SamSpade1941 

Ok so I few days ago I purchased a Tanaka Decaleur at a good price considering the retail price, and it arrived today . I want to emphasize that the price was right as I go forward in this write up because anything I do is very budget mined in regards to cycling . I am impressed with the quality and honestly I it looks nice to me , the downside thus far is the weight . Bare in mind I am not a weight weenie by any stretch of the imagination but this thing is substantial in my opinion and I typically do not consider weight within reason when it comes to cycling simply because I have plenty of my own weight so shedding two ounces from a bike doesn't appreciably gain me much.

I placed this decaleur on the scale and it weighs 14.6 ounces , couple this with a rack and bag ... I would probably be adding an addition 3 to 5 pounds to my fairly svelte SOMA Stanyan which I weighed the other day , due to careful component selection I managed to build a 22 / 23 pound bike. Granted not as light as the Epic I own but its not substantially heavier than my 81 Allez . It is however a featherweight compared to my Surly LHT which is by all standards a heavy bike.







My question is does anyone have a decaleur solution that is lighter ?

TenGrainBread 

The reason why the Soma decaleur is so heavy is because it is very adjustable to work with a variety of bags and bikes. You have two pivots to adjust angle and distance and the metal is pretty thick.

The Velo Orange decaleur will be a bit lighter. Not as adjustable though. The lightest production one on the market will be the Compass/Rene Herse decaleurs. One is made for a Nitto Pearl stem and one is made for a Rene Herse-style stem with vertical mounting bolts. 160 grams (5.5 ounces) for each.

The problem is that decaleurs are such a niche product that there is not a lot of variety of designs on the market. Most people use panniers or saddlebags. It has remained the domain of the boutique supplier and custom builder for this reason.

If you want a light decaleur you need to have it made for your bike/bag by a custom builder. I made one that is a little under 100 grams (3.5oz) but has no adjustability and is not quick release. It was made for the specific dimensions of my bike/bag/rack, and mounts on the stem clamp bolt, which is the closest possible mounting point to the bag, so that the least material could be used. It fastens to the bag with two wingnuts that thread through the bag/stiffening plate into two threaded holes on the decaleur. If I want to remove the bag it takes about 10-15 seconds to open the bag and unscrew the wingnuts.

abshipp 

*edit* @TenGrainBread beat me to it! Just read what he said!


Yeah, that does look nice, but that is a LOT of steel.

I use the Velo Orange decaleur. It won't give you as much adjustability as the Tanaka. Probably the biggest issue is that you won't really be able to run more than about a 100mm stem due to the arm length on the stem mount portion.

Not sure of the exact weight, but the bag mount is solid stainless steel, and the stem mount is tubular stainless. Definitely lighter than the Tanaka though




I've been happy with mine for a long time.

nlerner

Hmm, a list member makes a very nice custom decaleur for a very reasonable price.

Dfrost 

Here’s mine with intentionally inverted build (tubes go up) since my bike, stem and bag are tall, and @gugie incorporated the threaded cable stop since there was no room in the headset. BTW, note that the bar/stem height is still adjustable.

SamSpade1941 

I've seen the @gugie decaleur in another thread and totally want one, I just have to save some coin . Just not in my budget at the moment , I am going to have to sell a few things from my cycling stash first . I still need a handlebar bag and a mini rack as well . At the moment I am trying to make decisions on the bag and mini rack.

SamSpade1941 

I did not see anything on web concerning weight, just comments that it is a heavy piece of gear. I had no idea it was going to tip the scales at close to a pound else I would not have purchased it, I am guessing its why the previous owner never used it , they in all likelihood decided it was too heavy . I will most likely use it on another bike build at some point and just put it in my stash of parts.

Dfrost 

Contact @gugie about the mini rack, too.

SamSpade1941 

Some other thoughts I have had examining this decaleur is that I like the design very much , the manufacture could have easily used a thinner steel plate and have come up with the same result. I would love to see a product improved version I am guessing that this could be made lighter by at least 5 ounces and still be very functional.

SamSpade1941 

I have plans to , it's not that far from Salem for me to load the bike up and take it to him .

Andy_K 

I shared this in your other thread, but I'll repeat it here for the visual.



This is a very cheap bag I got from Amazon (BV Handlebar Bag). It came with a crappy mechanism to mount directly to the bar. I removed that and used the Velo Orange decaleur.

This was a great "starter kit" for me. It served me well enough to know I was ready to sink more money into a bigger, better bag and a custom gugie decaleur.

SamSpade1941 

@andy k thanks for the recommendations, I'll take a look but I am starting to lean towards the Ostrich bags as a compromise of quality and cost. Still not sure yet...

coolkat

I have an Ostrich bag with a velo orange front rack w/ integrated decaleur. It's pretty nice, but the decaleur hits slightly above the metal(?) insert on the back of the bag. I bolted it above and so far so good, but it may not be as durable in the long run. With my fairly agressive low bars and smaller frame, a 90mm stem is the longest I can run. Fortunately, fit is pretty good but i may get some longer reach bars soon to get a little more length in the cockpit. Let me know if you want some pics.

palincss

Users of "male pin in female tube" style decaleurs should be aware that if you hit a pothole the wrong way, your bag can jump out of the decaleur. Jan Heine notes that he lost an expensive SLR camera belonging to Bicycle Quarterly that way. It happened to me once, and I was lucky in that the bag didn't fall to the ground. You could have a nasty crash if the bag falls in front of your front wheel.

Compass/Rene Herse solved that problem by licensing Hirose's retention pin system for their decaleurs, but you can also do as I do and use a small strap as a retainer to prevent the bag from coming out. You can just about make it out in this photo of my Jack Taylor w/Gugie custom decaleur: