Okay, I have Mondays off which means I have a lot of time to think about crap. It's also off-season for riding, which means the bike is put away until Spring and some of the stuff I think about is bike related.

I have some throw-over saddlebags that have been great for my purposes. They came with paracord to run through sewn-in loops on the side to fasten to the saddlebag supports to keep the bags from flopping around. In lieu of the cords that came with it, I've been using zip-ties. Over time, one of the loops came unattached and I'm looking for options to either recreate the missing loop or come up with a better way to attach the bags to the supports. Part of the problem is the orientation of the loops. They're sort of parallel to the supports, so when I zip-tie them, it twists the loop which probably helped it fail.

Will self-adhesive Velcro® stick to fabric via some adhesive? I could then wrap the hook part around the support and just press the bag onto it. Any other ideas? Thanks.

Oh, I forgot to mention, any solution should be fairly cheap. Consider that my sort of working okay solution is zip-ties. Plus, the bags themselves weren't that expensive.





Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/20/2023 01:44PM by wurm.

Did the entire nylon loop come out of the seam? If one end is still in, is it secure? Could you "poke a hole" through the loop and zip tie the bag that way?

Pic of the failed loop? Pic of the bag in its entirety? Maybe how he bag sits on the bike (front or back)?

Just thinking out loud, right now.

I don't know about self-adhesive velcro, but gluing down velcro with E6000/E6000plus (weather resistant) glue would probably work. I've used E6000 to stick velcro to the inside of belts, fix shoes, install new pieces of leather on gloves, etc.

Thanks for the reply. Working on getting more pics up.

Okay, here are more pics. The red arrows show the good loops. The yellow arrow is the one that ripped out. Those velcro patches are married to a like-sized cushion of sorts that lies against the actual bag. The close-up is of the ripped out loop. the small pic is of the brackets that the bags attach to on the bike.

JohnB, I'll look into that adhesive as an option for velcro. Thanks.

And for what it's worth, those remaining loops are probably enough to secure the bags to the supports with zip-ties, but as I said the orientation of the loops against the brackets will likely continue to strain them. I even thought about a swivel carabiner. One side through the loop and the other side around the bracket/support.





Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/20/2023 02:33PM by wurm.

wurm,

One of your photos shows the seam has failed where the "loop" came loose. Stick the old loop back in there and take it to a shoe repair shop or an upholstery shop. They can sew it back in and repair the failed seam at the same time. The shop will have plenty of suggestions for repair.

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Ed (modelamac)

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/20/2023 02:37PM by modelamac.

Quote
modelamac
wurm,

One of your photos shows the seam has failed where the "loop" came loose. Stick the old loop back in there and take it to a shoe repair shop or an upholstery shop. They can sew it back in and repair the failed seam at the same time. The shop will have plenty of suggestions for repair.

Thanks. Yeah, I thought about that, but part of what started me thinking of this whole process was the whole twisting aspect of the loop being tied to the bracket in a 180 degree orientation. If I wanted a permanent attachment (and if the loops were a little bigger) I would run the bracket through the loops, then bolt the support with bags attached back onto the bike. But I like to be able to remove them fairly easily.

What if you sewed a flat piece into the seam, then made a loop in the part that is sticking out. Sew the loop of material onto itself, then it can twist. I hope that makes sense.
If you want to keep the loop as is, maybe put two split key rings in the loop, to get the 180° bend you need. I hope that makes sense, too. You could use different size split rings, if needed.

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Zip ties have a square edge. Won't be surprised that it's sawing thru the loop over time with even a little movement/vibration.

I would repair the way modelmac suggested.

Definite sewing.

now that you've posted more pics, I can see why you want to rescue these bags. I would suggest finding a sewing pro and give them the whole rig to fix and reinforce - tell them that you want to use these for the rest of your life.

Thank you all for the ideas. Much appreciated. Rhonda, you lost me at "What if you sewed ..."

hal, for what it's worth, the bags were cheap as saddlebags go. They were only around $50. In fact, this is my second set because the first ones split about three inches along the bottom in just a couple of season's use. That said, they were also the only ones I could find that fit the bike well which is why I bought a second set before I even needed them, so yes, I would like to try to salvage them. For that matter, since I still have the original set, I could pilfer the old loops and see if the 'sewing pro' could add a few extras while (s)he's at it.

Looks like I have some options. Thanks. again.

What ModelT said - shoe repair shop and thell them the change you want done.. They won't have any issues.

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As others have said, a shoe repair type place to repair the loop(s). Since you are using zip ties to tie them onto the bike, I would suggest putting a small D-ring into the loop. That way, you could use whatever you wanted to tie the bag to the bike and it shouldn't put too much of a strain on the loop since it is not pulling on the loop so much as the ring itself.

Another vote for a cobbler.

I had a cobbler so some work on a heavy leather belt and the repair was invisible.

Working on those bags would be a walk in the park compared to my belt.

They'd most likely have access to nylon strap to make large loops, or even so a length of nylon strap into the bag and so an loop at the end of the strap.

Maybe even fastens some Fastex buckles and ....

Ok, maybe I'm taking that a bit too far, expense-wise.

---

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I agree with sewing. But before I went to the trouble of taking to a repair shop, I'd spend $6 and buy some thread and needles for leather and spend 20 min carefully going in and out of the holes that are already there. It would be easy to make it look crummy but also easy to spend the time to follow the holes and make it an essentially invisible repair.

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