bike bag redesign

Well I am cleverer than I look because the bike bag worked with the measurements I gave it! It only connected with my knees when I was pedalling into the wind or when we hit a really big bump. We biked about 30 kms with it and I loaded stuff into it and was pleased with it. I think I'll use it again on treks to the market or elsewhere.

As I did on Sunday! Here I am in one of my rayon bike shirts. You can just see part of the bag behind my right hip. More importantly, there are horses in the background!

Here's Peter in one of my shirts, and you can see the bag hanging from the stoker's handlebar. In spite of its success, I had decided to redesign it anyway, especially as the zipper was not easy to operate one-handedly.

So I am basing the bag on the tote bag pattern I have used many times (especially for gifts). I am using the smaller of the sizes and modifying it a fair bit. I wanted an exterior pocket that was easily accessible so I could whip out the camera at a moment's notice while pedalling. I decided to make a gusseted pocket to accommodate the bulk of the camera and prevent the bag itself from being distorted when the camera was in the pocket. Of course, I couldn't make a pocket on only one side so I did a matching one for the other side of the main bag. In this photo, on the right-hand side, I have stuffed a kerchief into the pocket before the bottom has been sewn down. On the left, I have sewn the bottom of the pocket down.

After I tested the pocket, I realized that the camera would not be totally secure and decided to close it with some velcro. I tried closing the pocket top with the velcro attached directly to the inner edge of the pocket but the top of the pocket buckled too much. So I sewed the bit of Velcro to a bit of a tab and then I could secure the open edge of the pocket to keep the camera from falling out (if the bag tipped badly) but still have easy access to it.

Here is a finished pocket, stuffed with the handkerchief. Then I applied two interior flat pockets and sewed the sides of the bag together.

Here is the bag before I put on the zippered top and attach the handle. The handle is going to be the really clever part, although I have only designed it in my head so far.