Busy Day...

I had a furlough day, today, so I got a few things done.  I got my taxes done, did three weeks worth of laundry (yes, I am a bachelor), went grocery shopping, hit the thrift store and worked on my bike.

I bought a Minnehaha saddle bag, from Restoration Hardware of all places, after Myles put up a post on Rat Trap Press about them being on sale.  I had been looking for a medium-sized bag to use on the 100-mile rides, specifically on the titanium Daily Grind bike.  (That's the name Darryl is going to use for that frame.  Sorry if it gets confusing, considering that I have a blog by that name, as well.)

Unfortunately, the saddle rides low enough on that bike, at my setting, that the bag came perilously close to touching the rear tire, even unloaded.  Even though I designed the bike to accept racks and fenders, I don't really want to mount any on it, right now.  So, I needed something to hold the bag off of the tire, but I wanted it to be relatively subtle.

Here's what I came up with.

I used the stays from a an old Planet Bike front fender, and some aluminum stock I had lying around the shop.  Two bends, four drilled holes, and voila (or wallah, as I so often see it spelled on the interwebs), I had a nice little bag support.

By removing four 4mm bolts, the support can be removed in about a minute.

And, as you can see, the support under the bag is relatively unobtrusive, in use...unlike the sun's reflection off of the front rim, which I didn't even notice until I loaded the picture onto my computer.

At the thrift store, I made one of those finds that keep me going back:

Yeah, that's right:  It's a clock radio.  But, it's not just any old clock radio...

 I have a thing for the warm sound of a tube amplifier.  Like my portable phonograph (which came from the same thrift store), it sounds great.

Time to tune in the jazz station.

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