Made this, 3mm tread plate a bit overkill but I had it lying about, may drill a few holes to lighten it a bit, but otherwise fairly happy. Plan is to strap an 8l Alpkit XTra drybag to the front.


photo.JPG by Cornish Neil, on Flickr


photo.JPG by Cornish Neil, on Flickr

Crikey, isn't that a bit big and hard to have potentially whacking around between your legs?

3mm tread plate? Wow, how heavy is it? We once considered this stuff for a race car interior, weighed too much! But nice job on the fabrication :)

Like that :)

Where do the straps go? Surely slots for the straps would be the obvious bit, or are you going to loop back to the handlebars :?

You must be a Land Rover owner

curve that back bit down. Wouldn't want some 5 bar in your nackers

G

didnothingfatal wrote:Where do the straps go? Surely slots for the straps would be the obvious bit, or are you going to loop back to the handlebars :?

Next step is to add some slots for straps

didnothingfatal wrote:3mm tread plate? Wow, how heavy is it? We once considered this stuff for a race car interior, weighed too much! But nice job on the fabrication :)

Not weighed it yet but it's not quite as bad as I thought! I reckon 200g once I drill a few holes!

I have a bit of acrylic lying about too so I may make one out of that as a comparison

Is the only method of attachment to the bike the bolt into the top of the steerer?

Ian wrote:Is the only method of attachment to the bike the bolt into the top of the steerer?

Yep, seems strong enough?

I've no idea, which I why asked...

I suppose the distance the dry bag is away from the bolt, its weight and the likelihood of there being a reasonable force up/ down on rough terrain, I would expect the head of the bolt to sheer off or the hole in the tread plate to deform around the bolt head - whichever is the weaker.

I look forward to your first trip report though

I have two foam pads between bars and the board which get squished as the bolt is done up, so I'm hoping there will be no movement. May strap bag back to the bars anyway which would hold the whole lot very tightly.

Probably will end up making mark 2 before I get to test this one anyway!

Hi, I like the concept and the execution is excellent but I am positive that vibration and the leverage effect of weight ahead of the mounting point will slacken off that one bolt holding it in place quite quickly. Do you really need a map holder? If it were me i'd loose the map holder and just keep the bar bag bit which I like. You could add 2 extra attachment points on the bars or around the fork crown (to get triangulation) or (but not as effective due to leverage effect again) insert a star nut or expanding bolt into the bottom of the steerer to use as another attachment point. Remember, a little extra weight here and there soon adds up. Keep up the good work 8-) .