Carradice, old versus new, quality: Let me explain: the first Longlflaps I owned had leather straps so thick that you had to break them in to make them easy to buckle down. The leather wasn't as good as the best Rivendell supplies for its Sackvilles, but it was PDG.
The canvas was thicker, and in particular, the wear patch on the bottom of the Nelson Longflap was made from the same heavy, waxed canvas, not vinyl or whatever replaced it. The inside of the Longflap was lined with a thin, supple, greyish cloth. The Nelson and Camper Longflaps had thick cotton tapes pulling together interior side flaps instead of drawstrings pulling nylon necks tight; one may have his own opinion about the drawstring versus the tapes, but one can't deny that the flaps and the cotton tapes were tightly woven cotton. The buckles had little rollers on them to make snugging up the straps easier. The metal was thicker, too. You could -- I did -- fill one of those old Longflaps with water and, for 15 minutes, nothing would leak. The last ones I've owned, mostly Juniors, but also a Nelson from the mid 2000s, have inferior leather and canvas. They're still good, but not as good as the ones Rivendell first sold in the mid '90s. OTOH, the Saddlesacks are better than any Nelson, old or new, that I have seen. You have to see the 1990s Nelson Longflap and compare it to a contemporary one to understand the difference. I wish I had kept my original Nelson LF, Camper LF, and Junior. On Mon, Apr 10, 2017 at 9:00 AM, Patrick Moore <bertin...@gmail.com> wrote: > The newest Nelsons and Juniors that I've bought are, compared to those of > 20 years ago, *not* as well made: material thinner, leather thinner, > buckles cheaper. > > On Mon, Apr 10, 2017 at 7:16 AM, Steve Palincsar <palin...@his.com> wrote: > >> >> >> On 04/10/2017 09:10 AM, Lee Legrand wrote: >> >>> Are the carradice saddlebags not made as well today as they were years >>> ago? I was thinking of getting a nelson saddlebag just to hold my basic >>> tools for riding. Nothing really big just room for pumps, spare tube, >>> patches and multi-tool to have in emergencies. >>> >> >> As far as I can tell, they're better. Back in the day, the "traditional" >> Carradice bags had a big opening with two side flaps with tie strings that >> didn't meet in the middle. Now there's a "skirt" with a draw-string >> closure that almost completely covers the opening. It's much less likely >> with the new style bag to have things fall out. Otherwise, the materials >> and construction details appear very similar if not exactly identical. >> >> -- *30% Supply and Demand discount, listmembers only, on all resume, LinkedIn, and writing services, until Demand equals Supply! And there's more! 10% kickback for any referral resulting in fully paid, list-price contract. Email for details.* Resumes, LinkedIn profiles, bios, and letters that get interviews. By-the-hour resume and LinkedIn coaching. Other professional writing services. http://www.resumespecialties.com/ www.linkedin.com/in/patrickmooreresumespec/ Patrick Moore Alburquerque, Nouvelle Mexique, Vereinigte Staaten ************************************************************************** ************** -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
