Gnarwhale has been seriously lacking updates, because the semester is almost over and we’re all in school-mode. I thought I’d quickly post up my around-town bike and show off a bag I turned into a really rad pannier. Yes, I just said “rad pannier.” More photos and info after the jump.

The bike is a Surly Crosscheck. I know they’re overused by assholes with tweed jackets and hardons for Brooks saddles, but the frame was free from my old boss who couldn’t possibly ride a bike with a tiny dent in the toptube, and they really are great cheap frames. I’m running a Nexus 8spd rear hub (also free, it was broken), geared super easy, with some sort of French bars from Workcycles, Tubus rack, and lots of other cheap, sensible stuff. It is really nice for riding around town and out for daytrips here in Victoria, I’d probably even take it on some shorter tours; anywhere away from public transit though and I’d be a little leery of an internal hub.

When David Lang had to go back to Singapore last year he gave me this bag from Tokyo. It’s super nice but I never used it because I can’t really pull off the leather/canvas thing… I gave away my old bike panniers though, and until I get new ones, I figured I could just turn this bag into a pannier. I attached a piece of plastic (from a storage bin) on the inside to give it stability, and then screwed on a $6 replacement pannier mount from MEC. After that I attached a hook and strap to the piece of plastic, behind a zipper so I can just zip the hook away while I’m using the bag as a bag rather than a pannier. Anyway, I’m super happy with it and it works really well; I’m still not a leather/canvas kinda guy, but it kind of suits the Surly, and the fact that I pannier-ed it makes it nerdy enough to suit me. A few photos of the process: