davester

Simple question. I've used a musette bag on a number of rides and would be happy using one if only it didn't slide around from back to side then front. Has anyone here figured out a simple way to make them stay put?

Chr0m0ly 

jiangshi

A musette is made to be grabbed, stash the goodies and tossed, not to carry on a ride. Back pockets are for carrying your goodies on a ride. Musettes are to hand up goodies in a race.

Salamandrine 

Yeah, musettes are really intended to transfer food etc from support vehicles or from roadside to riders during races. Designed to be cheap and easily grabbed, not for comfort. Best thing is to take the stuff out of it, and put it in your jersey pockets...

Messenger bags are designed to be a little more stable, but I personally wouldn't use one for anything but commuting.

madpogue 

Inside a pannier?

davester

I don't think that is a universal opinion. Also, I'd only want a musette bag when I didn't have enough jersey-pocket-space.

Salamandrine 

Try shortening the strap so that it's pretty much snug. That will help.

A cross strap as in the Timbuktu video will work, if you want to get that complex. I still think of Timbuktu as Zo ripoffs -- which dates me somewhat.

nomadmax 

I've seen musette bags stored in the spokes of locked up bicycle wheels

jamesj

They are kinda expensive but if you really want something similar to a musette. Strawfoot has some made out of waxed canvas.

https://strawfoothandmade.com/products/cycling-musette

canklecat

If you're wanting something light and low profile for carrying extra stuff -- say, after a ride, stopping to pick up a few items from the store -- try a fabric hobo bag. It's one of the handiest things I've found, more handy than a typical tote bag. More comfortable than a musette type bag for carrying on a bike, and the design makes it self-closing. The pattern is roughly like a duffel bag, but much shorter, with straps that are continuous from the bag storage area.

I have some musette type bags but don't carry 'em anymore for cycling or walking errands. The hobo bag is much handier. I can just stash it in a pocket. It's there if I need it. If I don't need it, no harm done, it weighs nothing and takes up little space.

I swiped my hobo bag from my mom. She was a bag-aholic and had bags she used once or never used at all. I told her I was swiping that one because she never used it. I think she got it from one of those novelty gift shops that used to plague malls. Now I wish I'd bought another when that mall was still open. The nearest thing to it might be on Etsy or ebay.

It's two ply fabric, heavy duty muslin, a faded sort of tie-dye/paisley pattern exterior and solid dark blue interior. I suppose I could turn it inside out if I was self conscious but I like the pattern.

It's just strong cotton, but rolls up to fit easily in most pockets, including a jersey pocket, and still leaves room for other stuff I usually carry.

Beware of the overdone women's purses called "hobo bags". Not the same thing. It should be simple cloth, preferably two-ply for strength, with the straps formed continuously from the bag fabric. Some, like mine, will have a separate bit of fabric that forms the bottom. Others run flatter and are made from a single sheet of fabric, simply made and sewn together.

Shouldn't cost more than $20 if you can find one.

rccardr 

I've used a musette bag on several log rides that started cold and ended warm (think Eroica several years ago, the Dare in 2016, Tour de Tucson in 2017). I found that the bag tends to stick to wool and slide around more on poly type jersey material. Some musettes are made of a hard, shiner more finished fabric, others are rough.n Try a rough one. And Mrs. Doc sewed a flap with button closures on one of my bags, so as to keep stuff from falling out when the wind whips it around on your back.

A waist strap would also work, attached to the two bottom corners of the bag body. Maybe secured in front with a button, which would at least 'look' more period correct. I've collected a number of those bags over the years, so have some I don't like that I could use as parts (flap, strap. etc.)

kingston 

I use a musette bag on brevets to carry stuff in and out of the control. Then I put everything away and put the musette bag back in my bike bag. I can't really think of a reason why I would ever carry a musette bag while riding my bike.

SamSpade1941 

Yeah or you could save a substantial amount of money and buy any number of cheap durable mil surp bags that will do the same thing , will be more rugged and can be adapted to what you want to do with your bike .

Mr. Spadoni 

jiangshi

Backpack or handlebar bag.

madpogue 

^^^^^ ... or seat bag, or inside-the-frame ("bikepacking") bag, or....

What hasn't been established is even roughly what volume of space the OP needs. Or the kind of bike it's going on, or the kind of ride it's going on.

Bandera

It is in the universe I ride in.

-Bandera

rccardr 

davester

The main reason for wanting a musette is for "overflow" food and possibly clothes on long (60 to 100 mile) self-supported rides. I don't need much space and after consuming enough food I can fold up the musette and stick it in my pocket. It's quite comfortable carrying it behind my back but can be a little irritating when it slides around to the front. As implied by rccardr, it was quite common for riders to use them for this purpose on long rides back in the day.

Salamandrine 

I can only speak back to about '79, and only for the norcal/centralcal area, but I don't remember anyone using musettes for that BITD. Maybe somewhere.

Bandera

Yep, different Universes.
Cycling in 1969 once was good enough, no desire to badly reenact it now.

-Bandera

MarcoBianchi

I use something like this:
https://www.amazon.com/Nike-Unisex-C.../dp/B00VOCOVYO
I think it's safer than musettes, more comfortable and I can fold it in my tool bottle or my jersey pocket.

MarcoBianchi

https://www.decathlon.es/bolsa-grand...8aAhy0EALw_wcB
This is like mine. Not for heavy stuff cause the cord is a little thin but it nice for me.

Bandera

Never saw it done "back when" in my cycling club, or by others.
Jersey pockets and a spare tubular under the saddle for racing cyclists doing long training rides while the club's century riders favored handlebar bags and seatpacks.
I only used a musette in a road race feed zone, leaving it for my teammates to pick up.

edit: For long self supported rides in changeable conditions that required layers of kit, food, and flats repair British club cyclists adopted the seatpack in the mid-war years while the French adopted the handlebar bag. This has been well thought out for over a century w/ new old schoolish versions available today as that were to my contemporaries back when. Do as they did for that period correct and still functional solution to schlepping. Leave the musette in the feed zone, your team or some kid will pick it up as a souvenir.

https://www.carradice.co.uk/bags/saddlebags


-Bandera

Giacomo 1 

Those bags are pretty nice and certainly more practical, as most modern equipment is, but they are not very C&V. Musett bags are, especially the logo's that are often stamped on them, and that's probably why the OP would like to use them.