Some Bicycle Saddle Bags

[slipangle]

I think it's safe, Michelle, as long as you don't go too steep. And they're not subject to heavy pounding.

I just did one this morning. It's very handy to have a lathe to hold these in while filing and sanding the bevel,

But can be done by hand on a belt sander too, if you're careful.

Good luck,

Slip

[silverwingit]

Slip, I happen to have a mini lathe. I'll use it to steepen the bevel on one set of punches I have. I'll leave my other punches for heavy-duty work. I'll try to use the re-ground punches to attempt some cutouts, hoping for the kind of success you demonstrate.

Thanks much and keep up the good work.

Michelle

[pmreed]

Fine looking work! You mention Waterhouse Leather. I just found out about them, minutes ago. Being in Western MA, I'm interested in giving them a try.

[slipangle]

Thank you, PMReed. Waterhouse is a great place, run by a real nice guy. Peter Benchley. He knows his leather and has some nice stuff on his site. Pretty reasonable too, I thought.

[biglew]

looks excellent

[BobW]

Thanks all,

And Monica. I too like the look of un-dyed veg tanned. Takes on a nice glow and color.

I do get requests for bags to match guys' leather saddle, however. And it is usually Brooks "honey",

a difficult color to match. Or brown. Still trying to come up with a suitable dye mix for honey.

I have never tried working with colored veg tanned but should check it out. Thing is…does it have the same temper and firmness as standard veg tanned? Of course, I'm not doing tooling but having the ability to cut clean 45's with a French edger and do box-type construction at the edges is important. Which veg excels at, I've found. The black chrome tanned above sucks in that regard, but it's sort of workable.

I need to practice becoming better at dyeing. I do have an airbrush but so far haven't tried it with leather dye yet.

Thanks

Slip

Very nice work, Slip. I love seeing unique items made with an attention for detail. Instead of trying to match your bags to the honey colored saddle, try wet forming a new saddle cover on an old Brooks pan. Then dip-dye the veg tan leather for a consistent, even color that would match perfectly! You could even make matching handlebar wraps.

Check out this link that is on MuddyClearWaters posts: www.carsonleh.com

I didn't see any traditional Brooks saddles, but they are very imaginative!

Thank you for sharing one of your passions to create, Bob

Edited November 25, 2014 by BobW

[slipangle]

Thank you Bob,

I appreciate the ideas and input.

As for matching the bags to the saddles, the issue is, the saddles belong to my potential customers for the bags. So, there's no altering them. And, though I've never tried replacing the leather on a suspended leather saddle like the Brooks, I've watched the exploits of a guy who does, on Bike forums, and it is no easy task, let me tell you.

Suspended leather bike saddles, like the Brooks, Ideale, Wright's, etc., are a whole different animal than what you see on the carson leh web site. All of the saddles shown there are plastic shell saddles, with thin leather glued to the shell. Which makes them so amenable to customization. Essentially a hard form to which you can apply just about anything you want.

At any rate, I'll continue to experiment with colors. I see Angeles offers a color called "honey". I may order a baootle.

Thank you Bob,

Scott

[Flyboy]

Very nice. Great idea.

[slipangle]

Thank you, Flyboy.

[Ingrid H]

Nice bags! Nice bikes too from what I could see. My first "expensive" bike was a Motobecane I bought with my summer job money when I was 14, and the blue one in your pictures brings back memories. One of my High School racing team mates had that bike. What was it? Univega? I love classic bikes and worked as a bike mechanic while I was in college back in the 1980s.

I always carried a little tool kit unless I was in a race, and it came in handy a bunch of times.

[bcflyguy]

Hello,

New to the forum, though I check in now and again and learn a great deal from you folks.

Leather work is not my specialty. I dabble in leather, as well as many other things. I really love to make tools and will post some awl hafts I've been working on too.

Most of what I'm been doing has been for the guys over on a Classic & Vintage bicycle forum

I participate in. Here's a couple of pics of some saddle bags I've made.

These seams are beveled at 45 degrees and then saddle stitched. But I'm still learning. Particularly how to finish the edges of this black chrome tanned leather.

Thanks for looking,

Scott

Can I ask where you got the pattern for that round bag Scott. I am trying to do one without a pattern and can not succeed.

Thanks

bcflyguy

[slipangle]

Can I ask where you got the pattern for that round bag Scott. I am trying to do one without a pattern and can not succeed.

Thanks

bcflyguy

Hi BC Fly Guy

I used no available patterns. I just made all of these up as I went along. On the round one, I first cut out the end pieces, the circles, then measured the circumference and added two inches, for the main piece.

Thanks,

Scott

[slipangle]

Hi Ingrid,

And thank you. That blue bike is a 1963 Frejus Super Corsa. Off topic a bit but, here's some pictures.

I like Motobecanes too. I have 3 of them. Here is my pride and joy. A 1972-73 Champion Team.

Thanks kindly

Scott

L]Nice bags! Nice bikes too from what I could see. My first "expensive" bike was a Motobecane I bought with my summer job money when I was 14, and the blue one in your pictures brings back memories. One of my High School racing team mates had that bike. What was it? Univega? I love classic bikes and worked as a bike mechanic while I was in college back in the 1980s.

I always carried a little tool kit unless I was in a race, and it came in handy a bunch of times.

Edited November 30, 2014 by slipangle

[Ingrid H]

Nice bikes! I was way off in my Univega guess So clean and elegant in design.