{"id":192445,"date":"2023-04-04T06:42:23","date_gmt":"2023-04-04T06:42:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/?p=192445"},"modified":"2023-04-04T06:42:23","modified_gmt":"2023-04-04T06:42:23","slug":"how-to-make-your-own-bikepacking-bags","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2023\/04\/04\/how-to-make-your-own-bikepacking-bags\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Make Your Own Bikepacking Bags"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>In recent years, bikepacking has really taken off. What was once more commonly known as off-road touring andmostly seen in the Rough Stuff Fellowship is quickly becoming a popular pastime.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2023\/03\/10\/what-the-story-of-a-13-year-old-bikepacking-the-great-divide-can-teach-us-about-kids-cycling-and-confidence\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bikepacking<\/a> is, in its simplest form, multi-day mountain biking. Traversing rough terrain over a long period of time can be challenging at the best of times, but doing so with panniers only increases the challenge \u2013 and not in a funway. Bikepacking takes that challenge, and turns it into a multi-day epic adventure. Much like backpacking, it cantake on a variety of forms, from loading up for long and comfortable distances, to ultralight racing.<\/p>\n<p>Sounds great, right? So, you want to get into bikepacking. Of course you do. If you aren\u2019t already, that is.<\/p>\n<p>But maybe you\u2019ve already got enough gear, or you\u2019re having a quiet winter \u2013 recovering from a summer of adventure with some time on your hands. Well, if you hadn\u2019t considered it already, then you may want to think about making your own bikepacking bags. Whether you\u2019re a dab-hand with a sewing machine or not, making bags to fityour bike can actually be quite simple. They\u2019ll (hopefully) fit your bike perfectly and give you an extra sense ofsatisfaction every time you head out on an adventure.<\/p>\n<p>Bikepacking.com has a great bunch of posts on exactly this, called <a href=\"https:\/\/bikepacking.com\/tag\/myobg\/\"><u>MYOBG: Make Your Own<\/u><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/bikepacking.com\/tag\/myobg\/\"><u>Bikepacking Gear<\/u><\/a>. Their blog features a number of patterns that you can print out and use to create different bikepacking bags. But as a newbie to sewing, there\u2019s a lot of information out there. So, we\u2019ve collated it here to make the task slightly easier.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Things you might need\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Sewing machine<\/li>\n<li>A thick waterproof material (see the list below for how to choose a material)<\/li>\n<li>A thinner, liner material which could also be waterproof<\/li>\n<li>Cord (paracord string\/elastic cord) and cord-stopper<\/li>\n<li>Webbing<\/li>\n<li>Velcro<\/li>\n<li>Extra strong upholstery thread<\/li>\n<li>Strong needles \u2013 suitable for denim<\/li>\n<li>Water-resistant zippers<\/li>\n<li>Sew-on tape fastener hook and loops<\/li>\n<li>Patience<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>How to choose a material<\/strong><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>There will be two ways to go about choosing your material, and that is to either choose the cheapest one, or to assess the qualities of the materials out there and choose the one you deem most superior. So we\u2019ve briefly described some of the common materials you might see on your hunt for a bikepacking bag fabric, and will let youdecide.<\/p>\n<h4>Dyneema<\/h4>\n<p>Like nylon or polyester, Dyneema is a synthetic fiber. It\u2019s existed in its rawest form for quite a while (since 1963 to be exact) and has a reputation of being a really strong material.<\/p>\n<p>Due to its strength as a fabric, it tends to take the lead in terms of suitability for use in creating bags. But it comes ata cost and is more expensive than other suitable materials.<\/p>\n<h4>X-pac<\/h4>\n<p>X-pac is a material which is made up of multiple layers, laminated into a single sheet of fabric. A basic sheet of X-pac contains a nylon outer, a polyester mesh, a waterproof layer, and a layer of fine-woven fabric that has a water-resistant coating. It was originally developed by a company who made sailcloths, which unsurprisingly makes for a great material to be used in bags \u2013 it\u2019s lightweight, weather resistant, and strong.<\/p>\n<p>When compared to Dyneema, it\u2019s a cheaper fabric as it simply isn\u2019t as strong. But it\u2019s also very abrasion-resistant,so it\u2019s a great choice in the field as it can withstand a beating as a bikepacking bag.<\/p>\n<h4>Cordura<\/h4>\n<p>Cordura is actually a brand name, but much like the humble Hoover (a brand-named vacuum cleaner), Cordura has become the name which is associated with high-quality fabric. They are seen as being super durable, abrasionresistant and strong.<\/p>\n<p>There are others out there, but this will at least give you a starting point.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>More on fabric\u2026<\/strong><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>When you\u2019re purchasing fabric, you\u2019ll see the metric \u2018denier\u2019 used, which basically describes the thickness or density of the fabric, but sort of relates to its \u2018weight\u2019. If you\u2019re comparing across the same type of fabric e.g., nylon or polyester, then the higher the number, the stronger it is. But if you\u2019re comparing different fabrics e.g., nylon versuspolyester, then it doesn\u2019t quite correlate, since nylon is stronger than polyester. So 300D nylon is stronger than 450Dpolyester.<\/p>\n<p>In terms of balancing strength versus weight, then bags tend to be in the 450 to 600D range. If you want a super strong, durable fabric then you could go up to say 1,000D, though \u00a0this is inevitably heavier. You may also want tocombine fabrics, whether different types of fabric or different deniers, to create more strength in certain areas.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After all that, you could totally just recycle some old waterproof fabric \u2013 whatever you have lying around.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Which bags can I make?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You\u2019ll want to decide which bags to make and which bags to buy (because, let\u2019s be honest, you may not haveenough time or patience to make a whole set-up). To start, a stem bag is simple and easy to make, and even if you mess up the stitching \u2013 you can\u2019t really see it anyway as you make it inside-out. Having two of these is handy for extra bottles, or a whole bunch of snacks. They\u2019re easy to access and make a great addition to any set-up.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The frame bag is another great choice. This is one of the most satisfying homemade creations, as it can be tailor-made to your bike. You can choose which side you want the zip to be on and you can fit it around your bottle cage ifyou have one. You\u2019ll use it to death and you\u2019ll get to point at it and say \u2018I made this\u2019 every time someonecompliments your set-up.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A handlebar bag is great for just about anything. Like the stem bag, these are relatively simple to make, but you\u2019relikely to use them day-to-day.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>How do I make them?<\/strong><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You will likely need <a href=\"https:\/\/bikepacking.com\/tag\/myobg\/\"><u>a pattern<\/u><\/a>. The community of people making their own bike bags isn\u2019t huge, so they\u2019re alsoextremely helpful. Once you\u2019ve printed out your patterns and cut your fabric out, you just need to stitch them together. Simple enough, but don\u2019t become disheartened as you get to grips with a sewing machine if it\u2019s somethingyou\u2019re new to.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Enjoy the process, and ultimately you will get to enjoy the fruit of your labour, late nights and pricked fingers!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In recent years, bikepacking has really taken off. What was once more commonly known as off-road touring andmostly seen in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":99,"featured_media":192446,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[328],"tags":[1280,4839,7076,7074,7075],"global-categories":[3366],"class_list":["post-192445","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-outdoor-mountain","tag-bikepacking","tag-bikepacking-bags","tag-cordura","tag-dyneema","tag-x-pac","global-categories-cycling"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.3 (Yoast SEO v25.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>How to Make Your Own Bikepacking Bags<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In recent years, bikepacking has really taken off. 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