A while ago I bought an Alpkit Joey, the little brother to their Kanga bar harness, which I can't justify the price tag for. I was underwhelmed on unpacking what is just a rectangle of covered foam with a few bits of webbing, and fitting it up found that it didn't really do what I wanted it to do - mainly, protect the headtube - since it's quite short and the webbing ladder makes it sit quite high. It was also more fluorescent than I was expecting so needed to go back anyway. So back it went, permanently.
Then my girlfriend was chucking out an old basic rucksack, and so I thought I'd have a very quick bash at making something myself.
I started with a bunch stuff:
The woven poly tarp material isn't ideal but the best I could find at the time - it's from a gazebo that was being thrown away on a campsite. The webbing is from an old tent from a festival I've cannibalised for many things, and the corrugated plastic is a letting agent's sign.
I thought the padded straps from the rucksack would be ideal fork crown straps as they should give a bit of a protection, so I left them on.
But then decided to cut them off and attach properly at the right length.
Webbing ladder on the "back."
An arrangement of corrugated plastic, held in place and the sharp edges covered with a liberal application of duct tape. I later changed this for a different arrangement, then after testing, decided just to stick a single simple rectangle of corrugated plastic in the main part, with the corrugations running horizontally to give a lot of horizontal stiffness, but a bit of vertical compliance.
Packing foam both sides to stop any rubbage.
The "finished" product, with Alpkit straps threaded through the webbing:
Mounted to the bike in the garage:
And with a 20l dual Airlok. This is where I decided more lateral stiffness is required.
I slit one side open and popped the rectangle of correx in. Further testing:
Still sitting a bit too low in reality. The added correx is moving inside the cover, being pushed to the bottom and the fabric at the top bunching up. I've added a couple of lines of robust stitching underneath to hold it up. I'll test this on my commute today and see how it goes.
It's very rough around the edges - I might take it apart and tidy it up, and replace the green tarp material with something more suitable - but for zero outlay and a a couple of hours of bodging time I'm pretty happy with it so far.
Bodged together bar harness
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- thenorthwind
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- Location: Newcastle
- Bearbonesnorm
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Re: Bodged together bar harness
10/10 for re-using stuff heading to the bin!
- thenorthwind
- Posts: 2574
- Joined: Thu Mar 10, 2016 6:07 pm
- Location: Newcastle
Re: Bodged together bar harness
Ha, cheers, need a Blue Peter patch to sew on!
Re: Bodged together bar harness
I've learnt to repurpose everything, its how I learnt to sew, mostly from old surplus...um...surplus, hence why most of my kit was camouflage and overbuilt fabric.
One tip is to have the straps that go around the bag secured as high and as low as possible, giving a wide area makes it stable and stops it hinging up and down so much, otherwise it looks very good...and nice pattern
You should have a go at working with old inner tubes, great material and works well for parts that rub the frame or need extra grip.
Oh and if anyone does need anything embroidered...um...Ahem #selfplug
One tip is to have the straps that go around the bag secured as high and as low as possible, giving a wide area makes it stable and stops it hinging up and down so much, otherwise it looks very good...and nice pattern
You should have a go at working with old inner tubes, great material and works well for parts that rub the frame or need extra grip.
Oh and if anyone does need anything embroidered...um...Ahem #selfplug
- thenorthwind
- Posts: 2574
- Joined: Thu Mar 10, 2016 6:07 pm
- Location: Newcastle
Update
I had a crack at improving this. I ripped the insides out and replaced the horrible woven tarp stuff with some equally non-technical, but much neater-looking black material from a freebie rucksack I got from a conference.
More importantly, I replaced the corrugated plastic inside. I went for two layers, a piece filling the whole shape with the corrugations vertically, and a piece covering the top part with the corrugations running horizontally - so strength in both dimensions. I also trimmed it down to fit more precisely inside so it goes right to the edge and can't move around. Consequently, the whole thing's stiffer and more stable, albeit a bit heavier: still only 250g which isn't bad compared to a 230g Alpkit Kanga.
It doesn't look much different (apart from the bit that you can't see ) but trust me it's betterer!
More importantly, I replaced the corrugated plastic inside. I went for two layers, a piece filling the whole shape with the corrugations vertically, and a piece covering the top part with the corrugations running horizontally - so strength in both dimensions. I also trimmed it down to fit more precisely inside so it goes right to the edge and can't move around. Consequently, the whole thing's stiffer and more stable, albeit a bit heavier: still only 250g which isn't bad compared to a 230g Alpkit Kanga.
It doesn't look much different (apart from the bit that you can't see ) but trust me it's betterer!
- thenorthwind
- Posts: 2574
- Joined: Thu Mar 10, 2016 6:07 pm
- Location: Newcastle
Re: Bodged together bar harness
Another post-trip update. After 7 days of riding, 400 miles of technical trails, gravel and road in all conditions, it was still going strong. I barely noticed it's existence, which is probably the best thing you can say about a harness.
Here it is at the beginning of the trip, all shiny and clean (complete with goblin):
IMGP2659 by Dave W, on Flickr
And again on the last day, with slightly more disheveled goblin, and a camera full of condensation from the rain:
IMGP2900 by Dave W, on Flickr
Here it is at the beginning of the trip, all shiny and clean (complete with goblin):
IMGP2659 by Dave W, on Flickr
And again on the last day, with slightly more disheveled goblin, and a camera full of condensation from the rain:
IMGP2900 by Dave W, on Flickr