Last weekend, I landed on the harebrained scheme to make a rando bag decaleur for my Moulton. I had the bag sitting there on the Moulton’s front rack. It was strapped on with the two side straps and such but needed a third point of attachment. A strap on the back of the bag could have been done, but it would have been awkward attaching it and the two rear pockets would get smashed up against the back of the rack.
I was stuck with the idea that a decaleur would be best, but there is no obvious way to attach one to the Moulton. But there is a center mounted boss on the headtube where the front rack mounts. I figured I should be able to mount something to that.
In these situations, my mind generally starts wandering to kitchen utensils. There are a lot of stainless things and plenty of shapes and sizes. So, I rode off to the Salvation Army to survey their product line.
Our neighborhood Salvation Army recently underwent a facelift. With a little clever reorganization, they were able to squeeze about 40% more product into the same space. They also tidied things up a bit, which usually corresponds to an elevation in prices. When it comes to junk stores, it seems there’s a direct correlation between dust and disorganization and finding treasure. In other words, clean and organized usually equals picked-over and pricey.
I walked through the door and straight to the kitchen utensils aisle. I’m blocked briefly as a brother and sister, maybe 5 and 7 respectively, settle a dispute over a tattered Shrek stuffed doll. Or maybe it was the Hulk. In less than a minute I spy this grilling multi-tool. It was a the long, tong-style set up with a spatula on one side (that includes a bottle opener!) and the more petite claw-like flat piece on the other side. The width of the smaller claw was pretty much a perfect fit for the space between the two back pockets on the Ironweed Orpington randorrific front bag.
Once I get it back to the workshop, I throw on some music and go to work on this thing with the hacksaw. First, I cut off the serrated end from the non-spatula side of this impressive multi-tool. Then a little more cutting, filing, drilling and bending. Now I needed something to work as a receiver for the 5mm posts on the decaleur bag mount.
I have several of these aluminum stand-off spacers; I can’t remember where they came from but they are perfect as the receiver for the decaleur. I tapped them to ¼”-28 because I had a couple of stainless bolts in that size lying around and fastened them to the newly fabricated piece. I bolted the homemade decaleur to the front rack boss and it all came together like a herd of sheep. Check out the pictures.
It’s a little weird and kind of ugly, but it functions just fine. It’s on my to-do list to make a few bags for the old Moulton “F” frame bikes. It’s not on the top of my list, but it's on my list. Until that happens, I can use this contraption and it’ll work just fine.
I was stuck with the idea that a decaleur would be best, but there is no obvious way to attach one to the Moulton. But there is a center mounted boss on the headtube where the front rack mounts. I figured I should be able to mount something to that.
In these situations, my mind generally starts wandering to kitchen utensils. There are a lot of stainless things and plenty of shapes and sizes. So, I rode off to the Salvation Army to survey their product line.
Our neighborhood Salvation Army recently underwent a facelift. With a little clever reorganization, they were able to squeeze about 40% more product into the same space. They also tidied things up a bit, which usually corresponds to an elevation in prices. When it comes to junk stores, it seems there’s a direct correlation between dust and disorganization and finding treasure. In other words, clean and organized usually equals picked-over and pricey.
I walked through the door and straight to the kitchen utensils aisle. I’m blocked briefly as a brother and sister, maybe 5 and 7 respectively, settle a dispute over a tattered Shrek stuffed doll. Or maybe it was the Hulk. In less than a minute I spy this grilling multi-tool. It was a the long, tong-style set up with a spatula on one side (that includes a bottle opener!) and the more petite claw-like flat piece on the other side. The width of the smaller claw was pretty much a perfect fit for the space between the two back pockets on the Ironweed Orpington randorrific front bag.
Once I get it back to the workshop, I throw on some music and go to work on this thing with the hacksaw. First, I cut off the serrated end from the non-spatula side of this impressive multi-tool. Then a little more cutting, filing, drilling and bending. Now I needed something to work as a receiver for the 5mm posts on the decaleur bag mount.
I have several of these aluminum stand-off spacers; I can’t remember where they came from but they are perfect as the receiver for the decaleur. I tapped them to ¼”-28 because I had a couple of stainless bolts in that size lying around and fastened them to the newly fabricated piece. I bolted the homemade decaleur to the front rack boss and it all came together like a herd of sheep. Check out the pictures.
It’s a little weird and kind of ugly, but it functions just fine. It’s on my to-do list to make a few bags for the old Moulton “F” frame bikes. It’s not on the top of my list, but it's on my list. Until that happens, I can use this contraption and it’ll work just fine.
One end of a grilling multi-tool fashioned into a decaleur.
The 5mm stand-off spacer work perfectly as the receiver for the posts.
What's left of the junk store BBQ multi-tool.
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