Panniers - Racks - Bags - Bike Luggage

Is there anything like the ILE bag avails in the UK? I've contacted bigxtop to see if he could make me something similar. I prefer the idea of a rack bag rather than the hard sided rando bags for riding around town.

https://www.mackworkshop.com/products/rack-bag

Yeah but isn't mack workshop the latest in the list of bagmakers to become overwhelmed with requests? The Velo Orange Transporteur bag looks like a decent shout and is in stock at Velo Duo.

I gave naffsacks a shout but she said she's about to have a baby so...

Judging by his output on IG (grasping, I know) he seems pretty staid at the moment.

No harm in dropping him an email, he does customisation too, I was looking at a rack back with a shoulder strap on.

Yeah I wouldn’t couldn’t on even getting an email reply... next to useless.

I did get a rapid email so I dunno, says lead time is 3-4 weeks. Would save me about #50 over that transporteur.

I guess I could place an order with paypal, pretty easy to get your money back that way?

I think it’s a hard balance between accepting work optimistically, giving less optimistic timescales at risk of losing business or turning work away.

Personally if I was ordering something from a small independent maker, be it a bag or a frame, I would have very little expectation of it being delivered on time.

Maybe that’s just me. If it got to months rather than days/weeks I would then be frustrated.

I've been holding my tongue for a while but this is getting repetitive...

This all feels a bit unsympathetic.

If you looked into you'd probably find that these people aren't making much over minimum wage making these things. Outside of the bag making there's the 9-5, relationships, health and life to hold together before the bag making comes into it. It's very easy to criticise.

I've been tinkering with this bag making lark for a year or so and can't see a way of making it work without a much higher earning partner to support me, or giving up days of my job and scraping by below the living wage for some years without an emergency fund large enough to fall back on in the hope it might work out.

Those mentioned above have worked very very hard and sacrificed loads to get where they are and deserve all the kudos and not to be bad talked in such an open place.

Maybe a more constructive approach to look at it is that these guys are obviously struggling to keep up with demand, why is this? Are they charging enough to allow them to sustain their operations, to give up a couple of days work a week so they can produce the things you want to buy? And consider the fact when you're next sat with a pint enjoying discussing the late arrival of your uk made bag that they're probably weighing up what to do with their evening - respond to the 30 or so emails awaiting a response, getting a couple more bags finished and out of the door or actually cooking themself a decent meal for once...

Parklife

Of course. I just want to know if people's quoted times are wildly out of sync with expected times, that's all. I don't mind if say, it takes 6 weeks. But maybe it takes 6 months, maybe it takes a year. I understand that the economies required for a custom bag to be cheaper than a pre made one are such that somewhere along the line something is going to slip. I don't mind, but I can't afford to buy two bags (one for now, one for when the other one arrives) and I don't want to have bag timescales impact my summer riding.

Don't know whether Catherine Newell is making custom stuff? Posted in courier / messenger bag thread a while back?

https://www.lfgss.com/comments/14552495/

https://en-gb.facebook.com/CatherineNewellandDesign/

Edit: D'oh - just spotted you were on that thread too!

Sure thing. Just a bit tired and grumpy - trying to change the tone of the conversation away from dismissive. I think the real problem is that if you look at places like Swift in the States for example, they're charging twice as much for very similar products. On top of that a bit more purchasing power for purchasing materials. They can afford the time literally to sort out their comms and plan better. It's par for the course really that if you're buying UK at the prices being charged, you're gonna have an erratic wait.

I agree.

But I set a date, this was agreed, nothing was produced.

Months not weeks has been my experienced team with terrible communication and poor service.

I agree you may consider altering an expectation, but frankly, you quote a date or time frame, I expect that to be met / relevant communication made.

I guess I'd be less inclined to comment if you made that point once and left it at that...

Yeah I wouldn’t couldn’t on even getting an email reply... next to useless.

Are we talking about Mack or BigXTop?

Mack, bigxtop was "slower" than i would like, but i got replies.

Your thoughts are noted and fair, I find myself frustrated with the topic, I supported from the get go, with many ideas and a lot of cash. I do hope him success, the products were great.

Sorry to derail this conversation, but does anyone have a spare one of these kicking about they’d sell? I’ve been looking for a front rack for a brakeless fork for ages and can’t afford a new one..
Also, any idea how the bike would corner with the rack/weight not rotating with the fork? I imagine it’d be fine as the rest of the bike and rider’s weight is travelling forward?
Any help would be much appreciated!

https://www.dutchbikebits.com/azor-steco-frame-mounting-rack

Excellent. #wereallinthistogether

It's a shit time to be a business in the UK no matter the size and negative stuff on the internet has a huge imapct.

Edited previous post so it's not a personal thing.

Fair enough - I always found him fairly prompt. I suppose with all of these YMMV. 🤷‍♂️

https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/330642/?offset=100#comment14638180

Prime example I guess!

Which is a great example to shatter my argument.

You can take a horse to water....

I'll say no more.

Hah I actually had one of these until recently, sold it to a friend but I don’t think it fits his bike. Can see if he’s still got it?

Oh yes please bud, if you could and we’re willing to ship to Glasgow I’d really appreciate it!

Sorry dude, he’s sold it on already :/

Ah damn.. thanks for checking though!

Wait...whut?

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