I expanded the utility of my road bike by adding a smallish Carradice bag. Unfortunately, the bag had a tendency to rub against the tire when full of stuff. The Carradice equivalent to rug burn. For a while I used a bungee cord and wrapped it around the bottom of the bag to keep it off the tire. It wasn't very elegant and it made my bike look as if it had some strange unlevel oblong canvas tumor growing out of it.
Enter Rivendell's Silver Hupe, which is more or less a piece of wire wrapped in such a shape that it hugs the seat stays and provides a support for your saddle bags. For $30, many will be nonplussed by the fact it's just a piece of wire, but it IS the only game in town.
Simple and elegant it does its job well. I had my concerns that it wouldn't fit on my Mondonico because the clearances were so tight, but (with the help of the How-To video), I was able to get it on and it works like a charm
My first impression is that it is a lot larger than I thought it would be, which turns out to be a good thing as it will support larger bags (by support I mean it will keep it off my rear tire).
Now I can take my road bike on longer rides and carry some lunch and spare clothes with me, without worrying about burning a hole (or making the hole I already have larger) in my Carradice.
For $30, it's not bad and will add utility to bikes that otherwise can't take a rear rack.
3 comments:
I've been looking into buying a Nelson Longflap and with it, the requisite support. I had thought about the Silver Hupe, but think i might like the Bagman better. Mainly because on my occasionally used LeMond, the seatpost is so high, nothing else would really work.
Why'd you decide to go with the Silver Hupe, rather than any of the hanging-from-the-seat options?
Also, have you thought about the Saddlebag Grip also for sale at Rivendell? It seems like a large chunk of cash, but how wonderfully useful!
jptwins
I went for the Hupe because the other options wouldn't really raise the bag high enough to clear the tire when full.
What I really needed was a support from below (like a small rack), but the bike won't take a rack and I didn't want to mickey-mouse anything.
The Saddlebar Grip is pretty snazzy, but again, by the looks of it, the bag would still be hitting the tire...
Make sure to use tape or something on the seatstays. The Hupe works great but does have a tendency to eat paint and even seatstay metal over time.
I tend to go for larger loads and rough roads (city potholes), but even light loads will probably do this, depending on the exact measurements of the seatstays.
The Bagman is great but again, heavy loads with that item will strain saddle rails.
Yes, I do need to use a rack after all. The intermediate solutions do not suffice for my purposes of grocery fetching and full Carradice Camper loads.
Lighter loads are probably fine.
Post a Comment