I first saw the rackaleur at the LBS (Counterbalance Bicycles) on the B-G a few months ago. It had one of VO's boxy bags attached to it. I thought it was an inexpensive alternative to decaleurs, and I didn't want to put a front rack on my Atlantis. And I was really fixated on getting a boxy-style bag. So much so that I didn't even connect the idea of using the rackaleur for my boxy until I saw your photo. So, I went to the LBS yesterday afternoon and swooped on the rackaleur, took it home, and mounted it on my bike. I found a couple toe-clip straps hiding out in a box in my garage, and used them to secure the rackaleur to the head tube. The Hobo fits perfectly on it, and looks great. This is a nice, inexpensive solution for a handlebar bag; $30.00. I no longer feel the "need" to get a boxy bag, thereby saving a few hard-earned ducats in the long run.
I had a similar thought about making a slit in the Hobo to anchor it to the rackaleur. But decided against it for fear of the bag ripping over time. Yeah, at first I thought this was a funky product; kinda odd. But after seeing how you used it, made a lot of sense, and opened my mind to it in a Zenish/Rivish way. The elegance of it all is that it's a simple, inexpensive, and versatile solution for stabilizing my Hobo bag. If I ever get an AHH, it will be easy to switch off between the two bikes. Perfect! Anyway, I'm doing my morning ride in a few minutes, and will report back on how the new setup works. Cheers, Steve On Sep 12, 9:47 am, Thomas Lynn Skean <[email protected]> wrote: > On Monday, September 12, 2011 10:34:05 AM UTC-5, Steve D. wrote: > > >http://db.tt/Y01RjLd- Rackaleur, Baggins, and Irish > > > I like that rackaleur solution for you Hobo bag. It's very elegant. > > Higher praise than it deserves. But appreciated. It does work, > though, exactly as you might hope; the rider facing pockets straddle the > strap-restrained rackaleur very nicely. I'm still tempted to slice a couple > of slots into the Hobo's vertical strip of leather so that I can thread the > strap through it too. But I had no problems with the bag bouncing around at > all yesterday. Perhaps because it had about 4 pounds in it. Or perhaps even > a pound or so might hold it stable over my improved-trail riding habtitat. > So until I have a problem with it, I'm going to leave that leather intact. > > I confess that the Rackaleur had a inexplicable attraction to me from the > first time I saw it. Quirky but functional. In fact, it pushed me over the > edge to try the Tallux stem; all of my other stems are Dirt Drops. > > (VO's assertion that it "might require a little bending" when used stems > with rise does not seem practical to me regarding the Dirt Drop; it was > going to require a *lot* of bending and is surprisingly resistant to being > bent.) > > It's a rare incident where the similar Nitto product (the "F-16", I think?) > did not pull me in at all and still doesn't, yet this admittedly sorta > cheesy did and is more functional for me. Even with the jarring look of the > black tool dip. Only after I had seen both the Rackaleur and the Tallux did > I realize that it should work with my Hobo. You'd think the Hobo would've > been the inspiration, not the serendipitous realization. Perhaps I need more > sleep. > > The cockpit I put together yesterday was done in a bit of a rush. I didn't > want to defer/shorten my ride. Like The Man has said (I paraphrase): I'll > fix the tape job later. > > Now that I know the Silver bar-ends warrant the additional cockpit in > general... I'll fix up its weird cabling, make less-distracting aluminum > shims for the F-15 mounts (gotta love front-bag versatility!) and do a real > tape/twine job on the hand-grips (eek! there's electrical tape under > there!) and replace the brake levers with my beloved Love Levers... > eventually! But certainly not before I acquire and install cable couplers. > Oh, and brass ferrules. I like those too. > > Yours, > Thomas Lynn Skean -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.
