Bedrock & Paradox

I dream of a hard and brutal mysticism in which the naked self merges with a non-human world and yet somehow survives still intact, individual, separate. Paradox and bedrock.

At last

An impending visit by Mr. Curiak gave me the kick in the pants necessary to finish up that last 10% of work on my seatbag.


This was quite a challenging project, Eric and Jeff absolutely earn their money (on design alone, really) on these things. Mine has a few idiosyncratic features, a few from errors in execution, more in design shortcomings. For instance, I set out to make it with as few seams and panels as possible. I succeeded, the main bag is put together with only one long curved seam, with patches sewn on for structure and strap attachment. This resulted in a few rather cramped spots at the ends of seam lines.

In any case, it was a good learning experience, and came together in a very functional and bombproof way. After one back, two frame bags, one gas tank, and this, I’m finally running out of gray Ballistics cloth. I really got good mileage and value out of that purchase.
Of course, the Parcour represents a whole nutha (moderate, I hope) gear project. It’s a good time of year to do it, insofar as maximizing ambiguity is concerned. For instance, last year the central Bob went from no snow to 8-12″ above 6000′ on the night of October 18th, and wasn’t snow free again until June.
Too bad my snowshoes weigh five pounds for the pair.

DaveC

7 responses to “At last”

  1. Bill Avatar
    Bill

    Nice, looking forward to reading on it's performance in the field :)

    Reply
  2. Red Bike Avatar
    Red Bike

    That seatbag is exactly what I want. Will you be taking orders?Failing that, any chance of a step by step instruction video?

    Reply
  3. Dave Avatar
    Dave

    Red,Definitely not taking orders. My workmanship is miles away from commercial quality, and between jobs, school, and training I wouldn't have the time, anyway.I'd steer you to Epic Designs. They're not cheap, but you absolutely get what you pay for. I didn't document the process or take photos of the cut pieces, so I couldn't be of much help there, either.

    Reply
  4. Red Bike Avatar
    Red Bike

    Thanks for the reply. Sadly Epic Designs are well out of my price range. If I make as good a job of mine as you have I will be very happy!

    Reply
  5. Dave Avatar
    Dave

    It's a tough design to visualize. The main body started as a rectangle, with the seatpost end tapering on a curve quite a bit. The seatpost strap piece is a triangle, which worked well but was really hard to sew on b/c of space issues. The bottom strap piece is a long diamond, and the the top (seatrail) piece is another (larger) triangle.I sewed and bartacked the straps to each of the three pieces mentioned, then sewed them onto the main bag. The velcro and buckles which close the main bag went on last.I dove right in without mockups, but I spent a lot of time examining friends bags in person first. Doing a rough bag out of cheap cotton or the like is not at all a bad idea. One needs to make sure that, for instance, your bag isn't so big as to hit the rear tire when the suspension compresses (my Leviathan has a lot of vertical rear wheel movement).I'd say I used no more than $30 of material (almost of which I already had), and close to 8 hours time, including drawing, cutting, and sewing.

    Reply
  6. Eric Avatar
    Eric

    Nice!need a job in anchorage?so how does it work?

    Reply
  7. Dave Avatar
    Dave

    Haven't given it a "real" test yet, but riding around the 'hood and jumping curbs (with a 30 degree down bag stuffed in) it seems pretty stable and invisible.

    Reply

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