Well, maybe "innovative" is not the right word… more like… purposely designed for my needs. But I've not seen something similar on the market yet, so it's either innovative or nobody except me needs it 🙂
Ok, full story: I have a Miss Grape IL COSO, and I'm really unhappy about it. It's bulky, takes handlbar space, is not compatible with my spaghetti routing and extra levers, and places the bag somehow too high and forward. Plus, it's a ~300 g lump of plastic with 8 screws…
So, as often happens, my brain started silently working on formulating a problem and then proposing a solution, which, of course, resulted in an idea that started to haunt my dreams
🎶"Can't stop the ghosts from engineering"🎶
(what? yeah, I know the lyrics say "gods", but "ghosts" is funnier)
So this idea haunted me, then possessed me until I had the product of my brain in my hands.
That's why it's shaped as a ghost, and it's called W.R.A.I.T.H (yes, an acronym, I forgot the meaning of each letter tho)
The development was shared on ThePathLessPedalled's Discord, in the cave of bad ideas channel, until it was no longer a bad idea anymore, because it's now metal and not brain activity.
It's designed to be fabricated as a single piece, laser-cut from a 3 mm aluminium plate. The plate is then simply bent in shape using… uhm… bending machines? Angles are all easy. A friend of mine did the work for the one that ended up painted, while the anodised one is from Xometry.
It's designed to NOT use handlebar space, it keeps cables tidy and doesn't interfere with crosstop levers.
Instead, it sleeps in between spacers, connecting to the steering tube, using a plastic ring to avoid metal vs carbon rubbing, and then connecting to the crown fork M6 threaded hole, so the load is rerouted, and it's not all a big bending load on a carbon steerer tube.
Oh, wait! Weight-Routing Aluminium Integrated Transport Harness -> WRAITH. 🙂
It weighs 150 g, carries bags, and has slots for action camera mounts or front lights, or whatever. The holes for passing straps are made so that even thick TPU straps can do multiple passes, and hardware/harness, etc., can, if needed, slip through. Bonus: with some bags and dropbars, you can actually access the content of the bag without removing it from the cradle.
I've painted it in EVA-001 style, the painting is already chipping off… whatever, this is just a couple of prototypes for loading tests, the next one would be hard anodised or powder coated, plus maybe re-designed with suggestions from the community.
What do you think?
by the_jeby
7 Comments
This is so cool! I always wonder how people come up with ideas like this. Is that glitter?! If so, very yes!
Gonna keep it real with you OP. It made me think of Grievous!
https://preview.redd.it/s1f0p2amo6qg1.png?width=1003&format=png&auto=webp&s=c3a3cb34f26681164a27866846c61b23131b2d44
The assembly view I did to proof the design, I also 3D printed half of the cradle to check it before starting the fabrication
This is really cool. One thing I would think about if you wanted to make it a product is how it would adapt to different bikes… It is so cool though.
I appreciate the effort you put into this! Looks great. I like the mounting concept. A pic with the bag loaded would cool to see
IMO the real innovation here is manufacturability. Bending cut sheet aluminum isn’t just an easy way out of machining or tube bending or welding, it also makes a lot of the hardware unnecessary.
The only flaws I can predict are having to make multiple separate sizes for different head tube lengths, which you could solve by separating it into upper and lower parts that go together with a few M5 bolts, and the sharp laser-cut edges fretting against straps and wearing through them, which can be addressed by filing them down a bit. That’s more hardware and manufacturing steps, but I still think you’re coming out ahead of someone having to injection mold and weld.
That headlamp placement: chef’s kiss