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.......................--- Rear Pack for Rack ---

So now I had a nice large rear rack for the bike but no convenient way to carry things on it.

Also the rear seat that I had made to sit on the forward section of the rack really proved to be somewhat disappointing. If Dottie rode there her weight was pretty for rearward and we found that it was better if you just sat on the back of the stock seat even if it crowded me. This worked well for riding around town on errands and we found that it just wasn't practical to ride two up on the dirt with this bike. That led to buying a used Polaris Sportsman 500 XT that we could ride together in the dirt or that she could ride alone with me on the 200.

I wanted to keep the option of having the seat so first made a rear pack that would work if the seat was in place. A cardboard pattern was made for the bottom of the pack. The side sections will each hold three 1 liter water bottles and the center section is for other supplies.

Pieces were then cut for the bottom of the pack and ...

…. I drew-up a rough sketch of what I wanted at this point, but later changed it some.

Above the pieces on either side turned ...

…. into the side pockets.

I'm using a wide angle lens on the camera so it distorts things and will sometimes make things look larger than they are in comparison to the rest of the bike.

Straps were added to the side pockets.

The straps will go down and wrap around the rear rack frame and back up and the buckels will make it easy to quickly to attach the pact to the rear rack.

Next Sunbrella material was cut and sewn to make the center/main section of the pack.

The sides were then sewn to the center section and ...

…. tops with zippers were made for the two side compartments.

A view of the inside of the side tops showing the hidden zipper.

The tops were sewn on and above you can see how the straps can wrap around the rear rack frame.

I decided that I'd add a back compartment also and it was sewn up and attached to the main section.

A zipper was added to the top of the main section and ...

….. a top piece was made for the main section along with one final compartment that ….

….. sits on ...

…. the very top of the pack. I put what is called common sense fasteners on the very top compartment to make it easy and fast to get in and out of.

This pack on the rear of the rack has proven to work very well and I leave it on the bike almost all of the time. It was well worth the effort to make it. I got into sewing due to boat projects that my deceased wife, Ruth, and I had done together. I really enjoy sewing projects.

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