freesafety22

trash messenger bags (shoulder slings) - advice and pics?

i am thinking of joining the club and looking at the messenger bags just because i always do the shoulder sling thing.

i know there are a ton of customizations so i’d love to see pics. and get input.

https://trashmessengerbags.com/#/products/dumpster

Drew Eckhardt 

Messenger bags are garbage.

Hauling stuff in panniers is much more pleasant with the weight off your body.

veganbikes

They do make some nice bags but yes hauling in panniers is nice. Anything to get the load off the back.

Messenger bags look cool and can be functional but honestly if I have to ride I want to ride with everything not on my person if I can avoid it.

Sy Reene

Those trash bags strike me as knockoffs of the Crumpler brand stuff from about a decade ago.

blakcloud

I cannot comment on that particular brand but I have two custom made bags that I really like when I have to carry something. The easy on and off is just one feature that I like. Both have clips in the middle so that it comes off like a knapsack. The sling over your shoulder to get to what inside is certainly why couriers use these bags over panniers.

Panniers to me are the absolute worst to carry something on your bike unless you are camping and need all that stuff. The problem with panniers is that it feels like the "tail wagging the dog". The bike becomes this heavy weirdly weighted apparatus instead of the fine sleek machine it started with. To me, it is all about the bike. How does it ride, how does it track, the agility of the bike. Once you put on panniers all that is gone. Now it rides straight really well and that's about it. Don't get me started on front panniers there even worse.

I rode with rear panniers for years, I rode with front panniers, upper and low rider varieties, I rode with cycling knapsacks (which is my current favorite) and I have rode with messenger bags. All my messenger bags are custom made from PAC Design and from Push the Envelope. I have also owned aTimbuk2 bag as a backup but not in the same league as the others. I sold off two other bags last year since I was drowning in bags.

Bottom line, messenger bags are great, don't rule them out.

chaadster

Those Trash bags look neat for the custom artwork; I’ll head over to their IG page and see what’s up.

I’m just glad I don’t have to carry big stuff around on my bike anymore. I have a variety of carrying options— they all have pluses and minuses depending on circumstances— but I rarely haul much bigger or heavier than a couple bottles of wine. I did run to the store for a glass quart of Calder Dairy chocolate milk and a pint of their drinks-like-pudding egg nog the other day...

For the usual stuff like wine, iPad, 300g mortadella and a hank of ossau iraty, I use a lumbar bag, usually a Mountainsmith Tour, but my 20yr old Nepalese knock-off of a North Face still does the duty, too.

If I have to go bigger, say with blankets for eating out, I can strap to rack or augment with a combo of lumbar bag and a Timbuk2 Treat trunk bag I quite like.

For the bulkiest loads, I break out the Xooter rack and bag:



Novara Buzz w/ Xootr rack and bag

gravelschlub

But how many of Dimo's apple fritters can you carry?

chaadster

Though apple fritters are good, and with respect to Dimo’s, the correct answer is, “as many Washtenaw Dairy doughnuts as anyone cares to eat.”

gravelschlub

Also yes. But neither hold a candle to a fragel.

chaadster

I’m embarrassed to admit that, as a wine lover, I was never so fond of the raisins in fragels, but the original Bagel Factory bagels— at the S. University spot— were often exemplary. I’ve not followed the fragel since those days, though, and don’t know if the version dished up at Bagel Fragel, now on Washtenaw, are of the historic calibre of Bagel Factory’s.

This is wayyy deep OT, so I’ll stop now.

Herzlos

I've got a few crumpler bags and they are great (though I don't remember them being so expensive).

Ed Wiser

Chrome messages bag the best. I have used one for 20 years now. Still looks like new. An it is water proof and built like a tank.
https://www.chromeindustries.com/bags/messenger-bags/

sloppy12

Will a six pack fit in one?

Ed Wiser

Yes you can. I have carried a ton of equipment in mine over the years.

jay4usc

jack pot 

Andy at TRASH is having a hard time because of the Covid but if you can afford to wait he will make you a GREAT bag ....replaced my stolen Kremlin bag with a Vortex

aclinjury

$185 for a trash bag? gtfoh

Hiro11

IMO, courier bags aren't great. The sling isn't the most stable way to carry stuff and if you carry something heavy it digs into your shoulder and can throw you off balance as you move around on a bike.

IMO, the best option is a traditional rear rack with low-mounted panniers, preferably with attractive panniers that you can mount and take off quickly and use off the bike as a backpack. Something like this:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01CLVRRL0...EAAAAAAAAAAXLm
or this more attractive, customizable, made in the USA and slightly more expensive one:
https://northstbags.com/collections/...ckpack-pannier

If you really want to carry stuff on your body, I prefer backpacks. Any backpack will do, but I really like this one:
https://www.baileyworks.com/shop/pro...the-nomad.html
..which is made in the USA, extremely durable, practical, attractive, not very expensive and is made to order with tons of customization. I have a Bailey Works bag that has lasted decades.

Rolla

I commuted for nearly 20 years with a Timbuk2 messenger bag. I kept a few pairs of shoes at work, and transported my clothes, laptop, etc. on my back. I would vastly prefer to wear a messenger bag or backpack than bolt a rack and panniers on any of my bikes.

jack pot 

agree that 2 straps are generally better than 1which is why i got the TRASH VORTEX plus it's my travel bag because you i can live out of it .......................if i ever get to travel again !?

Road Fan

Props to you and to gravelschlub , from another Old West Sider! Now in the winter it might be nice to have a masked Old West Side Tour de Donut Shop! Dimo's Washtenaw, maybe ending in Dexter or even Chelsea. Or down to Saline to Benny's Bakery.

Regarding messenger bags, I have a few Timbuk2, which work decently for short-distance hauling. When Covid was not around I would put book, notebook, and laptop in my messenger and put the bag behind me with the strap running across my cnest. With the load low enough but not too low the weight was below my kidneys but not so low as to sway as I walked. Walking, that's good enougheven for a few miles or so.. When cycling the bag tends to fall forward around your torso and mess up steering and balance, especially if you like to ride around town on tubulars. But Timbuk2 also supplies a secondary strap which crosses the chest the other way, and this tends to stabilize the bag on your back. The weight can hurt your back it you carry it too high on your back, just as with a rucksack or day pack. If you carry the weight on your sacrum, that works out pretty well. Plus when the mass is around my sacrum it is balanced on my body and it does not affect my balance on the bike, hence the fast response of a racing bike remains well under control.

Road Fan

I never warmed up to Fragels, at least from Bagel Fragel. I think it's because I grew up with excellent traditional bagels.

phughes

jhodgson

If you are going to get off your bike and lock it up in a city, use a messenger bag. Your hands will be free to open doors, swipe subway card, wave to the haters. You won't be tempted to leave your crap on your bike because it'll be on your back. Also, they often come with reflective tabs and loops for blinkies so you don't have to leave that on your bike where it will be picked like a ripe grape 15 mins from now.

If you'll be somewhere relatively safe with just cafe stops, where you might lock your bike but probably will be able to keep it in view, use panniers. They're more comfortable for distance but more of a PITA trying to roll a bike around for locking, navigating subway trains, stairs, etc.. I'm sure we've all had that moment when loaded rear panniers caused our bike to flop over ass down with its nose to the sky. It's intensely undignified. Won't happen with a shoulder bag.

There. That's sorted.

hsuBM

Lol!

OP: I want specific advice on a particular maker of single strap backpack

several posts: get panniers, saddlebags, heck get a trailer!

———

I’m definitely a dual strap backpack kinda rider when I’ve got >4 miles to ride (that’s 98% of my rides). I wanted a Chrome back in college for the reported durability.

Good luck getting solid advice about a company with a dumb name.

(kinda joking about the “dumb name” thing- one of my favorite bands is Truckfighters, FWIW)