Leather Pack Rack.

[Motu]

Just had a customer in,he's an older English gentleman,definatly old school and the bike is his primary transport,everything he does he uses the bike for,all weathers,all conditions.So his pack rack gets a hard time with constant use,and he's been through 3 of them so far.Today I see he has a leather one.

He was in Bali for a holiday and took his old pack into one of the street leather shops - 'How much to make one like this?'....''$100''.So now he has a nice black leather pack,and hoping it'll last a bit longer than the standard jobs.

[Ixion]

What sort of bike ?

[limbimtimwim]

Early this year I met a couple riding on an riding a good ol' Norton. He had a tank bag made out of leather, he recked it was about 25 years old. Still going strong, and it honestly looked only a couple of years old. I want one bad.

The brand was "Drifter" and he reckoned it was made somewhere near ChCh.

I've made half-arsed attempts at finding them, but I suspect gone now.

[Motu]

He rides a 1980 XV500,kind of a small bore 750 Virago.The leather pack will be a lot heavier to lug around,and won't smell too nice wet,but it should see him for a while yet.

[Paul in NZ]

Hmmm...

I think (not an expert here) is that not all synthetic materials are created the same (simple look at the prices for outdoor rain jackets tells you that) and that not all leathers are equal either.

I've had leather stuff (jackets mostly) that were utter crap and stuff that I still use. Same with synth.

Quality is quality and it costs.

Sounds like an interesting guy though!

[Motu]

For sure,for sure - I once had a bike jacket that turned itself into suede,the whole top layer just pealed off...dress leather for a bike jacket,bah! Rack packs need to be made out of cordura,but many are just plain nylon - his new leather one seemed pretty good thick leather.But he was saying he's had leather jackets made up there that have fallen apart,so he's done his product reshearch before hand.

[Lou Girardin]

Harley make leather roll bags/packs. Not $100 though.

[Paul in NZ]

Harley make leather roll bags/packs. Not $100 though.

What? $10 for the bag, $190 for the logo? Sounds fair.

I have an old BMW rear bag (sausage thingy) that I purchased cheap because it was designed for some sort of terribly unpopular thing and was left over. It's a good example of semi quality! Looked great on day 1, looks a bit raggy now but still functions like a good un! I can live with that.

Most luggage stuff seems to last longer if you look after it and get it patched / repaired before it goes terminal on you!

Having said that, the Oxford stuff comes with a lifetime warranty. Can't do better than that!

Cheers

[popelli]

if he is wearing packs our so damn quickly why doesn't he bite the bullet and get hard luggage

[Motu]

As I said in the first post - old school.....he's the sort of guy who would tie a short piece of rope to the top corners of a sack for a bag.Hard luggage would be two plastic containers with the lids hacksawed off,then refitted with gate hinges and hasp and staple locks.You don't need to spend money to get by in life.

[Ixion]

My sorta guy. Give him my regards.