Hello Ed,
I'm glad you had some fun with this bracket. I have several and have used them for many years. I have one on my herse, why not a Herse bracket? Well at Herse you get what you ask for and I did not ask as I did not see one roaming the show room at the time. Besides I can pick one up on E-bay any time for £400-£500 quid.
There have been several of this style device built by many builders in France (custom and mass market) and our local favorite, Mariposa's Mike Barry in Toronto. They all feature secure quick release attachments, are made of steel (usually lightweight tubing) and offset the bag away from the handlebar to keep interference with fingers minimal.
Some of note, the all replace a traditional bar clamp bolt on a technomic style stem. Rene Herse- overly elegant, oval tubes with vertical engagement pins, no safety lock. Alex Singer-Similar performance without so much Fluff-Vertical engagement Pins Meral-Owned by Lejeune at the time-Similar to Singer-Vertical engagement Pins JPR- Very simple and cheap but very effective. Horizontal Tubing slides over rod. Berthoud- 2 sizes (?) Horizontal tubing with rod release pin to mount and dismount. Mariposa- Very clever vertical pin style with spring loaded locking crosspin. I had one that was free supported (Replaced a Kirkland Stem mounter Bar Bag support). I think he makes one for a bag support platform now. ref: Ken Stagg's Mariposa. Nitto- Free Support with no platform and Bag (?), French styled. Nagawsawa (sic)-Free Support with no platform and Bag, French styled.
Are there others?
Hints on the Berthoud Mount: The paper clip retainer is keep everything together on the cross release pin for shipping. Gently bending the pin to a slight arch or kinking the end a little will stop rattles and keep the release pin in place.
Most of these mounts are designed to use a front (over wheel) bag support. Nitto, Berthoud and the old but much lighter duty TA models will perform well. The all have a vertical "U" shaped section of tubing that is at the back that goes into a little open pocket (flap? hard to describe) on TA and Berthoud handlebar bags that makes them much more stable. Carrying even heavy weight on one of these platforms with no weight supported (attached weight is not supported weight) by the handlebars greatly improves the handling of a touring (or other) bike. French cyclists have enjoyed this for decades and now most use free support bags (American Style) like us when transporting their sac guidon.
Bonne route,
Gilbert Anderson
North Road Bicycle Company 519 W. North St. Raleigh, NC 27603 USA Toll Free Ph: 800•321•5511 Local Ph: 919•828•8999 E-mail: cyclestore@aol.com
<< Date: Fri, 25 Apr 2003 09:46:22 -0400 From: "Ed Braley" <edbraley@maine.rr.com>
Every bike and setup are different, so the length of the bracket and the size and height of the bag will vary, and I wouldn't suggest that anyone who isn't handy and doesn't have the right tools try it, but when it all comes together it's really nice. There are no straps, brackets or bag flaps on the handlebar itself, and the bag rides fairly low. A slightly shorter extension on the bracket might have pulled the bag in a little closer, but it's quite okay.
And BTW, I took my time and spent the better part of the day installing just this top mount.
I'll try to get some pics for those of you who are interested.
Ed.
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