Most of my gear is DIY/MYOG because I'm in the very lucky position to sew for a living, I run an embroidery company and have access to the machines, fabrics, hardware,ect. Although most of my fabrics are pretty heavyweight as we do work for military, they are bombproof.


If you were in my position,or already are, what would you be sewing? What mad ideas for framebags or harnesses have you wanted to try? I'm always experimenting.


Note: I hope this doesn't come across as fishing, I have no interest in bikepacking commercially or sales, purely a hobby, and have the utmost respect for the hard work put in from those that do.

I made a very rough prototype matt using clapper sticks...

I think most of the bikepacking innovations is tweaking existing products, rather than brand new crazy ideas

Still good stuff coming out, but new products tend to look like existing ones with tweaks

benp1 wrote:I think most of the bikepacking innovations is tweaking existing products, rather than brand new crazy ideas

Same can be said for most inventions, or it usually takes two other inventions for a third to become real, for example we owe alot to the humble kayaking drybag


What's considered the best closure method for a frame bag? zips seem the standard and I've made 3 like that myself, but since trying a rolltop I can't go back, the easy of use and organization outways the extra time opening.
I've yet to try a panel loading zip yet though

I first used roll top bags when caving over thirty years ago though obviously they were of much heavier material to stand up to the abrasion, ballistic nylon I think it was called.

If you just do one sport it's quite easy to think that it's that sport solving the problems and coming up with new ideas when in fact there's a lot of cross fertilisation going on. In some cases it's just people being cheap and using a bit of kit from one sport when doing another.

Genuinely new ideas are pretty rare though, the best are the "why didn't I think of that?" ones as they just seem so simple.

I used to do a lot of scuba diving and think there's a few ideas that could cross over.

Ever had a plastic pinch clip fail ? I have, underwater, and it isn't fun. So switched from plastic pinch clips, to these:
Not cheap, or light, (titanium option maybe ?) Either way, they are bomb proof, you'll snap the webbing before breaking the clip. Check out some diving shops / kit, see if you can get any ideas.

HaYWiRe wrote: If you were in my position,or already are, what would you be sewing? What mad ideas for framebags or harnesses have you wanted to try? I'm always experimenting.

Custom set of seat / interior covers for the back of my RX8 so I can put the bike in the back without ruining the interior. I have a bike bag for my more normal car, but that would be a struggle in the back of a coupe!

Since quilts are becoming popular how about a hand made patchwork quilt depicting life on the trail?

I like these clips on a rucksack I have, never had a plastic buckle fail but they always seem a bit flimsy. Also not a fan of zips on kit but they do the job best in some places. I broke a zip on a frame bag once - something small can stop a ride so easily.
Also really like Alpkit's adoption of rucksack daisychains for attaching bags, meaning the straps go wherever they suit and the side loads on the bag/zipper are reduces if the bag is full.

As far as mad DIY there's probably not much that's not already been done but I still struggle to find a good medium sized day seat pack and bar bag for a road/audax bike - Acorn in the US make some lovely ones but they aren't available in the UK. There could be a resonable market for this sort of thing here for a small brand.

Those are G hooks, used then for belts and plate body armour alot, devilishly simple and tough

I've always noticed a convergence in ideas, between multiple sports and hobbies, but always go back to a quote by Gen.Patton, "if everyone is thinking the same thing, somebody isn't thinking"

Has anybody tried to integrate feed bags into a bar harness? To make it all more stable and streamlined. I'm working on an all in one type ensemble with a harness,feeds,gas tank and front bar bag, saves weight and complexity over separate attachments.
And what's the most common way to stop cable rub or tidy the wires up front?

Not so much luggage as shelter. I will give you a million pounds* if you can make me a two person single skin tunnel tent with at least 150cm of headroom at the front, a bathtub floor and a shaped tarp attached to the front of it that works as a huge porch so I can sit under it and cook. Keep it under 1.2kg too please.

* may not be true

I've trashed my shins and calves up a good few times on vicious flat pedals when having to hike-a-bike ( I wear trail shoes). Didn't want to change the pedals or buy and wear shin/calf guards , so with a plastic milk bottle and gaffa tape made a 'boot' that I can slip over the pedal and stop the lacerations when I need to HAB :)