How stable is it? I’ve got a DIY harness made from waterproof material and an old camping mat that works OK but isn’t great, wondering if a £14 dry bag can/will do almost as good a job as a £45 harness?

Or will it just wear all the paint off the headtube on the first gritty ride?

I’ve been doing this with no issues for 18 months, but I use a Mary bar so the bag perhaps sits differently to more conventional set-ups (i.e. behind and under the cables).

I’ve had one strapped to an assortment of different bars for a while (including today), and it’s always been fine – I’ve just upgraded a bit and now have a Joey in behind to stiffen things up, and that has usefully improved the stability / clampability of the bag.

There’s an element of ‘it depends’ tho’ I guess – mine only ever carries light-weight squishy stuff – extra insulation/discarded clothing, a poncho/bothy bag, odds and bits of food, that kinda thing.

Used on Midge (with cross-top levers), Mungos and Jones Loops.
I’ll rummage through my photos and see if I’ve got anything illustrative/useful.

My friend runs straps from the bars to the forks which keeps the bag off the frame so no rubbing. It seems to work well.

I run a set of bar ends on the inside of the brakes with a hole drilled in the end. I strap my alpkit bag to the bar ends. Also works well.

That’s pretty much how my DIY effort works, downside is it doesn’t seem all that stable pushing the bag forward away from the bars, and the narrower ‘fork’ bit allows it to sway.

Bars are 777mm and a 55mm stem.

Tempted by the Blackburn system, but would mean a switch back to alloy bars.