RecumBum

I’ve been using the Nashbar Deluxe Rack Trunk Bag for nearly a year, but have recently become disillusioned with it. It doesn’t hold its shape very well, and is just a bit too large for day-to-day use, so I’ve been searching for a replacement.

I have an unusual situation which makes finding a bag rather difficult. Whoever assembled my bike didn’t install the rack properly. Burley sold a rack installation kit that included two extender arms that allow a rack to be fitted onto Burley recumbents (see the first picture on the right).

My rack installation is missing these extender arms, and the rack is instead mounted directly to the rear dropouts (see the second picture on the right).

At first glance this doesn’t seem to be a big deal, but this minor screw-up has a ripple effect on lots of things:

• The rack is too far forward, putting it too near the seat. When I push back against the seat while pedaling, I can sometimes feel my back hitting the top of the rack.

• With the rack too far forward, the seatback extends over the rack, limiting the height of items at the front of the rack.

• The rear fender is out of whack, rotated too far forward, leaving the rear mudflap too high.

The main problem with this setup is that it limits the size of bag I can put on this rack. With the Nashbar Bag, the bag basically set on the rear two-thirds of the rack, with the tail end hanging over the back of the rack.

Nearly any other trunk bag would have the same problem.

My first attempt to solve this problem used a Bushwhacker Sedona Rack Mountable Fanny Pack. It is a flat bag with both velcro strips (to attach it to a rack), and a belt (to attach it around your waist). This seems like a good idea at first, but doesn’t work so well in practice. I suspect that it works just fine as a fanny pack, but it doesn’t work very well as a rack bag. The problem is the belt, which simple gets in the way, and I couldn’t find any way to get it out of the way, short of cutting it off entirely. And since the rest of the bag was just one large formless space (which I didn’t really care for), I decided to ditch this bag.

My second attempt to solve this problem used two seat wedge bags. I mounted one on top of the rack, and the other against the fender behind the seat. I actually liked this approach pretty well. The fender bag held seldom-used items such as tubes, tire irons, and a patch kit, and the one on the rack held everything else. The problem was that the one of the rack was too small to hold much, so I would have had to buy another, bigger bag.

My third and final approach was to use a bag I found at Walmart, a Hydration Fanny Pack from a company called Outdoor Products. The bag consists of a fanny pack with a large zippered main compartment, a zippered pocket on the front, two extra water bottles (with a padded holder for each), and a belt to go around the waist. To attach it to the bike, I cut two small slits in the back of the bag, ran a velcro strap through it, then used that to strap it to the top of the rack. I ran the belt through the slots on each side of the seat and looped them back around the back of the seat. This provides a secure mount for the bag. If I decide to keep this bag, I may cut off the belt and add more velcro straps to attach it directly to the back of the seat.

This bag gives me extra liquid carrying capacity, and doesn’t interfere with the existing water bottle cage on the back of the seat. I did have to move the blinker from the seat back to the rear of the rack, but this is really a better location anyway.

The storage compartment is almost too large (it’s spec’d as 230 cubic inches), since it’s just one continuous space. But an inner pocket, as well as the front pocket, should help keep things organized. There’s also a bit of rack space available, if I needed to strap on something such as a jacket.

In all, I think this is a pretty nifty solution. It was certainly inexpensive (less than $10) for the bag, and should be reasonably robust and flexible. I’ll run it awhile and see how it’s working out in a few weeks.