Evening all,

I've just joined the forum and am looking for some advice on making my own handlebar harness.

The harness will be made out of two layers of cordura that will have either some thin foam or plastic, similar to Mucky Nuts style guards, to reinforce it as well as some small foam/rubber bumpers to hold it off the bars and cables.

The main straps will use 20mm webbing to hold the Alpkit Airlok bag in place and then will have some 15mm straps to secure the lower part of the harness to either the headtube or fork crown. I haven't quite decided yet but think the crown would be better however stand ready to be corrected on this.

The two layers of cordura will need something to edge them with, something like grossgrain maybe, and I'm guessing I will need to use some kind of heavy duty thread and needle to stitch it all up with and this is where I could do with some advice please.

What would be the best choices in terms of these last items and where is the best place to get them from?

I'm also guessing that not all webbing straps and clips are created equal so some may be better then others too?

Any other thoughts are appreciated and I'll get some pictures up as I go.

Thanks all

The two layers of cordura will need something to edge them with, something like grossgrain maybe, and I'm guessing I will need to use some kind of heavy duty thread and needle to stitch it all up with and this is where I could do with some advice please.

As long as you're not trying to sew through the plastic, a 'normal' but reasonable sewing machine / needle should cope. I like Gutterman 100% Polyester thread, more than up to the job and not effected by water, etc.

I haven't quite decided yet but think the crown would be better however stand ready to be corrected on this.

Agree, tends to produce something much more stable with less chance of paint rubbage ... although you'll probably still be wise to tape the headtube.

Gutterman does do a heavy duty thread which I use on my projects, with a denim needle in my poor long suffering machine.

I admit to buying a basic harness from Alpkit, it was definitely cheap enough and very happy with it, you could do worse than copy their design [shhh, never done that !]

Good luck.

Sarah

http://bearbonesbikepacking.co.uk/phpBB ... =13&t=4643

This may help.

Thanks for the replies, they're all very useful especially Ray Young for exactly how to run the straps. That will save me an age of dithering about trying different set ups

I will order a denim needle and some Gutterman thread when I get my webbing and buckles, will probably be next week before I get round to doing anything with though what with family and university obligations over the next few days.

Just going back to the edging, would something like THIS be suitable?

Just going back to the edging, would something like THIS be suitable?

Yes but this will be easier to sew.

http://www.profabrics.co.uk/collections ... 5940829571

I get my thread from profabrics, Gutermann Tera 60, this stuff

http://www.profabrics.co.uk/collections ... 6809862595

Some of my home made kit is over 2 years old, it's been soaked, frozen and occasionally in the sun and no failures of the stitching yet. It also comes in a variety of colours which is nice

Great stuff, these are now on the list so that's me just about done.

A quick look at my uni timetable reveals I have a couple of off days over the next couple of weeks so will try and crack on with this then