Bag Fetish (Alcohol Makes Everything Work Better)

I have a bag fetish. You will hear lots about this as time goes on.

For now, suffice it to say that I enjoy having the right bag for the occasion and I like having it slung on my bicycle properly. I have been quite fixated as of late with English saddle bags, namely the Carradice transverse saddlebags. You know, the ones that conveniently match the nice English saddles like Brooks. I have the Nelson Longflap which is an excellent bag. As Peter White says, it can carry just about everything you would want on a bicycle outside of a tour. A touch spendy, but the reputation of Carradice bags is that they will outlive your bike and probably you. So I would rather spend a little extra dough up front.

I have a Selle Anatomica Titanico LD with the watershed coating. This is a perfect saddle. It is their permutation of a Brooks saddle with a more anatomical design (read: penile nerve cutout). Right out of the box, it fit incredibly and was comfortable for the long haul. The saddle needed retensioning after about 70 miles, but that was no big deal. They even use a standard allen bolt for their tension mechanism. If you are on the fence regarding one, stop hesitating. This saddle is perfect.

I stitched mine, following a hypothesis that a narrower nose and stiffer seat might enhance the perfection. The stitching did firm up the saddle a little and narrow up the nose, but the improvements were not worth the effort. The saddle was just fine as is. The folks over at Selle Anatomica simply knocked it out of the ballpark with this design.

Oh, and the watershed coating really lives up to its name. I have done one full year of riding in Northeast weather (rain, humidity, ice, snow, salt, sun: we have it all in spades). The leather has not been treated with anything other than abuse and crotch sweat. Even where I have torn up the saddle (damned brick walls), the leather is still holding up, albeit in scuffed fashion.

My one beef with the saddle, however, is how the saddle does not like to like to play with the Bagman QR saddlebag supports. The Selle Anatomica does have bag loops, but the rails are set in such a way that they interfere with the QR mechanism on the Bagman QR. I am sure that the normal Bagman support would work just fine. I run a lot of errands with my commuter bike and I like to be able to take the bag off when I lock up my bike in shadier areas.

I got it into my head today that I would attach the female portion of fastex buckles to the bag loops on the saddle and then run the bag straps through the male part of the fastex buckles. Instant quick-release design! I don't know if this is original, so I don't claim it for my own, but these are the odd ideas that occur to me when I am riding.

First and foremost: a drink. Along with the ability to have a lot more of them if necessary. Box wine kicks serious ass in the "lot more of them" department. There are decent box wines out there. And while they are not the best in terms of quality, the wines are palatable and they more than compensate in quantity. All DIY projects require alcohol to work properly. The amount of alcohol consumed on a DIY project is exponentially proportional to how much fun the project is.

From my math minor days, I believe the formula is:
"Fun = (Alcohol Consumed * Project Complexity)^3."

Of course the corollaries of that formula are:
"Project Success = 1/(Alcohol Consumed)^5"
and
"Probability of Injury = (Coeffiecient of Power Tools)(Alcohol Consumed * Project Complexity)^13."

Pretty daunting odds. But I know what I must do in order to make this project fly. Drink more.

Here are the key components:



Oh wait, here are the real parts for the project (.75" fastex buckles and .75" nylon webbing):


Then the alcohol starts serving its real purpose. Why the hell can't I fit that QR mechanism under the saddle?! I know, I'll just jam that shit in there! With a hammer, if need be. I'll make it work! And what do you know? It does work. I didn't even need a hammer. It was a challenge that resulted in much alcohol-fueled profanity, but that QR bracket fits in there.


Note that the top part, the QR portion, does not sit entirely flush with the rails. Maybe with a little grinding from a Dremel tool, it would fit. But my patience just wasn't there tonight. Also note that the mount is pushed almost completely to the seatpost clamp.


So, score another hit for the Selle Anatomica! And score a hit for red wine! You can indeed use these saddles with the Bagman QR supports, but they just require a little cajoling to fit in there. What's more, you can still use the QR mechanism easily enough. I will warn you, however, that if you have your saddle positioned way forward, the Bagman bracket won't fit on the rails anyway.