I’ve been messing around with different concepts of how to mount a bar harness in the most rigid way possible lately. It’s easy of you use a Jones Loop bar of course, you have rock solid mounting with the bar and the forward ‘loop’. I emulated this using a Bar Yak Ultra on another bike I use with a less swept/wider bar lately.
But the idea kept turning around in my brain. Research on the randonneur style decaleur bag ‘offset’ got me thinking. Could I use the stem faceplate to make something similar? Of course, Rick Hunter made a Mac daddy version using a Paul stem and They are sweet as.
Then I remembered the Syntace TwinFix stem parts. This allows lights, computers or even your phone to be mounted using alternative stem faceplates, with an M5 threaded part, perpendicular to the face plate bolts. They say the phone mounting plate could in theory take 25kg, so I figured a roll bag with a sleeping bag and bivi sack at around 1kg would be no issue. All I needed was an adaptor, perhaps to use a Strap Deck.
Today, I got busy and made the part. It took a few hours of cutting, milling, tapping and finishing, but it works well. It needs evaluated in the field, but I reckon it’s a goer. Total added weight is around 80g including the Strap Deck, but not the Voile Straps or bag. But that is LIGHT and its rock solid.
If it works out, it will be for sale soon.
drj0nswanderings 