nlerner

Here's the tag on the "Schwinn Approved" bag that I have:



The inside is lined with some sort of plastic, which I've never seen on a Carradice, nor on the two Karramor bags that I have.

The Golden Boy 

I was too busy looking for similarities that I didn't see the differences. That vinyl edging trim is very telling about the bag. Also the canvas is not as thick as either my Acorn bag or my 1950s government issue bag that @rootboy built up for me. I really looked hard to see if the inner flaps had any evidence of stitching or anything to fasten ties on to- nope.

Is it likely that Schwinn contracted a certain specific pattern to be made by an English company? So possibly that Karrimor made some, Carradice made some- or maybe another company all together- using a Carradice-ish pattern with a touch of Karrimor style... or something Schwinn specified... or.... or just taking an existing product and rebranding it... or...

Oldpeddaller

OK, here's mine, a Carradice Nelson long-flap Camper, with extendable top flap. This Carradice bag support is my favourite, strong, secure but releases the bag from the bike in seconds by releasing one strap from around the seat post. A very old design, but still made and sold as the Classic. I think my bag is a later model and was probably originally black rather than the attractive purplish-blue it's faded to. Well used over the years by a friend who was a life-long cycle tourist and whose widow gave it to me. Lots of memories of following it, he was always first up the hills! This thing is like a Tardis, it can carry so much in such a compact package. The roll on top is an old-school genuine British 1960's cycling cape - sometimes replaced with a lightweight tent for longer trips. I always wanted to have a proper Carradice bag, but wish I'd got one some other way.

3speedslow

Well, with deep respect to the vintage ones that have been shown previously, I bring my new-ish Carradice bag to the thread.

Nelson long flap camper.

Just got from a BF member here and mounted tonight. Gonna stuff it in the morning and take an English ride. Really think this bag is a great all day outer or overnighter. Cannot wait to find out.

I see that the black eventually turns purple. Will treating it prevent this occurrence? Where is everyone purchasing their waterproofing tin ?

this will ride with me on my Raleigh Clubman style bike this winter and then migrate to others. Currently I have an old Rudge being converted to a 3 speed. Burgundy Colour frame will go great with black. Also my yellow 71 Dawes Gallaxy will get it's chance to carry it around.

Bandera

Scotch Guard spray for me, worked for the last few decades.

-Bandera

Bandera

MY NOS '70's Schwinn Approved seat bag needs some repair to add some more leather on the NDS side to keep the steel rod in place.
Too many frozen free range chickens from the Farmer's Market hauled down chip-seal roads on very old fabric.....
Off to the shoe repair for a fix "soon".

-Bandera

3speedslow

Thanks for the tip ! I remember using that as a cheap waterproofing on jeans when we went skiing.

mikemowbz

Bumping this old thread. As it seems to have become a repository for pics of folks' various Carradice bags, I thought it a decent place to post after recently acquiring what I believe to be some older Carradice panniers:DSC00690.jpg

DSC00692.jpg

DSC00694.jpg

Apologies for poor pics. Anyone have any idea of age? 1980s?

arex

What's the process for waxing canvas? Just paint on the melted wax, or do you soak it in some way? Paraffin, beeswax, or some combo thereof?

[edit] Whoops, zombies afoot.

lostarchitect 

Hey @arex, the way I do this for both bags and jackets (I have an old Belstaff) is I melt down a can of wax in a pot of water, and I just rub it into the fabric with a rag. After I rub it into an area I hit it with a hot hair dryer to try and smooth it out and melt it in evenly. I have to reheat the can a few times to do a whole jacket, but for a bag usually one or 2 heatings is enough. I use Otter Wax, but there are several other products out there.

SloButWide 

The Art of Manliness has a great tutorial. They use otter wax., but no otters are harmed. You preheat the item (they use a hair dryer, I've also heard of people using a dryer), apply the wax, clean up the excess, then heat again.

tarwheel 

I'll have to post some recent photos of my Carradice Barley. I bought it new about 6 years ago but it looks vintage now because I use it for commuting regularly. One of the holders for the straps came unthreaded a couple of years ago, but I had it repaired at a shoe shop. These shots were taken when it was still quite new.

lostarchitect 

It's a much easier process to use the bar like that, but I don't think it penetrates as well as when you use the can of melted wax. Still, it does work pretty well.

SloButWide 

You're probably right. I remember melting Gulf Wax paraffin in a coffee can, and painting it on a canvas backpack for Boy Scouts. The wax soaked clean through, then the excess had to be removed with a paint scraper! This was 1975 or so, when hair dryers had a built in shower cap, and blow dryers were just becoming popular.

Dawes-man

Fellow Carradice fans, I'm back after an absence of 6 years with some more vintage saddlebags. These are just back from a friend, a leather craftsman from Nagasaki called Takashi, who has being doing some restoration work on them for me. Some might remember another bag I had the side pockets re-trimmed on at the beginning of this thread - that was Takashi's work as well.

As with a lot of bags from the 40s through to the 70s the leather trim on the lids had started disintegrating. From sometime in the late 70s Carradice swapped the leather for some kind of synthetic trim. As well as the leather trim falling apart, the lids had tears big enough to make them useless against the rain. On these old bags a small tear here and there is to be expected but something had to be done about these.


The badge on the first bag tells you it’s from the 1950s, when the Carradice works was Leeds Road, Nelson.


Carradice sell cotton duck pieces for repairs but they're too small to make a whole lid. I needed a much bigger piece. You'd be surprised how difficult it is to find cotton duck on the internet that is heavy enough without having to buy several metres of the stuff. I only wanted enough to make 2 lids. Eventually I contacted Carradice, explained the problem, and they were brilliant! They sent me a sizeable off-cut big enough to make around 4 to 6 lids.

Takashi unstitched one of the lids in order to make a pattern for the new lids. Here you can see the old, tattered lid on the left and one undone in the middle that he used to make the cardboard pattern on the right.


This is the first, older bag. The Leeds Road works were in use from the mid-1940s. They moved to their North Street works in 1960 and were there until 1979. Notice the leather splash guard, always an expensive option, as were the alloy D-rings for securing your cape on the lid of the bag.


This is the re-lidded and re-trimmed side pocket. I originally wanted grey, chromed leather to copy the original but Takashi only had water resistant leather in black and brown. As Carradice trimmed the side pocket lids in black leather from the mid-70s I decided that would be okay.


This last photo shows the contrast between the original cotton duck and the duck Carradice use today. You can see the older duck looks more finely woven than the present duck. Whether this is just a result of nearly 70 years of use, I don't know.



There is a lot of work to this that is not obvious. Notice that the leather trim disappears into the seam between the lid and the inner flap - all that has to be picked apart and resewn. Also, in order to preserve the leather fastening strap Takashi took care to use the same holes in the leather when reattaching it. This meant doing it by hand.

You can see more photos of this and the bag featured in my next post here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/229836...81663465/page2 starting about halfway down the page.

The whole album starts here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/229836...h/15059894568/

3speedslow

Thank You so much for checking back in! Great to see the old bag getting fixed. It sure seems to be labor intensive but truly worth it!

nlerner

Welcome back!

Dawes-man

Among the 12 or so vintage Carradice saddlebags in my collection, this is the only brown one I have and therefore, while not the oldest, it's rather special to me.


I use it on my kromo-velato Chesini pista.


Judging from the inside it seems to have started out a kind of green colour and faded to its present brown over the ensuing 50 or 60 years.


The North Street badge dates it to the early 1960s.


This bag has the cheaper version of the leather splash guard, comprising a double layer of cotton duck.


The leather trim was rotten. As with all bags of the period the side pocket lid trim was grey chromed leather but as my friend Takashi only had water resistant leather in black and brown I decided on brown.


I think it came out very nicely.


All this stitching was undone and restitched by hand as Takashi couldn't get the machine in with the wooden dowl in place.


This was machine stitched.


Please refer to my previous post for links to the album where more photos can be found.

Thanks for reading this far!

Dawes-man

You're very welcome! And I agree... but then I would

Dawes-man

Why, thank you! It's very nice to see a familar name.

3speedslow

I always considered the double bottom a rub guard. Mine all have the second layer of duck cotton but are quite new.

The Golden Boy 

Still a fascinating thread!!!

Dawes-man

Yes, I've heard it referred to as that, too. I think that's applicable on smaller bikes with a shorter distance between the saddle and the top of the wheel, and have seen a couple of bags that have worn there. I think for most bikes it acts as a double layer against water thrown up by the wheel. SO... both?

I've just checked on the Carradice website but they don't even mention it...

merziac

Great work, welcome back, fascinating, Tx!

This is why we love C+V.

Dawes-man

Thank you, Merziac, for the warm welcome.

Long live C&V!