Ultralightweight saddlebag harness - dropper post compatible

[Valerio]

This is hardly the best time to sell bikepacking bags, let alone the time to start making a small batch of them with so many online shops offering crazy discounts.

However! After my branded harness failed during BB200 I thought it would be fun to produce a saddlebag harness myself, and save myself some money in the process.
Now that I've done it, I can say it was sort-of-fun but it definitely has saved me NO money and in fact I had to make 6 harnesses which I'm now selling hoping to get back some of the money I had go spend to order material in small quantities (opposed to industry-sized batches).

The harness heavily inspired by an existing product and is made of plastic and CNC cut. The straps are sewed and allow to install the harness on pretty much any bike using the saddle rails and seat-tube.
If you have a dropper-post, the harness should allow you to still use the dropper although you might need to limit the travel of the dropper.

I've tested my harness on the rocky trails of the Peak District, on a rigid bike, and I can't notice any tail-wagging.

Ideally you won't load it up with more than 2kg / 8-10l volume, but I haven't tested mine up to the point of failure.
Tbh I think I would be OK with larger volumes, but might start shaking a bit.

If you care about weight savings, this harness saves you about 300gr over traditional saddlebag solutions.
Think about how much you'd spend on lighter pedals/cassette/wheels to save that much weight.

I'm selling the basic version for £52 (2 left) and the upgraded version either a fidlock magnetic buckle for £59 ( 1left).
I can deliver around Manchester or post at buyer's expenses (£3).

Any question please let me know.
Here's a link with more photos.
https://www.instagram.com/p/C1pl77VMGe ... 2NzJodTR3

Apologies you'll need Instagram to see them, but im happy to send them via email on request.

20231205_115554.jpg (69.48 KiB) Viewed 599 times

[jameso]

Great work, it looks really good.. I made a similar but more basic superlight saddle holster with rubberised tarp fabric (Ortlieb type) and webbing a few years ago, it worked ok but I did think at the time that plastic would be better/easier to use than the tarpaulin. And I like the seat post attachment you've used.

[Dyffers]

If you care about weight savings, this harness saves you about 300gr over traditional saddlebag solutions.

I've scanned your text twice and I can't see an actual weight for what you have created?

My Wildcat harnesses and basic Alpkit drybags save over 300g over a "traditional saddlebag" ie my no-longer-used ye olde Carradice Barley.

What I'm interested in is what weight saving this is over a Wildcat-style holster?

Not naysaying though, great work.

[thenorthwind]

well that looks familiar! And I don't just mean the Wayward Riders Louise - I started making my own harness based on the same, though with a few changes, over a year ago now and I've got several prototypes sat gathering dust ( ). If I weren't also invested, not quite so much financially as in effort, including importing a quantity of some particular buckles via a friend in the EU (thanks Brexit! ) I'd have one off you! (Sorry!)

[Valerio]

Great work, it looks really good.. I made a similar but more basic superlight saddle holster with rubberised tarp fabric (Ortlieb type) and webbing a few years ago, it worked ok but I did think at the time that plastic would be better/easier to use than the tarpaulin. And I like the seat post attachment you've used.

Thanks James!
I'm really liking the plastic especially compared to the fabric of my previous saddlebag, which was impossible to clean after a muddy ride.

[Valerio]

If you care about weight savings, this harness saves you about 300gr over traditional saddlebag solutions.

I've scanned your text twice and I can't see an actual weight for what you have created?

My Wildcat harnesses and basic Alpkit drybags save over 300g over a "traditional saddlebag" ie my no-longer-used ye olde Carradice Barley.

What I'm interested in is what weight saving this is over a Wildcat-style holster?

Not naysaying though, great work.

Thank you!

Apologies I'm struggling to post multiple images here but if you're interested send me a private message with your email address and I'd be happy to send you a few photos (including the harness over a scale).
If you use Instagram, there's a link on my original post to a few shots and details of the harness.

The harness weights roughly 175gr (no dry bag), so very similar to the Wildcat Tiger Drover (185gr) harness, assuming that's the one you have.

My Restrap harness (14l version, no dry bag) is just shy of 500gr which I believe is more or less in line with the average weight for this sort of harnesses and that's what I compared it against. Mainly because it's the only other harness i could check it against using the same scale!

An advantage of this harness is that it takes little space on the seatpost and should allow most droppers to work, to a certain extent.

[Valerio]

well that looks familiar! And I don't just mean the Wayward Riders Louise - I started making my own harness based on the same, though with a few changes, over a year ago now and I've got several prototypes sat gathering dust ( ). If I weren't also invested, not quite so much financially as in effort, including importing a quantity of some particular buckles via a friend in the EU (thanks Brexit! ) I'd have one off you! (Sorry!)

ehehhe well spotted

I know what you mean especially on the effort these things take!
I thought the Louise pricing was incredibly high but after doing this little batch, I have to say it's fair.
I'm selling my spare ones with the only intent to go even and get back the money I spent on materials.

If I was to include my own time and some margin to actually make money out of it, I'd probably have to double the price.

I found that most of the cost is in the plastic, for it to be cost-effective I'd have to make hundreds of these which I'm not prepared to do.

[thenorthwind]

TBH I was hoping to come up with a design that worked well enough that I would be able to make a few to sell and at least make something for my efforts/but materials in sensible quantities. I thought the plastic sheet design would help that, in that once you've done the design, there's next to zero effort in getting it cut - compared to a sewn fabric design. But I hadn't actually looked into the cost of manufacturing at scale, so I could be way off.

Fair play for at least getting as far as making something that works - I hope you are least got some satisfaction from that.

What material and thickness did you use if you don't mind me asking?

[jameso]

Thanks James!
I'm really liking the plastic especially compared to the fabric of my previous saddlebag, which was impossible to clean after a muddy ride.

Not attracting much mud is a plus I hadn't thought about esp given the location of the bag.
I did make a polypropylene saddle roll for my road bike, to hold a dry bag transversely, like a lightweight trad Carradice bag. Used old toe straps to keep it all together. Worked well and was a great surface to stick reflective strips to, but not having proper saddle loops didn't help with position/mounting. Anyway.. glws!

[thenorthwind]

It's also much less of a problem if you get some inadvertent tyre/harness interference.

[Valerio]

The profiles are cut from a 1.5mm Polypropylene sheet.

I was hoping to be able to order a A3 sized sheet to cut a profile, but that is considered too small of an order and suppliers (well, the ones I managed to find) apply a hefty surcharge on top of the price.
Hence why I had to order way more than I needed and ended up making 6 harnesses rather than just 1.

[thenorthwind]

Cheers. Tried to check what I used but can't find the invoice - definitely PP, think it's also 1.5mm, possibly 1.

Fortunately there's a place local to me, so I can just go in and buy bits.

[Valerio]

Cheeky UP in case someone is interested.

I've got 3 of these left.