Bagman Sport from Carradice

[uforgot]

Stores in the US are always out of the Bagman sport and Bagman expedition support. I ordered one from Carradice. In England. $44 total, including postage. The best part? I finalized my order with Margaret on April 23rd and received it TODAY! One week from England. If you have been looking around for one of these, I highly recommend going to the Carradice website.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Thanks!- that is EXACTLY the info I wanted to hear!!!! I was just googling for one 30 minutes ago and having no luck and getting frustrated.

Will do! Thanks AGAIN!!!

edit: Done deal!

[uforgot]

Glad I could help since mine is going to hang from your old saddle! Boy do I love that saddle.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

EXCELLENT!

And I love my new 'wide load' B68 saddle so much I'm getting another one for my new second bike!

[sandra]

It took me exactly one week as well. Works great, solved my problem, and was exactly what I was looking for.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

This will be my second Bagman (Sport model, the smaller one). Now I'll have two used Baggins 'Little Joe' bags on two Bagmans (Bagmen?) on my two bikes. My favorite setup, times two.

Yep, got a personal email today from Carradice saying they were 'posting' my shipment today, and the total price WITH shipping from England will only be $45 to NY state. That's only about $5 more than if I ordered from a US place- but nobody here stateside has them in stock or knows when they will come in again. Typically it can take a l-o-n-g time.

[sandra]

Lisa, you should have it at least by a week from today. I was very impressed.

How did you snag the second Little Joe?

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

How did you snag the second Little Joe?

Oh my, what a wonderful story that was!:

My first used Little Joe I got on Ebay over a year and a half ago. They were selling pretty high then and I think i got it for around $75, cant remember exactly- I love it and it was well worth it to me as these bags will last many years.
So I thought I would have to go through the Ebay grind again.
But before I haunted Ebay, on a pure whim I asked on the Rivendell owners listserve if anyone had one they wanted to sell (like yeah, right! no way). Lo and behold one guy in california wrote me that he was not using his. I asked him for photos, he had none and no camera. I told him I couldn't really send him money without seeing the condition it was in, and asked him the price. He then said (to my amazement) that he would ship it to me, and then I should just send him whatever I felt was a fair amount for it. Gulp.

So it arrived here without my sending him anything, it was beautiful with only minor scuffing. I offered him a little less than what I had paid for the Ebay bag, plus the shipping he had paid. He answered that that was too much and suggested a price that was I felt really TOO low , plus he wanted to see a picture of the bag on my bike when I was done. Then I picked a price in between and said Take it or Leave it. He answered "You drive a hard bargain, but ok." It was all too funny and too amazing and nice. What a great person!
So now I just got the bag mounted on my Luna and have to take a nice picture and email it to him.
Oh, also, a week later he found the little strap for the seat post (I hadn't yet noticed it was missing cause I hadn't put the bag on my bike yet) and mailed it to me separately.
Some people.

[sandra]

what goes around comes around. That was really nice and it is a wonderful story.

I'd love to see the photo when you get it done!

[uforgot]

I have an ongoing search on ebay for those baggins bags and they certainly do go high! Not sure what happened, but any Baggins bag is impossible to find, and I really didn't care for those Nigel Smythe bags in the wool plaid when they first came out. Anyone know what happened to the Baggins bags? They just disappeared a couple years ago.

Edit: I just went to the Rivendell site as I do from time to time and it seems the Baggins bags are slowly coming back, although different models.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

The Baggins bags that were a brand that Rivendell sold. Not made anymore, but there are many nice similar bags being made out there now. Rivendell never actually made any bags, but commissioned bagmakers to make them for them, as they continue to do now.
Nigels are now made in plain colors, and Acorn bags are very nice, as are some of the Carradice, FrostRiver, Deluth, VeloOrange, Berthoud bags....

"Bagman" refers to a certain wire rack that Carradice (of England) makes that clamps to your saddle rails and supports a rear bag.

I have a small VeloO 'croissant bag which my DH now uses. Now I have the two Baggins Little Joe bags (a gray and a tan) for everyday use on my two bikes, and I also have a big Carradice Nelson in olive green which is good for touring, light shopping, or overnight trips. Haven't used it yet.

[uforgot]

Yeah, I meant Baggins. I changed it. Had Bagman on the brain there. Anyway, there was a time when I was really looking for something like the Baggins bag and kept coming up empty. I finally ordered one of those Frost River bags, and well, you can take them off of your nice list. They aren't, and they are nothing like they are pictured on their site. I made an entire thread out of that fiasco. I finally got a Carradice bag which I liked and then an Acorn bag, which I like as well. I did have Ron take off those side pockets on his large saddlebag. He is unbelievably nice to deal with also! Haven't been to the Rivendell site in awhile, so I'm surprised to see the Baggins bags there!

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Yeah, I meant Baggins. I changed it. Had Bagman on the brain there. Anyway, there was a time when I was really looking for something like the Baggins bag and kept coming up empty. I finally ordered one of those Frost River bags, and well, you can take them off of your nice list. They aren't, and they are nothing like they are pictured on their site. I made an entire thread out of that fiasco. I finally got a Carradice bag which I liked and then an Acorn bag, which I like as well. I did have Ron take off those side pockets on his large saddlebag. He is unbelievably nice to deal with also! Haven't been to the Rivendell site in awhile, so I'm surprised to see the Baggins bags there!

Oh yeah, I think I saw an older Frostriver bag and it was very nice, now I remember your thread.
Can't say as I care for those two new Baggins bags on Rivendell....hmmmm, some features I think are yucky. And like you, I don't like the snooty looking NS tweedy look- too 'english country squire'.

The old Baggins are great- the Baggins banana bag, the Hoss, the Adam, the Little Joe....sigh.....
I think Carradice and Acorn are great, and the VeloOrange Croissant is even better (and cheaper) than the old Baggins Banana bag.

[uforgot]

I remember asking you what the bag on your bike was a while ago and when you said "Little Joe", of course I did a search. I still look at this comparison and wonder why no one else has come even close! It just looks like the perfect bag! I second Sandra in that I also want to see a pic of it on your new bike!

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Two useful tips:

When I first ordered a Bagman support, my DH convinced me to get the SMALLER one, the Sport, rather than the larger "Expedition" bagman.
I was really glad he did, because the larger one woud have been way overkill even for my relatively large Little Joe bag.

Most of these great bags still benefit from a stiffener of some kind inside the bottom so they don't sag in strange ways. I use the flat plastic lid from a cheapo rectangular storage tub and cut a piece to fit the bottom of my bags. They are stiff and very lightweight and don't crack or wear out like cardboard.
Each lid can usually make 2 or 3 bag stiffeners.