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Originally Posted by Cholo
I still have K Cravens book on Touring, always makes me smile when I see the pics.
not sure I agree about fiberglass, it cushions blows by delaminating (think helmets) and is really easy to repair, just buy a fiber kit from a boat shop. Ive repaired my boys dinghy loads of times (I think they used them as bumper cars); surfers will probably agree with me as well
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Yes, agreed, it doesn't shatter into pieces like an eggshell when it's hit and small impacts can be field fixed with duct tape, but when you do get a serious impact there's not a lot you can do at the side of the road. Back home, yes, it's all fixable with some time, skill and a gallon of acetone to get the resin off your fingers.
I can't find them at the moment but somewhere there's a few pictures of one of my Craven panniers that came loose and was then run over by a following car. It is fixable but it's been sitting in the garage for a few years waiting for me to summon up the enthusiasm. I'm trying to work out whether it's easier to just buy another one.
My DIY solution for shade tree mechanic fixable luggage was a lightweight plastic 'inner' (I used a 20L water container) held inside a frame that I welded up from 8mm steel tubing. If it got damaged the container could be repaired with duct tape and any bicycle repair shop (it was an African trip) could fix the frame. All very crudely done but those panniers have lasted for decades and been moved from bike to bike. They're on the left of the tent in the pic below, linked together to make a kind of crude table:
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