ISO a new large seat bag

I need a new seat bag for my road bike. The zipper is showing signs of imminent failure on the old one. But, I'm starting to think the bag I'm searching for no longer exists, so I'm wondering if anyone here knows of one that has what I'm looking for.

I need something large, with at least 90 cubic inches of storage. But it needs to be narrow enough at the seatpost end -- 2.5 inches wide at most -- so that my legs won't hit it every time I pedal. And I'm looking for something with a horseshoe-shaped zipper, like the one on this bag, so that you can easily see and access the contents of the bag.

http://www.topeak.com/products/bags/...k_large_velcro

This Topeak bag would be perfect except it is too wide at the seatpost end. Banjo Brothers also makes one that looks great online, but it's also too wide.

My old bag is a Bontrager, and it was fine except for the failing zipper. It has the right kind of zipper and even has a few inside pockets to help organize things. But for some deranged reason, they went backwards in the design and went back to the zipper placement that makes it really hard to get things in and out of the bag.

This Specialized bag shows the inconvenient zipper placement I'm talking about:

http://www.specialized.com/us/en/ftr...at-bags/wedgie

You have to take everything out of the bag to find what you're looking for.

Ironically, the smaller Bontrager seat bags still have the useful zipper placement as well as the inner pockets. But the larger ones, which would benefit more from easy access and inner pockets because they hold more stuff, no longer offer these useful features.

In addition to the large size, horseshoe zipper and narrow 2.5"-width at seatpost, I also need something that attaches to the saddle rails with velcro straps. Due the size and shape of the rails on my Affinity RXL saddle, a bag that attaches like this one won't work:

http://www.rei.com/product/825303/no...nding-seat-bag

(I thought about trying to make the REI bag work by getting longer screws for the attachment mechanism, but the bag is too wide at the seatpost.)

So, I've looked at Topeak, Specialized, Bontrager, Banjo Brothers and the bags that TE sells. I've browsed the seat bags for sale on Amazon. I even looked in the bike accessory aisle at Walmart. I'm not finding anything.

Does anyone know if the bag I'm looking for exists out there somewhere?

Thanks very much.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Muirenn

I have the Topeak in a medium and it's huge. At least by my standards. I also use a top tube bag, the two together give room for everything I need.

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I got the large and is monstrous, but works well for me.

I have a top tube bag, too, but when I put lots of stuff in it it leans to the side so my knee hits it when I pedal. So it's of limited use.

I also have a handlebar bag, but I prefer to use it only in cooler temps to hold outerwear that I may want to put on or take off during the ride. It tends to hit the adjuster thingies on my cables which leads to shifting problems, plus there's too much other stuff that needs to attach to the handlebars.

Really, if Bontrager hadn't cheaped out and changed the design of the large bag, it would be a near-perfect solution. I would happily pay a higher price to get a new version of the bag I'm replacing, but I refuse to pay what they're charging now for such an inconvenient product.

BTW I've also checked Louis Garneau, Lezyne, Timbuk-2, and whatever else is sold by REI, Colorado Cyclist and Performance. And Rivendell and Brooks.

If I can't find anything else, I'll go with the largest "medium" bag I can find, which might be the Topeak. I need to double-check the Banjo Brothers site again to see how big their medium bag is.

Also, fwiw I think Lezyne's "large" bag is a really smart design, because it has two separate compartments. Unfortunately it's only 58 cubic inches total.

http://www.lezyne.com/en/l-caddy

Jandd Mountain Wedge II? 94 cubic inches, and it looks like it's between 2 and 2.5 inches at the seatpost end (I have one, but I couldn't find a ruler.)

http://www.jandd.com/detail.asp?PRODUCT_ID=FMW2

I have a largish Bontrager/Trek bag that I bought 5 yrs ago or more. I'm not really using it - I'll take a look tonight and see if it meets your criteria or take some pix and send you.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by withm

I have a largish Bontrager/Trek bag that I bought 5 yrs ago or more. I'm not really using it - I'll take a look tonight and see if it meets your criteria or take some pix and send you.

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Turns out I had a photo on my phone. Does this one look like something you can use? I can measure it tonight but I think this is the kind of zipper you want, no? I am using an Arkel Tailrider on that bike now, and this would not fit with the larger Tailrider unless I could raise the seat about 2-3 inches, so I just have it sitting inside the tailrider. Redundant, I know. It easily holds 2 tubes, 2 CO2 cardridges and a gun to fire them, plus plenty of room for other stuff.

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