 'Ultralite' trike. 

Sitting nicely below the Brooks 'Professional' NOS saddle. The side pockets look quite close to the tyres but are actually well clear of the wheels. Though the straps need to be properly buckled to avoid catching in the spokes. If I didn't buckle them up they could make noises like a twin cylinder motorbike! 

You couldn't ask for a more perfect bag width to fit my trike! Provided, of course, that the bag stays put on the corners.

The straps are quite pleasant to handle but far more fiddly than zips. While the zips were almost always the downfall (to an early demise) for the endless sports bags. Two months of use was going well before they wore out. Some lasted only a week!

The side pocket straps are rather inaccessible due to the close proximity of the wheels. Which may actually be a good thing for the security of my tool kit. I may have to rethink my strategy with my cable lock though. To avoid using that side pocket quite so often. I don't want to get lazy and leave the trike unsecured against casual theft. The tops of the side pockets are nicely shaped into inverted trays to avoid any rain ingress.

The Carradice Camper bag just sat there. Stolidly unflinching whatever I threw at it. However, the large flap is a real nuisance when loading the bag with shopping. Because the back of the saddle gets in the way. On a bike, one could probably just flick the flap forwards over the saddle out of the way. I rolled the flap up and this seemed to help. The cloth may become slightly more flexible in time. Carrying a large clothes peg might be useful. Adapt and survive.  

The Carradice Camper Longflap looks rather smart on the back of Mr Higgins. A vast improvement on any of my scruffy sports bags. Which were usually dangling from the cut down, rucksack frame via a lot of ugly cords and zip ties. This didn't always help them stay out of the wheels! God knows what people thought of the appearance!

The Carradice stayed completely still. Even when mounting the rough, supermarket ramp which usually caught me out before. Taken askew, at considerable speed, I usually have to cut through the speeding, oncoming, village traffic. This was always a very severe test of bag stability. Most of my sports bags failed abysmally here. So full marks to the Camper! Carry on Camping? Suit yourselves. ;-)

The contents of the bag were already more or less level with the top before any shopping needed to find its rightful place. A bag of organic spuds, a tray of 10 eggs, 2 litres of milk and assorted other things. All fitted into the main bag. Though I still had to raise the extension sleeve. Then added the jackets on top of the shopping. With the Longflap and straps straps hardly extended. It all arrived safely home.

Don't the now-unused straps look strangely superfluous? Shouldn't there be buckles? Or even simple loops for the redundant straps to tuck into? I can imagine a following rider becoming completely mesmerised  by those loose straps flapping uselessly! A very amateur design flaw if you ask me.

Note how in vertically-extended, Longflap guise the pack holding D-rings are no longer on top of the bag! So you can have more capacity but not a rolled item as well? Hmm.

Isn't this simply a matter of extending the leather D-ring reinforcements further backwards down the normal flap? Preferably with an additional D-ring or two. These separate leather strips could even become one with the normal flap, hold down straps. Manufactured as a single, long length. All it takes is a little extra forethought. It would make the bag seem much more professionally designed into the bargain. The present gap between the two pieces of leather is barely 2" on each side. (look at the top image of the previous post)

This is not rocket science! I have owned the bag for only 24 hours and have already redesigned two features at almost no cost in adoption by the factory.

I'd also make the bag 3" deeper from front to back. So it matched the manufacturer's claims. Just don't tell the Nelson Trading Standards Officer first! Sale of Goods Act anybody?

I carefully measured the inside of the curved side panels of the bag: 19cm at maximum stretch in the middle. 16cm wide at the bottom. 13cm wide at the top. Measured over the edge piping the maximum side panel width (outside the bag) is just 21cm in the middle. Still far short of the claimed 23cm.

The narrowness of the opening makes loading far more difficult than it need have been. With the stiffening dowel and the unruly Longflap getting in the way the mouth is not nearly as large as it ought to be. More like feeding a wide mouthed toad than a basking shark. Had the bag not lost 3" in (claimed) depth one could have dropped a whole row of loaves into the maw. In its present dimensions a postman would feel much more at home with the Camper.

The low position of the bag allows the full height of the extended Longflap bag design. Without the rear of the overhanging saddle getting in the way. Only a trike allows this low position. The rear wheel of most normal bikes would get in the way. Requiring the bag be fitted on a rack of some kind. If not to traditional saddle loops. Racks add considerable weight and have some doubtful reputations online. Saddle loops often leave the bag hanging at weird angles. Angles which threaten to empty the entire contents onto the wet road. Even if you so much as glance at the lid restraining straps.

The low C-of-G of the loaded bag probably helps trike stability on corners. Though at the expense of greater frontal area and more drag in headwinds. The bag now sits in the turbulent air from my flailing calves. I haven't heard any good ideas for slimming cyclists' legs for lower drag. Except by shaving them of course. (There's a drag joke in there somewhere) But then, nobody uses a large saddle bag in a Time Trial. Do they?

If I go on improving the appearance of the trike I may even have to repaint it! Replacing the original transfers/decals are the only reason I haven't done so already.  

Click on any image for an enlargement.

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