carradice junior as bar bag?

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sveno

Active Member
Location
Lugdunum France
Hello there,
I recently built up a late 1970s lightweight for travelling, with Bluemels and a Campagnolo GS triple crankset and mech. It also has a Carradice Nelson at the back, and it looks sweet with the B17 Special, as well as one of those teeny weeny Mafac front racks.
The choice of the bar bag is the big remaining question. Unfortunately, Carradice don't have one in the same series as the Nelson, which I would like to stick to, as it goes well with the old school look of the bike. I have heard stories about Carradice Junior and Cadet saddlebags being used as bar bags. The Junior would fit with my bars, but before I go through the pain of getting one (I live in France...) I was wondering if someone around here could give me his or her advice on it. Or maybe someone can speak from experience?
Many thanks for your views.
Sven
 

GrumpyGregry

Here for rides.
Carradice Zip roll works well as a bar bag
 

andrew_s

Legendary Member
Location
Gloucester
One of these front racks?

As I see it, you would want to rig up a decaleur - i.e. a support hanging down from the stem or handlebars in an inverted T shape, to which you can strap the Junior.
A Minoura Space Grip would be good, provided that the gap between bars and rack is suitable, or other similar products may work better.
You may also want to stiffen the Junior with some correx board (as in estate agent signs) or similar.

3 views of a Junior offered up to a spacegrip above a Berthoud front rack.
IMG_0007.jpg

IMG_0008.jpg

IMG_0009.jpg

This should give the idea (I wasn't going to remove the bell & mount from the bar, or remove the supplementary brake levers to allow the bar to be angled lower).

Strapping a bag direct to the handlebars will obstruct your hands.
 
OP
OP
sveno

sveno

Active Member
Location
Lugdunum France
Cheers Andrew,

A nice set-up for a very nice colour scheme and frame you have there! How wide would you say is the space between the U-sections of your drop bars? Mine has 42cm.
I have this rack here:
images

It is a little bit bigger than the one on the Mercier, and I have chosen this model because it will allow me to fix a light on the left side of it. This will leave me with more space on the bars, were it will get a little crowded once a bag is fixed.

I thought about a décaleur, as I don't know if fixing the bag to the bars will impact the handling of the bike. I might give it a go without first, and if I find it too clumsy, I will add a décaleur.
 

andrew_s

Legendary Member
Location
Gloucester
This bike is a Singular Peregrine.

On-One say the following about the Midge bars
"Width at the ends -- 554mm - centre/centre Width of "flat section" or "tops" - 375mm"
Width at the lever hoods isn't stated, but it feels much the same as 46cm bars.
I'll measure and update this post when I get home.

Taking the photos last night, it seemed like it would work quite well with a Spacegrip and the bag supported from below by the rack, and the bars would be mostly free for hands, lights etc. You could even put another Spacegrip angled upwards on the other side of the stem for them. The only problem I saw was that the Spacegrip bar was a bit marginal on length for the bag loop spacing on the saddlebag. You may want to add a flat plate to the end to stop the loops popping off the end of the bar.
I shan't do anything because of the clash with the crosstop levers. I normally just strap a drybag full of sleeping bag etc to the front rack.
 
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