Have you ever carried or loaded something on your bike?
Putting grocery bags in the front basket of a mamachari city bike, strapping a bag to a rear rack — most of us have carried things by bike at least once.
As for me, I once put a rear rack on my cross bike, and now I have a front rack on the track bike I ride. Every bike I own always gets a rack.
Mamachari city bikes for getting around and cargo bikes that can haul big loads are built for carrying things. Putting a rack on a track bike, on the other hand, is a custom job whose real thrill, I think, is that it lets the bike do something it couldn't before (it gives it the ability to carry stuff).
A rack completely changes both the look and the function — a custom that's fun and practical at the same time.
The rack on my AFFINITY Metropolitan was made by frame builder Kaito. He fitted it for me at his order event last September.
The rounded shape and the welds are beautiful. The size of the platform is perfectly balanced with the Metropolitan's frame size, and I really love it.
With my frame size, the head tube is long, and the empty space under the handlebar always felt a bit lacking, but installing the rack brought the whole front end into harmony.
The SIMWORKS Little Nick Bar and the rack look great together, too.
It's not just about looks, either — it's incredibly useful day to day, for cardboard boxes, grocery runs and more.
The Functional Beauty of the OUTER SHELL 137 Basket Bag
A rack and straps alone work perfectly well, but if you've gone to the trouble of fitting a front rack, the bag you'll want to use is the OUTER SHELL 137 Rack Bag.
It's a bag designed to sit on a WALD1372 basket or a rack, and it couldn't be easier to use. Just fasten the two buckle straps on the bottom of the bag. (You can secure it even more firmly with something like the SIMWORKS Thunder Strap.)
Another great thing about the 137 Basket Bag is that it's big enough to hold almost everything you carry, and since it sits up front, it's easy to reach. I love its simple function and rugged look.
Tools that can do everything are great, but tools with a focused purpose are great too.
Fewer features doesn't necessarily mean less convenient — I think sometimes things are made deliberately simple to leave room for the user's own ingenuity.
I mentioned above how well the rack and the Metropolitan go together, and I also love how the 137 Basket Bag and the Metropolitan look together. I like the odd contrast of a big, hefty bag sitting on a slender track bike.
To Lake Biwa with the 137 Basket Bag
I joined our Golden Week event, "Touch the Biwako," with the 137 Basket Bag fitted. Since it was a day ride, this one bag was all I needed for my things.
Whenever I go for a ride on the Metropolitan, this is the bag I fit.
For more on the day, be sure to check out Asai-san's blog as well!
On day rides, I pack the basics: an outer layer, hex keys and an adjustable wrench, a spare tube and so on.
The four inside corners of the bag are pockets, so I sort small items into them by type. Bulky things like a jacket go in the middle.
Even then there's still room to spare, so it easily handles whatever you pick up along the way.
That day, I ended up in charge of carrying the Itokiri Mochi a friend on the tour bought as souvenirs (three boxes' worth).
There was still plenty of room, so I happily took on the job of mochi carrier.
Room in your bag means room in your heart.
How You Use It Is Up to You
After our daily commute, we can ride straight on through the night, and then commute again.
These words appear on the product page for the Rack Bag, a size up from the 137 Basket Bag, but I think the same is true of the 137 Basket Bag. For a short tour, everything you need fits comfortably in the 137 Basket Bag.
Commuting, shopping, touring. The purposes differ, but with a bike and a 137 Basket Bag, they all connect seamlessly. Without saying much, this simple bag gives us the freedom of not being tied down by anything.
