near professional skill

I am loving to hate Rivendell Bicycle Works at this time. You may join me if you lik. Now, ordinarily, I'd say they design some well-thought-out bicycle related items. But I am currently packing my ish for a 4 day trip via a bicycle, and my baggage (Rivendell made) is failing me. My panniers are at the seamstress' having their blown out seams (yes, multiple.) repaired. Those panniers have seen several years of hard use and seen it well, but now they are blown out and I can't use them. So I hate Rivendell.

More relevant to right now, is the continuing blow out of my handlebar bag. Look:

The upper fasteners there are rivets that I had previously used to fix the blown out factory rivets, which you can see as the lowers (which have recently blown). The other side, upper and lower, was blown a while ago and I "fixed" it with rivets. That's "fixed" because my rivets (yes, I used washers inside and out to share the load) have pulled through also. And being how I am, I cussed the bag and put it on the bench to repair it after the last trip...only to forget to do anything with it until I needed it.

I realize my fault in this, and that a last minute scramble on my part does not an emergency for Rivendell make, but dang. The little knobs on my quick release leather closure straps for the seat bag have vibrated loose/off as well. Lost and gone, and try to find that small brass part at a hardware store. Plus that bag ripped at both corners within a week of purchase.


Bags made for cycling ought to hold up to some actual use. I'm left feeling that Rivendell's products are made for toting your iPad and smoked salmon to the yoga studio. Let's face it: real life is rough. Scrappy. A tad wall-eyed. It falls down.


Anyways, I actually "fixed" that damned handle bar bag this time. I used the left over aluminum spacers from my useful (and designed for beer drinking and hell raising) Surly rack. I cut the 3rd hole off, filed the edges, and presto! it's a backing plate for some nuts to bolts linkage.



Thanks, Surly!


Now my shade tree workers co-operative fairy dust will not blow out my bag?





Some foodstuffs.

I gotta go pack the rest. 4 days in Henry Coe. Bikes. Ticks. Swimming holes.


Nobody break in here while I'm out there.