Make Your Own Handlebar Bag

Let's face it. Folding bikes have issues. Maybe it's a "little bike syndrome." Maybe it's being confused for a kid's stringray bike once too often. At any rate, folders present owners with special challenges. Believe it or not, a handlebar bag is one of these.

Because all the cables are in front of, instead of behind, the handlebar post a conventional handlebar bag doesn't work -- at least not very well. The easiest solution is the most obvious: put the dang bag on the other side of the handlebars, facing you, the rider.

You can actually buy bags that will do this, complete with plastic sleeves to hold your maps and other assorted do-dads. But what kind of challenge is that? I decided to make my own setup using a camera bag that I especially liked because it had side pockets that could hold my GPS unit and my small binoculars. I'll warn you that my solution is not pretty, or elegant, but it does work. 

Assembly: I went down to my local Ace Hardware and bought the following hardware:

• broom hangers (2)
• machine screws (2)
• wing nuts (2)
• large flat washers (2)

Assembly was pretty easy. I heated an awl on the stovetop and burned two holes through the bag where I wanted to insert the hardware -- this would strengthen the hole and make sure the nylon wouldn't fray. I then put the machine screws through the hangers and the bag, put on the large flat washers and tightened down the wing nuts. (I used wing nuts so I could tighten the connection without needing a wrench.) The photo at right shows the finished product. The photo at left is a detail of the connection. I was kind of lucky because my bag had a padded and zippered pouch at the back that made assembly easy; the extra padding made the connection secure.

The final step was to wrap some duct tape on the handlebars where the two metal hangers attached. This would prevent my handlebars from getting scratched.

Field testing: I mounted the bag and took a test ride. Things went just fine until I hit a series of bumps, at which point one side of my bag came off the handlebar. After some head scratching I came up with a simple solution: I secured the hangers with some twist-ties, the thingies you get at the grocery store to close the top of plastic produce bags. Although I won't get any design awards for this solution it has proved very successful -- the bag hasn't come loose, even when I've ridden over really rough terrain.

The Quest for Elegance:  Twist-ties are cheap (well, free) and my bag is staying put, so I haven't spent much time thinking about improving my method of attaching the bag to the handlebars. Eventually I may decide to replace the broom hangers, duct tape and twist-ties with simple velcro strips. Eventually...