tribble

Is anybody successfully using both cyclocross brake levers and a handlebar bag? I'm planning on getting the arkel big handlebar bag and asked arkel's advice, but they could only tell me that the bag will hang 2 3/8" from the front edge of the handlebar. As my bike is still being built, I don't have any direct measurements, but I'm guessing my hands won't safely be able to fit in the gap between brake and bag, if at all. At first, I thought the minoura swing grip might be a good solution, but then read that others were having bad experience with the with them snapping off. The only other option I've seen is bmike's double stem. are there any other solutions?

Michel Gagnon

Can you find a store that has the brakes levers available and installed on a bike? If so, take a piece of cardboard and design a mock-up handlebar bag that you may hang on the stem. Then put your hands on the cyclocross levers and see how you like them.

Now I have seen a bike on display with the Arkel handlebar bag, a cyclocomputer and cyclocross brake levers. It looked very crowded, but everything fit. I was left with the impression that one could use the cyclocross levers without problems, but that large fingers might find it a tight fit and that a hand with winter gloves would NOT fit. But that's just a quick impression, and I don't have cyclocross levers on my bike.

tribble

that would certainly make it easy, but unfortunately i'm not lucky enough to have seen them in person in any of the shops.

from looking at a bunch of pics on this site and elsewhere on the web, i was suspecting that would be the case, so i guess the last step is to follow up with my frame builder (bilenky).

tribble

think i found a sturdier and classier solution- the nitto "convenience holder".

sakarias

My experience (with Paul Component cross brake levers) is that the Arkel mounting bracket gets in the way. The movable end of the cross levers (with the cable housing running out of it) runs into the Arkel mounting bracket in all reasonable brake lever mounting positions or HB bag mount positions. I have the Arkel brackets fairly close together (4 cm +/- from the stem center line to the outside edge of the Arkel mount). If I moved the brake levers further away, they get in the way of handlebar top hand positions.

Magictofu

I have the Arkel big handlebar bag and inline brakes... It fits well on my bike but my handlebar is quite large... I could probvably file the end of my brakes levers if need without causing any important troubles on a smaller handlebar.

Michel Gagnon

Mike, How wide are your handlebars? I think that's part of the problem -- or the solution.

Another way to do it is this.

tribble

hmm, the double stem idea does look more appealing now. since i can't find the nitto clamps in the US, i was going to use the clamps from a cinelli spinaci. guess i'll wait until i receive my bike before making the final decision.

sakarias

My bars are 43cm across the ends of the drops, center-to-center. The space between each brake lever and the stem is 18 cm.

Two stems? Interesting idea. With a short head tube and short stack above the headset, I'm not sure it would work in my case; but, it might.

chaffedsaddle

i added a second stem to my bike, but the hardest part of this project is finding the short section of tubing to insert into the second stem. i've called all the local LBSs and tried the hardware stores, but the LBSs either don't have the scrap pipe or don't cut pipe; and the hardware stores do have electrical conduit that looks like it would work, but can't cut it for me. anybody have any suggestions on what i can use?

Olden Crow

Yep the Arkel mounts on mine stick the bag just under 2-1/2 inches in front of the bar. When deciding on which bag, I also considered Ortlieb's; they use CLICKfix mounts and if I remember correctly CLICKfix extend about 1-3/4 " but they have an adaptor that just about exactly doubles the distance to 3-1/2 ".

homepage CLICKfix

https://www.klickfix.de/bedien.htm

NoReg

Chaffed saddle, there are lot of trashed bikes availble most garbage days when the seasons change, you might get lucky. It doesn't have to be ahndle bar, could be a piece of tubbing cut out wiith some tape on it. Or you could get a piece of wood.

Michel Gagnon

If you don't have a pipe cutter, get one for about 15 $, or get a metal saw for about the same price. Both are available at a hardware store and both will be useful more than once.

For tubing, I see three solutions:
– Section of 1" aluminium tubing, as sold in harware stores. 1 inch equals 25.4 mm, so it should fit in the stem and in the brackets of the handlebar bag. As long as you use it only for the handlebar bag (and maybe electronic gadgets), it will work.

– Electric conduit : I haven't tried it. Should work.

– Old bars. I got one set from a scrapped bike and one other from a bike repair shop. As long as the bars aren't visibly broken near the stem, they should be OK. For the bars I got at the bike repair shop, the guy was ready to give them to me (i.e. free), providing I brought in my pipe cutter. In other words, he didn't want me to use them as handlebars and break my neck.