When Maria and I are eating up the miles on the Vendetta, we're convinced that no other human-powered vehicle could travel our public roads this efficiently. The only thing that used to be missing from our trips was some cargo space.
Now we have a practical solution.
If you notice in the photos from Bike Sebring, Maria has an Aero Bag from Bent-Up Cycles and I have a Brain Box from Bacchetta mounted on the back of our Vendettas. I've been asked how these were mounted. Here is how I did it:
For adaptation to the Vendetta, the Brain Box is a bit easier than the Aero Bag, but both seem to work fine. The key goal is to have the bag not move around or droop down on top of your rear tire.
The bottom of each bag has a plastic sheet for stiffness. I drilled two 1/4" holes about an inch apart and an inch from the front/bottom edge of the bag. Drilling through fabric is NOT fun, but it's do-able. These holes went through the floor and front wall of the compartment. I drilled two matching holes through the backrest and put one large zip tie through those four holes in such a way to cinch the front edge of the bag securely to the backrest to keep it well out of the way out of the way of the brakes and rear tire. If you take a close look at the structures behind the backrest, this should all make sense.
You have the option to add some kind of support strap to shift some weight of the middle/rear of the bag to the top/back of the headrest. I did NOT do this on Maria's Aero Bag and it's been fine. On my Bacchetta Brain Box, there was an existing strap that made this easy. I put a ring clamp on the center back of the headrest and bolted the strap to it. I would suggest this strap if you plan to carry heavy items in the bag.
There were side straps at the front of each bag that I cut off and discarded.
There's probably a better way than this method, but so far, our bags have held up well and they provide very functional storage to the Vendetta without adding significant aerodynamic drag.
Jim
Now we have a practical solution.
If you notice in the photos from Bike Sebring, Maria has an Aero Bag from Bent-Up Cycles and I have a Brain Box from Bacchetta mounted on the back of our Vendettas. I've been asked how these were mounted. Here is how I did it:
For adaptation to the Vendetta, the Brain Box is a bit easier than the Aero Bag, but both seem to work fine. The key goal is to have the bag not move around or droop down on top of your rear tire.
The bottom of each bag has a plastic sheet for stiffness. I drilled two 1/4" holes about an inch apart and an inch from the front/bottom edge of the bag. Drilling through fabric is NOT fun, but it's do-able. These holes went through the floor and front wall of the compartment. I drilled two matching holes through the backrest and put one large zip tie through those four holes in such a way to cinch the front edge of the bag securely to the backrest to keep it well out of the way out of the way of the brakes and rear tire. If you take a close look at the structures behind the backrest, this should all make sense.
You have the option to add some kind of support strap to shift some weight of the middle/rear of the bag to the top/back of the headrest. I did NOT do this on Maria's Aero Bag and it's been fine. On my Bacchetta Brain Box, there was an existing strap that made this easy. I put a ring clamp on the center back of the headrest and bolted the strap to it. I would suggest this strap if you plan to carry heavy items in the bag.
There were side straps at the front of each bag that I cut off and discarded.
There's probably a better way than this method, but so far, our bags have held up well and they provide very functional storage to the Vendetta without adding significant aerodynamic drag.
Jim
