MattTheHat 

I use a Roadrunner Burrito bar bag. It holds a compact pump, a multitool, a small wallet that I carry on the bike, a Presta to Shrader adapter, a spare core, some aspirin, my iPhone and a some assorted snack nuts. The pump could be carried on the bracket that came with it to mount it beside the water bottle cage. That would free up enough space for an inner tube and patch kit for those who don't run tubeless. Without the iPhone there would be more room yet.

All of the same stuff was carried in a medium Topeak saddle bag, but since I live in the free state of Texas and can listen to headphones whilst riding, I now carry the iPhone at the front because Bluetooth reception wasn't so good in the saddle bag.

On a more utilitarian bike, though, I like the plastic tool box. If a guy was so inclined he could throw in a collapsible fishing rod and some tackle. If you catch a tasty bass you could always bungie it right on top of the toolbox!


-Matt

MattTheHat 

The saddle bag mentioned in my post was the medium size version of the one shown. I own two. Nice saddle bag, worked great other than my Bluetooth signal wasn't so good when the iPhone was placed in the bag under the saddle.

-Matt

BobbyG

As a few folks have pointed out, under-seat bags are pretty popular. I have two larger ones on my older bikes and a smaller one on my newer bike. I think the under-seat bags would still allow some room on the top of the rack to carry other items. There are a few hard shell ones out there. I think a bottle-cage tool kit would work well, but then you would need another bottle cage. You could get a top-bar bottle cage, or a handle bar mount cage, and either may work better to carry your bluetooth speaker since it would be mounted higher and more in front of your face.

There are also frame bags, but I haven't seen any hard-shell varieties.

You might also be able to mount the rear light at the back of the rack where the reflector is. Perhaps you could find a way to mount both. When riding at night or in rain, I clip a 2nd blinkie to the back of my helmet.

But it is YOUR bike, and I think you should do what appeals to you and fits your needs. You appear to be a clever and handy guy, so I'm sure when and if you feel the need to change your setup it will be clever and look good like your current setup.

JonBailey

Update: I just spent the last 3 hours building a neat custom mount for my taillight that bolts to the tool box as shown. Made it out of piece of aluminum channel molding for electric wires I have. Should I paint it black or just leave it bare metal?

MattTheHat 

Looks easier to work with. You have other gray colored accents on the bike. I probably wouldn’t bother painting the aluminum channel black. I think it looks good!

-Matt

JonBailey

The invention of the automobile was not a conventional approach in 1875 either.
Many horse traders must have wanted to lynch Henry Ford.

I practice American ingenuity on a budget.

It's also gotta work but not look too shabby to boot.

JonBailey

My latest update to my tool box will to have a wooden board mounted on top of the existing metal rear carrier to make a flatbed.
Then the tool box will be bolted down on top of the board. The board is to be painted black. Stay tuned.

I've decided that zip tying the box to the carrier looks shoddy. I need a way to fairly easily remove the tool box
to wash the bike at a coin-operated car wash about every couple months. The toolbox is not exactly water-tight
under car wash hose pressure.

I don't want to drill holes in the original carrier to preserve the bike's value.

JonBailey

The other stuff about the "headset police" was to explain the addition and reason for the double water cages and the Bluetooth speaker. Sometimes redneck hick anti-bicycle police forces force bicycle riders to have to make special equipment accommodations. I had to explain the crappy roads in my town to justify the custom wheels that were added for strength. All my adaptations are functional, not for show.

Lawton, Oklahoma is very rough place for cycling. Quite bicycle unfriendly.

So, some American ingenuity is often needed as a workaround.

We don't need the grammar police here.

JonBailey

There is no more room in my tool box for a sandwich or anything else but repair equipment. It's packed to the hilt. It's smaller than it looks.

Inside my box I have:

1. two bungee cords: I can strap my balled-up jacket over the the top of the box if I get too hot during the ride
2. combination 15 mm wrench, for tightening pedals and for rear wheel removal
3. Bell multi-tool in a pouch, does not provide enough torque to break wheel lock nuts loose
4. spare inner tube with Slime already in it
5. spare rim liner
6. spare valve caps
7. valve stem tool
8. tire lever
9. needle-nose pliers
10. cable end caps
11. 3 plastic store bags, folded up, protects seat and hand grips from dirt when bike is turned over for repairs on the road
12. latex gloves, one time I had to fix a flat tire with goose crap all over it
13. C02 inflator if I'm in a hurry or too lazy to pump the tire up by hand
14. hand pump, in case CO2 inflator fails
15. two extra CO2 cartridges
16. rag to wipe things clean
17. tire patches
18. spare batteries for lights
19. removable tray that came with the box

Additionally, I have a fanny pack to carry:

1. my wallet
2. my keys
3. medications, asthma inhaler
4. toilet paper
5. phone
6. pen
7. bike cable lock coiled up tight

livedarklions

You get criticism about your writing when you tell someone "learn how to read."

I'm going to play nice and suggest a decent looking inexpensive addition I have found useful on a few bikes, and I use it to carry my phone, a power supply and a folding lock. In the past, I've used it for wallets and keys with my phone. One nice thing about it is it becomes quite inconspicuous on a black bike:


https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

shelbyfv

This story might deserve a thread of it's own! Never had police ask me about my wheels or any other part of my bike.

JonBailey

The cops never said anything about my wheels either. They did say something about the music headset over my ears one morning last week. Hence the NEED for an extra bottle cage and the music speaker to go in it. The rough roads of my home town dictated the sturdier wheels. Lawton is full of nasty things that result in my needs to dump more time, work and money into my bike. This is no town for a woosy city ten-speed with spaghetti-thin tires like the Schwinn Varsity of old. This is a hard-core mountain bike town even on the streets which look and feel long over due for new asphalt.

Bandera

This is a Hell-Hole?
City of Lawton OK Community Video

https://www.elocallink.tv/m/v/player...8_qol_rev2_iwd

ksryder

Although almost literally everything OP ever says is demonstrably false, 20 years ago when I was in AIT Lawton was not a great town. But then again, literally every Army town is kind of crappy.

I heard a few months after I completed training and left the area that they got a new mayor who ran all the strip clubs and "massage parlors" outside the city limits.

I'm sure there's not much bike infrastructure but also it's a town of 100,000 people so you probably can actually bike in it with a little fortitude. I'm guessing OP is an unreliable narrator.

JonBailey

It sounds like I'm being called a liar here.

People, you have to remember I was a soldier here at Fort Sill from fall 1989 through January 1991 at a Lance missile unit there. I was reassigned to Fort Ord, California that month. It was in the dawn of the Persian Gulf War era. Stormin' Norman/Bush Sr./pre-Slick Willy/Billary Clinton days. I don't what happened to Lawton between that time and May of this year when I moved back in as a civilian. I lived on post at the barracks, not in town on the local economy. Most of the business people in this town I dealt with then THEN were friendly, even the taxi drivers. I even bought a shiny new 1990 Oldsmobile here while at Sill and the dealership did me righteously. The Whataburgers then were clean inside. The stores were clean inside. Lawton was never a glamorous town but it looked modestly decent and its people were decent in 1990. Most of the people here in 1990 did not speak with southern drawls, at least not the local businesses I dealt with here including Dr. Nolan, an optometrist, the Olds dealership, pawnshops, car wash operators and local grocery stores and gas stations. The streets were even much smoother in 1990. I don't know what happened between January of 1991 through May of 2019 to make Lawton the total HOOD that it is today. My impression of the town was good in 1990. I was totally surprised coming back to see the dishevelment that has happened since. The Walmart on Sheridan is a total pigsty. They don't seem to hire janitors. I will have to telephone Walmart corporate real soon and complain about the store. The "store manager" there I spoke to looks like a total BEARDED punk. He looked at me like I was stupid for saying the men's room needed attention. I emailed the mayor's office when I moved here to complain about the crappy streets but still have gotten no reply. That's one mayor who will not be getting my vote should he be an incumbent in the next election. I will vote solid Democrat from the city level up to the state level in Oklahoma.

FiftySix

Marketing and mayor's office spin!

I looked at those videos and it looks like they show the same single neighborhood and park in every one.

I can't fault the Lawton Chamber of Commerce, though. The city I live in has great, average, and really bad parts of town. Only the great parts of town make the officially endorsed videos.

shelbyfv

So the strip clubs are too far away to cycle? Bummer!