Heavy Bags

So I've recently decided to abandon the porteur rack.  I love porteur racks, but now that I have the bench bike (a cargo bike - albeit of the smallest variety) I no longer employ the various porteur racks I had previously called into service for the random two by four or unwieldy box. 

Now I'm all about my new love - the basket: perfect for 'round-town sojourns.  Put a bunch of random stuff in a basket and it stays there.  Unless you're going down a bumpy dirt road - in which case you are mountain biking and just throwing some stuff in a basket is not gonna work out.  Sorry. 

In any case, the basket is great.  I can throw everything in there willy nilly and hit the road.  At my destination I can pull out whatever I need.  But wait!  I'm in Oakland!  I can't leave the stuff I don't need in my basket because it will be gone when I get back...  I guess I need a bag that fits just right in my basket so I can just grab everything at once.  All that willy nilly shit can just happen in the bag and then when I get where I'm going, I just grab the bag and I don't have to worry about anything. 

That is the story of the basket case - a new bag I decided I wanted and that I've been hauling around lately.  It's made my life more convenient so I thought maybe it could make yours too.  Design and testing is nearly done so I thought I'd share a few preview images with you.  Let me know what you think.

I've made two versions designed for the wald 137 (medium according to rivendell - large as observed in the street).

One simple:  heavy martinex cotton duck #4, zipper pocket, open pocket, vislon #5 zipper top.

One water fighting:  original martinex wax heavy cotton duck #8, two zipper pockets, #5 ykk water resistant zippers through and through, double layered bottom for fighting the wheel spray.

FYI, I tried out the basket case in my VO porteur rack (before I abandoned it completely - keeping the Pass and Stow btws. It's too good) and found that it squishes in just right - ha!  Riding around town, it never got thrown, which is quite a feat for a bag attached by pressure alone.  I wouldn't recommend going bareback but for you porteur with rail folks (and for you mountain biking folks) I think I might make a version with some extra securing straps that run along the bottom.