Australian winter riding

[ME 109]

The roos hang around me Rob

Jeff has kangaroos in his top paddock.

.

Top paddock, bottom paddock, front yard, back yard, driveway, pathways.
I have roos everywhere. About 30 of them.
They just about come for dinner each night.
Most regular folk run around the yard picking up dog shit.
I pick up roo shit.

Charlie's right tho, I got roos in the top paddock.

[Airbear]

You guys wouldn't know winter if it hit you in the pouch.

Ha, good onyer Neil.
We have a greater than 50C temperature range to deal with, and when it is not stinking hot, we feel cold.
But a bloke like you, having 12 testicles, would find our winters balmy, tropical even.
You'd better come to Oz and find out, mate.

[Zombie Master]

You guys wouldn't know winter if it hit you in the pouch.

Ha, good onyer Neil.
We have a greater than 50C temperature range to deal with, and when it is not stinking hot, we feel cold.
But a bloke like you, having 12 testicles, would find our winters balmy, tropical even.
You'd better come to Oz and find out, mate.

It's on me list.

[Sibbo]

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.

Ah, yes. I forgot ! I just read through the Brunhild Refurb thread again ( with particular emphasis on luggage and sewing machines ) and your work is exemplary Charlie ! I have a mate with an 60's Janome who has recently sewed a set of sails for his junk ... it seems the perfect machine for this job .

Any idea of the brand name of the mystery fabric ? There are lots of vinyl type fabrics of the kind that are used for truck tarps and "taughtliner" sides . I wonder if that would work? It has a vinyl coating over a fabric base.

[ME 109]

I have a mate with an 60's Janome who has recently sewed a set of sails for his junk ...

Has he given up on finding true love Sibbo?
My suggestion would be to keep his junk and buy an airhead.

[Airbear]

Any idea of the brand name of the mystery fabric ? There are lots of vinyl type fabrics of the kind that are used for truck tarps and "taughtliner" sides . I wonder if that would work? It has a vinyl coating over a fabric base.

Nah, the fabric is a mystery.
And that vinyl from trucks seems a bit too heavy for a domestic machine, but worth a try if you can scare some up.
I have used what I think is called 12oz cotton canvas for a few earlier bags and found my machine handled it pretty well, doing 2 layers easily and up to 4 layers with a bit of coaxing. I think this is the stuff Andy Strapz uses for his Pannierz. It's worth having a look at his website, and look up another Oz mob called Steel Pony.

The roll-top bags I've been making lately use their techniques; that is they are sewn right-side-out, leaving the seams outside but covered with sewn on tape. It makes the whole procedure fairly straightforward as long as you have the forethought to sew on whatever else needs to be there, such as straps.

[Sibbo]

That sounds moderately doable, seams on the outside would fold easily too. Do you use any seam sealer in there ?

The Murchison bags http://www.steelpony.com.au/murchison%20panniers.htm look good and they are what I've been looking at , maybe with a couple of extenal pockets . These look good too , if expensive but probably worth it if you have the ready . http://www.adventure-spec.com/default/a ... niers.html This lot are made of cordura with an exotic layer of punture proof stuff. I have no idea where to get such materials but the design is good.

[Airbear]

That sounds moderately doable, seams on the outside would fold easily too. Do you use any seam sealer in there ?

I probably should, but with this rubberised canvas the seam is rubber to rubber with two lines of stitching and I've had no leaks so far.
And with the 12oz cotton canvas, the threads swell when wet and seal. Andy Strapz suggests thoroughly soaking a new bag to get the waterproofing effect happening.

I've just made a silnylon stuff bag liner for my bedroll pack. The slippery nature of the fabric makes it perfect for shoving stuff in there and compressing. The bag also has a nozzle that fits my Exped air mattress inflating port. Makes inflating the mattress very easy - fill the bag with air, close the top and squash the bag.

[Sibbo]

That sounds moderately doable, seams on the outside would fold easily too. Do you use any seam sealer in there ?

I probably should, but with this rubberised canvas the seam is rubber to rubber with two lines of stitching and I've had no leaks so far.
And with the 12oz cotton canvas, the threads swell when wet and seal. Andy Strapz suggests thoroughly soaking a new bag to get the waterproofing effect happening.

I've just made a silnylon stuff bag liner for my bedroll pack. The slippery nature of the fabric makes it perfect for shoving stuff in there and compressing. The bag also has a nozzle that fits my Exped air mattress inflating port. Makes inflating the mattress very easy - fill the bag with air, close the top and squash the bag.

That's neat, my Exped mattress is good but kind of slow to inflate. I used to sleep happily on the ground but not anymore.

I think I'll do a bit of asking around about fabrics available in town. Thanks for the tips Charlie, it's quite encouraging .

On a slightly different subject the Mermite panniers are good ... if you like hard panniers, about 35 litres each and quite dust and waterproof. Cheap too but I'm getting interested in the safety aspects of the soft stuff and as I MAY go to a lighter bike and ride a bit more dirt, soft would be good.

[Airbear]

Re Exped inflation, look at this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INHVFeS3uw0

The one I made works in much the same way, but I survived on the weekend with a quickly made version using a big garbage bag with a short length of 19mm garden poly pipe taped into the corner. The poly pipe clips nicely into the inflation port on mine - Exped UL7 LW.

I love sleeping on the Exped, and it packs to around one litre - much better than the previous setup of self inflating mat and foam overlay (about 40 litres, I reckon).

If you PM me with your snailmail address I'll send you some fabric samples to feel, and try a run through your sewing machine to see if it's up to the task.