Messenger Bag review

Bike Miles today: 0

I was too sore and tired today to pedal to work. Basketball really did me in yesterday. Other than my knee that keeps locking up and popping, stiff ankles, sore feet and calf, quad and shoulder muscle aches I'm feeling pretty good though.

Messenger Bag review
Pros
The bag is great. So great that I can hardly imagine how I did the commute before. And it is huge. Yesterday when I was coming home I had my work slacks, shirt, two pairs of underwear and socks, basketball shorts and shirt and a fleece stuffed in it. Not to mention my lunch pail (an insulated cooler thing) and my toiletry bag. Before this bag when I used my panniers I could never fit all this stuff in one of them. I always had to bring two of them. And even then it wouldn't all fit.

The bag is really easy to fill up with things, and once it is on you hardly notice it. Occasionally I will have something in the bag that pokes my back, but this is mostly because of how I filled it not how the bag was built.

I was initially concerned that the zippers might not holdup to constant use, but they seem to be extremely well attached and constructed. Also, there are more pockets and holders than I can ever imagine using. (Extra storage is always good) The clips that hold the top flap closed are also really strong and sturdy. They are so sturdy that they are a little difficult to get unclipped when I'm trying to open the bag. But I think it's better to clip too hard in that spot than to not clip hard enough.

Cons
The bag has absolutely no reflective material on it at all. None. Zero. Zip. Zilch. I find this reprehensible when you consider it's primary use. The bag was specifically designed for people to carry things while using a bike. I don't even know how something like that gets past the quality assurance or marketing people. I'll bet it went something like this:

Smart person/bag designer/biker: "We need to put some reflective material on the front to aid in people seeing the biker from behind."
Bean counter: "If we do that if will add $1 to the cost of the bag and lower our profit by 2.3789%.
Project Manager (not a biker): "We'll move forward without reflective material then."

I can make fun of bean counters because I am one. But I'm not stupid enough to do something like that. This con is a big deal but something that is easy to fix. I attached a stick-on red reflector to the side that traffic sees (otherwise known as the front) and I think that will help. Of course I have lights on my bike too but you can never have too many lights and reflectors for half asleep drivers. I also have some additional blinky lights that I might attach with some Velcro strips, but I'm trying to avoid spending half my paychecks on batteries.

The bag also gaps on the edges when it is extremely full. There is no stuff sack on the inside that you can close to further protect the contents from the elements. I think when I actually have the bag on my back the gapping on the ends goes away, but I can't tell since it's behind me. But this could be a place for water to enter and concerns me. I like how the Banjo Bros messenger bag have a stuff sack type interior that closes off to prevent water infiltration.

The bag lacks a strap that goes under your armpit to help stabilize the bag. This hasn't been a problem so far as the bag doesn't move around much at all. But it would be nice to have this extra stabilizer and it would also help pull the bag tighter to my body when I'm riding.

Overall, even with all the cons listed here, they don't outweigh how nice the bag is and how comfortable it makes my commute. Factor in the $50 price tag and it receives an FGLB 4.0 star rating. (It's a 5 star scale)

FGLB