Hip Pain is a PITA! -- Build Up New Tool Pouch

Argh! The sharp pain in my left hip when sitting is a royal PITA! A bit better today (Sunday), but still there. As long as the angle of hip and leg is basically straight, I feel no real pain or discomfort. Sad I could not get in to see my chiropractor/accupuncturist Friday, but I am scheduled for Monday morning. Is it even related to my bike commuting? Maybe, will ask my doctor.

Well to alleviate as much load as possible, I re-setup the SUB by transferring my lights and prepping my panniers. I guess I am glad I have the option of two different bikes.

Not one to leave well-enough-alone I decided to work up a new bike kit pouch. My goal is to have something that keeps everything together, can be placed easily between the various carry methods I use (panniers, messenger bag, backpack), and is aesthetically pleasing to me. I have hordes of various bags that I have acquired and, at their time, served their purpose quite well. Rather than have them just sitting around, I found one that looked like I could convert easily to a tool pouch.

Most of this pouch was actually the front section of an Overland Equipment shoulder bag. I first pre-tested how well my various bike stuff would fit, then figured out where to cut the stitches and what pieces I would need to re-sew.

Here's the tool pouch, note that lower and upper flaps, and the main pouch are wholly intact. I attached two pieces on the sides to fold in from left and right to ensure everything stays inside.

Here the top flap is opened up and you can see the side flaps that I added. Just sticking up is the tip of my Portland Design Works combo CO2 pump.

Here all flaps have been opened up. The nice thing is the lower flap has a mesh zippered pocket, which is great for the patch kit and my multi-tool (with the 2 halves separated). Plus, if I use a patch, the garbage pieces can be place in the pocket rather than leaving crap out on the road.

There is a large, open pocket behind the smaller pockets which is great for carrying the spare tube. Note the pump, the pocket next to the pump holds 2 CO2 cartridges.

Here you can see all my stuff laid out.

I would like to say I cut and sewed all of this up, but I cannot. I trimmed some excess material. I sewed on the side flaps, then sewed on the black seam ribbon. That's really it. All the pockets and stuff were already there.

Well, that's my re-use project, putting a no-longer used shoulder bag into daily use as my bike kit pouch.