Rivendell Platrack Sackville Bag Improvements.

[Manuel Acosta]

Ruth Bag Works is run by Ely.

Ely makes beautiful Randonneur inspired bags by hand. I was first drawn to Ely's work through his flickr page and later on his blog. I figured he was the person to talk to about getting a bag fixed/improved on. The Rivendell Platrack Sackville bag has become one of my favorite bags to date. More like a briefcase that conveniently attaches to my platrack. Truly smart and handsome design. I've gotten plenty of compliments on it and a lot of "ooohs" after showing them how it attaches it to the rack. I'm amazed how the bag can fit a lot more stuff then it can hold. My one guff about the bag was that when taking it off road on super bumpy trails the bag would unsnap and flop around. While this was a easy fix (just strap a irish strap over it) it was a fixed that could be improved on. So I emailed Ely about doing some bag improvements and fixes (I had a unfortunate event where the shoulder strap fell into the spoke and ripped the d-ring out of it's stitches.Thanks Rich for making wheels strong enough btw.)  and right away he emails me back about me coming by to check it out. So after a day of working pedicab I ride over and expect a quick look over to see what he could do, give me a quote, come back later to give the bag and after a week he would give me a call to pick it up. INSTEAD I get to his place and immediately is welcomed to his home and (like a true Filippino) fed with food. After eating, he steps me into his workplace/man cave/bicycle storage. He looks at the bag and we talked about how it can  be improved by just adding a small patch of leather to the bottom of the bag with strap holes to strap it to the rack. Without hesitation he instantly starts working on the bag at that minute like a man focus on a mission. it was fascinating seeing how much work goes into just one small part of the bag. The measuring and cutting and remeasuring later hole punching then sewing. While working on the bag I got to talk to Ely about how he got into bags and explained he did it on a whim. Being on a trip with his wife he decided that hell, "I can make a bag like this myself!"  And so he did, he designed his first bag out of paper and then started learning on his own from there. After breaking a handful of sewing machines he finally got into his grove and people would ask about his bags. He's a pretty humble guy always looking to improve on his bag and also understand the whole mechanics on getting things out of a bag strapped to a bike while still riding. Being an avid cyclist himself, he strives to make his bags more accessible and functional while still looking quite fancy. Just watching him work I can see he's a man of passionate about his work.  I was just thinking about adding a small leather piece with two strap holes on the bottom but he insisted on having horizontal strap holes for the option of strapping the bag laterality. On top of sewing in the leather pieces to the bottom of the bag and fixing the d-ring he insisted that we do it big by replacing the cloth handle with a leather handle. Truly a man with passion he even insisted on putting my initials MA on the handle. This all under a couple of hours of work!

Huge thanks to Ely for the bag improvements! 

If you're local to the bay area take a look at his blog and flickr and check out his great looking bags.

http://ruthworkssf.blogspot.com/

http://www.flickr.com/people/30037367@N03/

Pictures that prove that Ely does amazing work despite the rushed job.

http://flic.kr/s/aHsjAJzQe3

-Manny " This bag sure is fancy now" Acosta