Australian winter riding

[Airbear]

Charlie , support our EnZud cousins and buy these .http://www.rain-off.com/

and , from whence came the light weight tarp? and have you upgraded your soft panniers ? They look bigger.

Gidday Peter. I made the tarp - it's quite similar to the 'deluxe' version from this mob.

http://www.outdoorequipmentsupplier.com ... _tarps.php

Their price of $115 is a bargain, BTW. Materials cost about $75 for mine plus about two days of very fiddly sewing. The stuff is so lightweight and slippery. Great satisfaction, of course - I do like making stuff, and there is lots of info out there on making stuff out of silnylon.

Those overgloves look great - both makes. Could make a big difference to wet weather comfort. I would go with the 'Enzud' version, I reckon. I buy NZ products whenever I can. I remember when NZ refused permission for a US nuclear armed warship to enter their ports a couple of decades ago. No Oz gummint would ever have the balls. Go Kiwis.

Dunno if you've seen my luggage setup lately. Here, sans tank bag.



I made some new tank panniers for water supply (6 litres in 4 x 1.5l bottles) and other stuff. I've now done away with the fat roll pack on the back, soon to be replaced by a new 'kitchen' pack. All my bedroll stuff now fits in the left pannier. I'm not a gram counter, but am putting some effort into smaller and lighter gear. The soft bags are working really well. The pack just behind the seat contains a long styrene 'esky' that holds 6 stubbies of home brew. Very useful addition.

[She'llbe]

Do I see some LED running lights on the side of your headlight Charlie? That's a great functioning bike you got there.

[Deleted User 287]

Great video Jeff. I just now got to watch it.

I really like your chin mount for your camera. I have just found that I cannot get a Pinlock shield for my Symax-II helmet, which is too sculpted in the chin to accept a GoPro mount, so it may be time to think about helmet shopping.

BTW - I think you grew large balls just by hanging around those roos.

[Deleted User 287]

I remember when NZ refused permission for a US nuclear armed warship to enter their ports a couple of decades ago. No Oz gummint would ever have the balls. Go Kiwis.

Go Kiwis, indeed.

I would offer you my pair, Charlie, but that would be defeating the purpose, wouldn't it?

[Sibbo]

Hi Charlie, I vaguely remember you talking about sewing but this lot is remarkable! I look forward to seeing the real thing in October but until then would you consider a thread on the making of, or at least a few more individual photos of individual items ? I currently use a couple of hard panniers that I made from from army Mermite mess tins ...... but I'm thinking about changing to soft gear.

Things like mountings, fabric / material, reinforcements, straps .

What kind of machine do you use?

[ME 109]

Charlie's luggage is top notch, perfected to perfection.

[ME 109]

Great video Jeff. I just now got to watch it.

I really like your chin mount for your camera. I have just found that I cannot get a Pinlock shield for my Symax-II helmet, which is too sculpted in the chin to accept a GoPro mount, so it may be time to think about helmet shopping.

BTW - I think you grew large balls just by hanging around those roos.

Centrally mounted gives the best view IMO,
But up on top of the helmet looks odd.

The roos hang around me Rob

[Airbear]

The roos hang around me Rob

Jeff has kangaroos in his top paddock.

Actually, that is an old Australian expression to indicate that somebody is not all there in the brain department. Like being 'a few sandwiches short of a picnic'. Now I know Jeff has a well functioning brain - at least on a good day with a following breeze - but he really does have kangaroos in his top paddock. Really.

[Airbear]

Hi Charlie, I vaguely remember you talking about sewing but this lot is remarkable! I look forward to seeing the real thing in October but until then would you consider a thread on the making of, or at least a few more individual photos of individual items ? I currently use a couple of hard panniers that I made from from army Mermite mess tins ...... but I'm thinking about changing to soft gear.

Things like mountings, fabric / material, reinforcements, straps .

What kind of machine do you use?

Your Mermite tins are very nice, Peter. Bloody big, too.
I've read some of the debate about soft vs hard luggage, and have a strong leaning towards soft for safety reasons particularly, but also because soft bags with strapping become 'compression' bags. I can fit a big volume of soft stuff in, crank down on the straps and get a nicely compact unit. With soft bags, the tighter they are compressed, the stronger they are structurally. They are also quite cheap to make once you have some supplies like strapping, buckles, tapes and so on. I have made several sets of bags while learning to sew these interesting 3D shapes, and would have spent less than $200 in the process. Most are awful, but I'm getting there. I have a lovely old Singer Slant-o-Matic machine - Model 401G, circa 1960.



It's a cracker. I sewed the sails for my boat with it back in the 90s.
The fabric I've been using for luggage is a rubberised synthetic canvas that I bought cheap from a disposals shop that was closing. Now I've run out and would love to find some more. It is heavy and floppy, very strong and completely waterproof (recently proven).

I will get around to doing a thread on making this stuff, when that is the next thing to do. There is a fair bit of info on this set of bags in the Brunhilde Refurb thread I started late last year.

[Airbear]

Do I see some LED running lights on the side of your headlight Charlie? That's a great functioning bike you got there.

Yes She'llbe, they are el cheapo LEDs from eBay. I think they were about $90 for the pair, delivered. I have them wired to the high beam and pointing into the verge on either side of the road, so I can see those pesky critters just before I hit them. I'm wanting a good long range LED spot beam now, but they seem to be pretty expensive.

Here's a pic of the light from high beam plus the LEDs. The high beam droops down onto the road like the lights on an old 6V VeeDub. The LEDs give a lot more light at a fraction of the electrical load.