made a few mistakes while doing it but got most of them ironed out.

xpax vx21 with black 500d cordura.

lined the inside with bright orange ripstop to not be so dark in there while looking for stuff

sandwiched in some thin cushiony foam (thats sometimes used in packaging) all the way round where bag touches the frame. sewn between the cordura and the ripstop.

had the idea to have a flaring width, getting wider as it approached the stem. starting at 6cm and going up to 11cm. woulda held more stuff but it looked awful! ended up sacking this off and made it 6cm wide all over.

sewed in the dividing floor from the beginning. thought id never not want it so no need for a velcro/drop out floor. i soon learned that i could then not sew the bag inside out due to the dividing floor making a hash of it. ripped it up and changed to velcro version.

want to include mini bits of velcro on the inside at the top of the bag to hold my tent pole in place. forgot to do this but ill rip up and insert velcro bits.

forgot to include zip pull tabs either side of all my zips.

have a thin document pocket on the otherside.

at the very front of it ive got a little hole for usb/cable stuffs.

for the other bike id like to try a roll top design next time

That is absolutely brilliant - well done you. Can I have one please?

Aye, that looks really good. I like the colour choice too.

TheBrownDog wrote: ↑Sun May 17, 2020 3:22 pm That is absolutely brilliant - well done you. Can I have one please?

Me too please

Nice work

shutupthepunx wrote: ↑Sun May 17, 2020 2:16 pm want to include mini bits of velcro on the inside at the top of the bag to hold my tent pole in place. forgot to do this but ill rip up and insert velcro bits.

I've got 2 bits of elastic inside the top panel of mine to hold my pole. They're spaced so I slide the pole in to the rear one and then I can put the front of the pole in and slide it forward under the front one. If you turn the bag inside out you can sew this in workout any unpicking as it's only sewn on the edge seams.

You can see them in the second to last pic in the thread where I replaced my zip.

Wooaah this is amazing! Kudos

sean_iow wrote: ↑Sun May 17, 2020 3:55 pm
I've got 2 bits of elastic inside the top panel of mine to hold my pole. They're spaced so I slide the pole in to the rear one and then I can put the front of the pole in and slide it forward under the front one. If you turn the bag inside out you can sew this in workout any unpicking as it's only sewn on the edge seams.

You can see them in the second to last pic in the thread where I replaced my zip.

brilliant. ok well ill bind the inside seams with grosgrain and then add velcro or elastic (which sounds better to be honest) afterwards. thanks for the tip.

just had it out for a spin, no knee rub or owt, well chuffed. thanks for the nice comments

Top job

I really like that. I like the thought of making my own main frame bag, is it, with time, something one can learn? I always like to think I can make stuff, but i'm sub standard working with my hands making stuff. I'd still like to give it a go.

I really like that. I like the thought of making my own main frame bag, is it, with time, something one can learn? I always like to think I can make stuff, but i'm sub standard working with my hands making stuff. I'd

Give it a go Allen. Nothing to lose really.

Escape Goat wrote: ↑Sun May 17, 2020 7:17 pm I really like that. I like the thought of making my own main frame bag, is it, with time, something one can learn? I always like to think I can make stuff, but i'm sub standard working with my hands making stuff. I'd still like to give it a go.

I was thinking about that bag on todays ride. I really wanna give it a go myself too. My last one went ok but feel like I've gone backwards in terms of progress as the next time I got out the missus' machine everything ended up in a tangled knotty mess..

Bearbonesnorm wrote: ↑Sun May 17, 2020 8:48 pm

I really like that. I like the thought of making my own main frame bag, is it, with time, something one can learn? I always like to think I can make stuff, but i'm sub standard working with my hands making stuff. I'd

Give it a go Allen. Nothing to lose really.

absolutely! knock one up using some other scrap material first if your not feeling so confident about the whole thing. this took too many hours to say, but do it over a few day or evenings, take it slow and you'll get there.

Bearbonesnorm wrote: ↑Sun May 17, 2020 8:48 pm

I really like that. I like the thought of making my own main frame bag, is it, with time, something one can learn? I always like to think I can make stuff, but i'm sub standard working with my hands making stuff. I'd

Give it a go Allen. Nothing to lose really.

Yeah, I guess!

Although it's expensive I would recommend using VX21 for even your first frame bag/luggage project.

It's semi stiff and has zero stretch so easy to align the pieces and keep them aligned. It's a light colour on the reverse so easy to mark out. I use a biro (the lines end up inside so don't show) and I use a different colour for the line to cut and where to sew.

I mark out the final size of the panels in green on the back and then draw another line 10mm outside of this all round in black. Cut out the panels on the black lines. With the good sides together (the outer face) sew along the green lines and that's all there is to it. The stiffness of the material is like sewing two sheets of paper together.

Sean... you just made it sound so easy

Haven't been looking here at a how to at all!

https://bikepacking.com/gear/how-to-mak ... g-krampus/

I'm really tempted. Seams like the ingredients may cost about 60 quid. ish.

sean_iow wrote: ↑Sun May 17, 2020 9:47 pm The stiffness of the material is like sewing two sheets of paper together.

which is real nice, up until you come to a corner, then things get a little trickier. i heard a smaller stitch can help as the needle isnt taking really big jumps between stitches allowing you more manoovering room. but even still, its always something i find difficult

ScotRoutes wrote: ↑Sun May 17, 2020 3:36 pm Aye, that looks really good. I like the colour choice too.

Really handy for hiding slurry slains

Where is the best olace to source the vx21 and webbing, ripstop velcro etc?

Mrs B is bired at hime and wants to graduate from making a cushion for everyone she knows!

Thanks

Ian

I buy mine from here

https://www.profabrics.co.uk/

Thanks Sean

Whats cheaper than VX21 but not too much heavier?? Or, or, what's lighter than vx21 but not as stupidly priced as Dyneema?

Just qanna get a load of material to practice with to be honest but dont wanna spend loads

I recently got a bag of roll ends from Profabrics. Loads of 6oz-ish PU coated nylon for about a tenner. I'm currently doing my best to turn it all in to musettes by way of practice.

redefined_cycles wrote: ↑Sat Jun 06, 2020 5:59 pm Whats cheaper than VX21 but not too much heavier?? Or, or, what's lighter than vx21 but not as stupidly priced as Dyneema?

hard to answer this, as obvious answers like ripstop nylon has quite different qualities (to the likes of VX21) despite answering the above questions. as its much cheaper, and much lighter. but i dont think id fancy making a framebag from it.

i got some 500d cordura from somewhere that wasnt profabrics, or extremtextil. i think it might have been fabricuk.com but at the moment they only seem to have 1000D cordura which is heavier.

vx21 is 203gr/m²

you could try using https://www.activefabrics.co.uk/cordura ... light.html 12quid a metre and 130 gr/m² but maybe thats too thin/light.

or this stuff, which is a 10er a metre and 149 gr/m². https://www.activefabrics.co.uk/cordura ... pstop.html

as im sure you're aware, everything is a compromise. cheaper fabrics will need to be heavier to get the same durability as the likes of xpac. hope this helps a bit and not just confuses more

shutupthepunx wrote: ↑Sun Jun 07, 2020 10:52 am

redefined_cycles wrote: ↑Sat Jun 06, 2020 5:59 pm Whats cheaper than VX21 but not too much heavier?? Or, or, what's lighter than vx21 but not as stupidly priced as Dyneema?

hard to answer this, as obvious answers like ripstop nylon has quite different qualities (to the likes of VX21) despite answering the above questions. as its much cheaper, and much lighter. but i dont think id fancy making a framebag from it.

i got some 500d cordura from somewhere that wasnt profabrics, or extremtextil. i think it might have been fabricuk.com but at the moment they only seem to have 1000D cordura which is heavier.

vx21 is 203gr/m²

you could try using https://www.activefabrics.co.uk/cordura ... light.html 12quid a metre and 130 gr/m² but maybe thats too thin/light.

or this stuff, which is a 10er a metre and 149 gr/m². https://www.activefabrics.co.uk/cordura ... pstop.html

as im sure you're aware, everything is a compromise. cheaper fabrics will need to be heavier to get the same durability as the likes of xpac. hope this helps a bit and not just confuses more

Nope... very helpful indeed. My main thing is to get some more experience and hence the funny Qs. Used to be good at art at school (well, very good if I might say so myself) so hopefully with a little patience i might be able to get something looking like the first bag in this thread myself...