Just to clarify, I was not making any criticism of the Berthoud decaleur. Mike Kone generously offered a refund on the Berthoud decaleurs that didn't happen to fit the Assenmacher, but I declined with thanks, as the Berthouds are very nice and I'm confident will see good use on other bikes.
The point is that there is still a good bit of individual fitting to be done in regard to front bags, as I am discovering. Not every decaleur will work with every bag, every rack and every frame.
A bit cool here today, but sunny. Rode to the hardware store, the Post Office and WalMart on the Assenmacher with Nitto M12 rack, Acorn randonneur front bag and homemade decaleur.
Regards,
Jerry Moos
Big Spring, Texas, USA
> From: Jerome & Elizabeth Moos <jerrymoos@sbcglobal.net>
\r?\n> Subject: [CR] Homemade Decaleur?
\r?\n> To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
\r?\n> Date: Friday, March 27, 2009, 11:33 AM
\r?\n> Having only last June taken up commuting again, after
\r?\n> several years since earlier efforts, which weren't long
\r?\n> sustained, I'm still discovering the finer points of
\r?\n> front bags. In The Day, my wife and I would use the old
\r?\n> Cannondale nylon front bags mounted on metal hangers that
\r?\n> hooked over the bars for occasional day trips. I may still
\r?\n> have a couple of those somewhere, but this time I've
\r?\n> wanted to go with front bags a bit better.
\r?\n>
\r?\n> On the Romic tourer, I'm using a Carradice boxy bag
\r?\n> mounted on the Nitto bar-mounted carrier, both of which had
\r?\n> sat unused in the parts bin for several years.
\r?\n>
\r?\n> But some other bikes I have equipped with front racks and
\r?\n> intend to use rack-supported front bags. I've mounted on
\r?\n> the Assenmacher custom tourer the Nitto M12 rack that mounts
\r?\n> to the cantilever bosses. With it I'm using the very
\r?\n> nice CA-made Acorn randonneur front bag. I bought a couple
\r?\n> of Berthoud decaleurs fom Mike Kone, but I find even the
\r?\n> short reach Berthoud decaleurs I bought are too long. On
\r?\n> this bike, which is a 53 or 54 cm frame, even though the
\r?\n> Acorn is not a terribly large front bag, the top of the bag
\r?\n> is only just below handlebar level. Also, with the loop on
\r?\n> the back of the bag secured to the vertical hoop at the rear
\r?\n> of the Nitto rack, the bag is only slightly forward of the
\r?\n> bars, such the the distance from the stem binder bolt to the
\r?\n> section of the bag where a decaleur would attach is quite
\r?\n> short, much too short even for the shorter of the Berthoud
\r?\n> decaleurs.
\r?\n>
\r?\n> I wound up making my own decaleur, using pieces from the
\r?\n> hardware store. For the piece that attaches to the bag I
\r?\n> used a door sill plate, which is a piece of flat aluminum
\r?\n> stock, pretty light, but stiff enough to stabilize the bag.
\r?\n> One might also use a similar piece of AL flat stock used to
\r?\n> join two sections of flooring. To connect to the stem, I
\r?\n> used hanger strap, used to secure pipes or roof drains. I
\r?\n> used the copper type, which looks better than galvanized.
\r?\n> By doubling it over, it is stiff enough to stabilize the
\r?\n> bag, but still can be bent to the proper shape to connect
\r?\n> the bag to the stem.
\r?\n>
\r?\n> Anyone else resorted to a homemade decaleur when the
\r?\n> commercial ones didn't fit? Is it more common having
\r?\n> trouble fitting commercial decaleurs on somewhat smaller
\r?\n> frames? What I did not try was the undrilled stem-bolt
\r?\n> mounted version of the Velo Orange decaleur. Since one cuts
\r?\n> and drills this to fit, it might have been adapted to the
\r?\n> rather tight space on the Assenmacher.
\r?\n>
\r?\n> Can anyone share their experience as to just how necessary
\r?\n> a decaleur really is? The Acorn bag is thoughtfully
\r?\n> designed with a leather loop on the rear of the bag that
\r?\n> hooks securely over the hoop at the rear of the rack, while
\r?\n> four velcro fasteners secure the bottom of the bag to the
\r?\n> rack. Even without the homebrew decaleur, this bag
\r?\n> wasn't going to fall off, though perhaps the decaleur
\r?\n> would prevent the bag swaying a bit when heavily loaded.
\r?\n>
\r?\n> Regards,
\r?\n>
\r?\n> Jerry Moos
\r?\n> Big Spring, Texas, USA