Fabric types for rugged bike bags

Look here for inspiration. You’ll have to dig a bit though…

I would suggest coated 500 denier Cordura.

Cheers

for a little less money you could do an 8oz packcloth. It's not as tough as the cordura Roger Suggested, but it's not weak by any means and a lot cheaper if i remember correctly.

-Tim

Greg, that's where I first saw the idea. I wanted to not have the weight of racks, and be able to just un-velcro a bag and walk away. Unfortunately Carosel doesn't seem to have ANY info or details on the site other than some pictures, and I emailed them with questions over a month ago and never got a response. Am I missing something, is there actually information hidden somewhere at that site?

Epic Designs was much more responsive, but their products are still a bit more expensive than I was hoping for, so I was thinking of making my own.

Andy,
No, he doesn't provide many details, and it is difficult to get any sort of timely response. But close scrutiny will show construction details, reinforcements, doubled layers,etc. Sorry if I sent you on a wild goose chase.

His gear is preferred by most GDR riders and is bombproof. A lot can be learned there.

Is this for on-road or off? Do you expect to have brush contact? How much rain?

I can say that my 1000 denier Cordura bags are extremely tough, heavy, and with lots of zippers require rain covers even after seam sealing.

If you want to make the bag waterproof, consider using heat-sealable fabrics in weight that will be rugged enough for your use (200 and 500 denier fabrics is available).