bike bags?

[pooks]

Hi, I'm new here!

I can tell already that I want some sort of bike bag (probably on front of my hybrid) to carry a few things, including a camera.

Does anybody have any advice? What to look for and what to avoid?

I found these and love all the colors to choose from, but am open to all suggestions!

http://www.arkel-od.com/panniers/hb_...asp?fl=1&site=

http://www.arkel-od.com/panniers/sm_...asp?fl=1&site=

Thanks!

[Veronica]

We have the larger Arkel. It's built like a bomb shelter! We got it for our tandem trip to Hawaii. It poured one day and everything stayed dry. I'll be putting it on my single for a trip to Nova Scotia in a couple of weeks.

V.

[pooks]

I was told that having a bag on the front instead of panniers could make the bike more difficult to handle. Is that much of an issue? I'd like mine where I can get into it quickly and easily, plus like that it comes off and works as a shoulder bag so you can carry your stuff in with you if you go inside somewhere.

[Veronica]

A lot depends on how much weight you have up there. I routinely ride with a small handlbar bag, a GPS unit and a light and I don't really notice a change. I REALLY like having things like food and Advil right at my fingertips. I can get into that bag while riding. I often drop a few Advil, but that makes the squirrels with headaches happy.



Ignore how unhappy I look. It's not because of all the stuff on my handlbar.

I expect the Arkel will feel a little different and change the handling some. But I'm making a lot of changes on my bike to go from doing double centuries to a self supported tour. The advantage of having my camera handy will be worth it.

My husband uses a different handlebar bag everyday that he commutes and he prefers it to his saddlebag.



Here's the large Arkel on our tandem from our Hawaii tour - Feb. 2003.


V.

[pooks]

Those pics are really helpful. Thanks for all the feedback!

[Veronica]

Yeah... I figure a picture of the bag on a bike gives you a better idea of size, than just the bag by itself.

That little bag on my single holds a lot. If you have a point and shoot camera, it will fit in that. Along with a Red Bull, a tube, a tool kit, a small container of Advil, some food... and a partridge, but NOT the pear tree.

If you're carrying a larger camera (Thom does) or need some other gear handy, we've been happy with both bigger bags. The gray ones are Gilles Berthoud.

V.

[DeniseGoldberg]

I use an Arkel TailRider for my camera. I am much happier without a handlebar bag...

For my reasoning for purchasing this bag, see this page in my Panniers or Trailer article.

--- Denise

[pooks]

Denise, can you reach back and get your camera out/replace it easily, without getting off the bike or unfastening the TailRider?

[DeniseGoldberg]

Denise, can you reach back and get your camera out/replace it easily, without getting off the bike or unfastening the TailRider?

No. The zippers go the full length of the bag, and the unzip motion starts from the back. So I do need to get off of the bike to grab that camera - although I don't need to remove the bag from the bike, just need to open it. One of the reasons I went with the TailRider is because I can keep the camera in a small space where it won't bounce around at all (there is a moveable divider in the bag).

I also carry a small camera in a fanny pack (yes, maybe I'm a bit nutty, but I do ride with two cameras!), and that's the one that I use for the "put my foot down and take a picture" shots. The camera that I carry in the TailRider is a digital SLR, and although it's small for that class of cameras, it's considerable larger than my baby camera. And I just don't like handlebar bags, so I never considered one!

--- Denise

[wannaduacentury]

I have a rear rack on my hybrid and just use a small velcoed bag on back to keep stuff in it. I can always of course can add more and add panniers to the front. But this works for me.

[Surlygirl]

I have the small piggyback bag sold at Adventure Cycling. It has a map case velcroed to the top that is removable and a zippered compartment that I can carry a small camera, a few luna bars, chapstick and a phone.
http://www.adventurecycling.org/stor...Product_ID=235

[Bad JuJu]

I used to have a big ol' handlebar bag, but that started bugging me, the way it rattled and swayed, and it really was too big for the few things I carried in it, but I do like having certain things near to hand.

I've just started using this small handlebar bag:
Detours Shuttle bag
It holds a few things: energy bar, lip stuff, camera. The flap flips over to reveal a clear pocket for a cue sheet, and the bag has waterproof zippers and comes with a rain cover, too. The bag attaches to your bars by means of a plastic adapter, which isn't as small as I expected it to be, but still reasonably unobtrusive when you're not using the bag. I'm pretty happy with it so far.

[maillotpois]

For my 600k, I got a size medium Ortlieb bar bag and a large Ortlieb saddle bag. Both are waterproof and I can get stuff out of the bag easily on the fly:



The tough thing was figuring out how to attach the lights which would normally go on the bar. Here's a picture where the bag doesn't look so overwhelmingly big:




I didn't really notice any change in handling. It worked great!!

[pooks]

So many to choose from! I read REI's info about choosing bags/panniers and they suggested starting small and building which is probably a good idea for me -- since my specific needs right now are small and it's only later that I'm thinking I'll need a larger bag.

They say the smaller Arkel bag holds a six-pack, which is a solid visual and probably a good size for me. But I like some of the others I've seen, too, even though they don't come in cute colors.

Another thing I'm considering is being able to bike to the post office or supermarket. I live so close to the supermarket it's disgraceful not to bike up there for small loads (and most of mine are small at that store). However, my husband is very apprehensive about the bike getting stolen. There's no bike rack and even if I could figure out some way to secure it, it's still a little nervewracking. We don't live in an area where a lot of people bike that way, and bikes DO get stolen.

But if I were going to do that (and I'd really like to figure out a way to) I'm also considering something like this (unfortunately my yellow lab wouldn't fit in!):



or



because they seem handy to put shopping bags in.

Any experience with something like this?

Also, re: securing bikes w/o a bike rack?

[DeniseGoldberg]

Also, re: securing bikes w/o a bike rack?

How about a light post? Or at a grocery store, sometimes they have racks outside to hold the carts. You need to be careful there so the bike / lock isn't in the way of getting carts in and out of those corrals, but it can work. But definitely lock the bike to something!

And on the pics above - I wouldn't put a container filled with groceries on the handlebars. I don't think you'll like the way the bike handles if you start adding heavy items there; for grocery shopping I really think panniers are the way to go.