Pannier Prototype 1

First of all. I'm finally back to the blog, (let's hope for good), and am excited to announce the launching of http://www.forestcityportage.com! It still has a few bugs to be worked out, some text needs to be changed and some more pics added, but all in all I'm just excited that its up. Now that that announcement is out of the way I shall proceed in updating everyone as to the events of the past six months.

Made in the 216 was a really great time, Room Service and the Pop up Space were packed to the gills and the weather couldn't have cooperated any better. Then summer broke into high swing and between the lack of staff at Melt Bar and Grilled keeping me at the restaurant more than I would have liked and the call of patios, I was a bit scattered in my appearances at the workshop, (the persistent 95 degree days in a room with a wall of windows didn't really help much either). I did find some time, however to make a fun city pannier for my friend Nina. The simple design features only webbing and velcro for mounting as I tried to focus on ease of use, cut down on costs (a nice Ortlieb mounting system can run $30-40/pr alone), and cause I didn't have a bunch of pannier hardware lying around when she asked.

The final product, while somewhat rudimentary, turned out really nice and I think that I would make some more (although probably with a decent set of mounts as the ease of use was not as high as I had hoped). The sailcloth exterior is super durable and the post consumer waste vinyl liner is light and keeps things waterproof. In the end, a pretty nice bag for a twelve pack and some clothes on a crummy day.