I have been using* a large Banjo Brothers bag occasionally for commuting and errands (usually I use* some panniers, but for odd sized stuff it's hard to beat this bag). It's great because it's big and waterproof. But it's almost too big to use for anything else. The Chrome bags caught my eye awhile ago, and I succumbed to their siren song about two weeks ago.
It works well on the bike and I find I can do most my odds-and-end errands with just this. I am very fond of the seat-belt buckle closure on the strap as well, and it seems every bit as water-tight as the Banjo Bros. bag. The smaller size is nice because I find I use it off the bike as well. It works well on the bus and I tend to dump in whatever book I am reading**, binoculars***, camera****, notebook*****, etc. on road trips as well.
My only gripe is the price. I will be the first to tell you that the Banjo Brothers stuff, across the board, is a wicked good value. I've got the big mess bag and two(?) under the seat bags and they are very nice and very reasonably priced. The Chrome stuff is arguably a little better looking, or at least more stylish, but you pay for your vanity with Chrome. Still, I expect this to last a good long time and think it will be a very useful addition to the arsenal, so I think I got a good value here.
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* and by "use" I mean "Rock" (or "Rawk" as you prefer).
**Infinite Jest, David Foster Wallace
***Nikon Prostaff, 8x25
****Olympus Stylus 790 sw
*****Moleskine (the notebook of Hemingway and Picaso)
Chrome is good. My buckles was hanging on by the last thread of my 8 year old bag, I sent it to them and they replaced the strap and sent it bag. I love a company that says LTW and means it.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I just got a giant bag from Seagull and really like it a lot. I needed to upgrade to something bigger and the seagull was the right price for a great quality bag.