Corben

Eclipse Handlebar Bag Vintage 70's 80's Road Bike Sport Touring Blue Front | eBay
I remember a buddy having one on his bike back in the 80s and always wanted one for myself.

zukahn1 

Yes but they are about $70-100 for ones with nice frame stablizer. Nicer light touring stuff tends to be a bit pricey vintage or new. I have brought entire used well eguiped touring bikes just for the nice gear and extra's.

wahoonc

Lone Peak probably makes the on closest to it. Possibly Jandd

Aaron

randyjawa 

I have run across quite a few bicycles fitted with those handle bar bags.

I would never use one, particularly if the handlebars on the bicycle are expensive, high end or rare. The metal support wears two grooves into the handlebar with use. It does take time for this to happen but, eventually, the bars will become cosmetically challenged and/or snap off near the steering stem(only if left unchecked and allowed to continue to wear).

Other forum members have argued against this but I stand by what I say. How would you like to wreck the etched Cinelli double old logo markings on your bars, rendering them all but useless. I might still have that set tucked away, if I didn't already throw them away.

jimmuller 

I looked for a long time for good bar bags when my favorite was discontinued by its maker. I dislike handlebar brackets because they are ugly and bulky, and metal ones are heavy. Unfortunately that rules out just about every decent bag on the market at any price.

Recently DillPickleGear started selling a nice one, not cheap but well made. It's not very large but carries my lunch for work with no trouble. It is supported by straps from the brake levers. It has stabilizer straps which run to the fork crown but I found them unnecessary.

NFI.

eschlwc

"the horror..."

Velognome 

Lone Peak or Jadd as mentioned above. Not exactly the same but of a higher quality is the smaller Acorn Bag. I find it very useful for day trips.

pastorbobnlnh 

Search ebay for "Cannondale Bags." Vintage ones in the style you show turn up all the time. They can range in price from $10 or less to $75 or more.

@randyjawa, thanks for that observation. I'll check my bars. But since my bar of choice is a rather generic GB/Schwinn Approved rando bars, I'm not all that concerned about cosmetic wear. I rarely run a bag on my newer road bikes with better Nitto or other bars, only if I'm out for a long ride for the entire day.

Quick question; all of my bag supports have a vinyl or rubberized coating over the steel. Should I still worry about it wearing the aluminum and thus compromise the strength of the bars?

Darth Lefty 

Wellp - back to steel handlebars for me!

Lascauxcaveman 

I use custom-bent aluminum rod gizmos (padded with plastic tubing to prevent the handlebar marring that @randyjawa warns against). With this you can use just about any kind of bag on almost any bike, with a little tinkering. I have a smallish backpack, with the bottom reinforced with plywood, that I usually put on the larger ones.

I've made them in several sizes, to accommodate differences in bag weight and headtube/stem height.


Here's the large one, with backpack in situ, sort of tied on with the backpack straps:


Here's another BFer who made one, more specific to a particular bag.

randyjawa 

The ones I have seen were coated with a protective cover also and the damage still occurred. I was not kidding about the damaged Cinelli bars. They were badly damaged, not just cosmetic, but a groove worn into each side of the bar, close to the stem.

The problem is, if you ride a lot, and fill the bags, the weight and bouncing around will cause damage - a little bit at a time. Then, one day, you will have to remove the bag, for some reason, only to be horrified at the damage done. Or...

The grooves became so pronounced that one side or the other of the handlebar could snap right off.

cs1

I was just thinking about that bag. Plus the leather straps will keep Mr. Cinelli happy!

pastorbobnlnh 

Thanks Randy for the further explanation. I'll take a close look at mine and see if this is occuring to the old GB/Schwinn Rando bars I run the Cannondale bags on.

You now have me pondering a work-around to protect the bars from this occuring. A small caveat is that I tend to not overload my bags. I carry just a few essentials--- but--- I do live were the roads are in poor shape and there is a great deal of boncing around!

jimmuller 

I have several observations on this setup.

If those side loops were run over the brake levers, and maybe under the hoods, they would take most of the load. This would prevent the bag from flopping forward so that the bottom contacts the brake cable.

If you run a setup like what it shown with sidepull brakes the back of the bag will eventually scratch the headset when you turn the steering. That's a big reason why supporting the bag from the sides is a better idea.

speedevil 

I have this exact bag and the two small pockets you can easily reach while riding are really handy. I have not noticed much flopping around with mine, but depending on your stem and headtube height, you might have that problem. A small piece of clear automotive paint film over the headtube decal might be smart.

A very high quality bag, not cheap to buy but the quality is worth the price (for me, anyway). Almost the perfect bag for a century ride - especially a C&V century.

TireLever-07

Axiom sells rather reasonable priced handlebar and rack packs, etc. Cannondale might be, totally out of the bag business. I have a 1997 Cannondale HB bag. Quick release and one compartment. Better than the old shock corded system. Try Bontrager? Owned by Trek. Seems the (drop bar) handlebar bags went out of style, or just got more pricey. chris

nesteel 

The Elite GT I picked up a few months ago had an Eclipse handlebar bag on it. I would guess it had probably been there a good 20 years, along with the bracket. No damage to the bars. I did witness a pretty decent divot in the stem however. Still nothing I'd worry about. I would say as long as the coating on the bracket is intact, I wouldn't personally worry about the bars. Just my opinion, and limited observation.

bbattle

I have that same bag and it is awesome. Mine is black, though.

zukahn1 

Good point I wouldn't want to run this style of framed large bag on vintage aluminium bars, very good chance of guaging or even bending the the bars with a load. You should probably go with nicer steel, modern hardened alloy bars, myself I would go with a larger set of chro-mo bars if I was go to run a larger framed handlebar bag.

bbattle

I'd use the front rack that Velognome has first or add a rear rack before I swapped out my Cinelli bars.

Velognome 

Mine is black also, I just used a stock photo from Acorn. To answer Jim's concern, it doesn't flop at all, almost as stable as a racked or decal. bag, just much lighter. My strings are attached up just below the hood under the levers as you mentioned which keeps the bag far off the Headtube. It also has 2 sets of heavy duty D rings on heach side to tie off to the bars if needed or to strap items over the bag.

bbattle

Try this site for some good quality bags and those frames you posted.

https://www.wallbike.com/catalog/bags/handlebar-bags


or this site: Bags and Panniers - Accessories

or this site: Bags

or this site: Bike Handlebar Bags | Bike Bag Shop | Bike Bag

zukahn1 

I to would likely go with a rack or racks and lightwieght panniers. A small front rack with mini paneirs seems like a better setup much less likey to cause any damage to a nice vintage bike and more stable when riding. Adding much more than 5-10lbs to the bars is likely to mess up the balance handling.

nesteel 

Unless you're going to place something REALLY HEAVY in that style handlebar bag, worrying about bend the bars is pointless. Think about the physics involved. That bracket sits on the bars, right next to the stem. It puts very little actual stress on the bars in that location. You put more pressure on the bars while riding, and with increased leverage due to the distance your hands are from the stem, than that bag ever will.

zukahn1 

Well I still stand with randyjawa on this just wouldn't want to put this or these type hangers on vintage aluminium bars and also stems which could add aditional concerns of potential cracking from the none standard continual stress vibration. This would be exspecially true for nicer really lightwieght bars and stems, exspecially older ones. Why take the risk of wrecking or even possible failure on a nice bar stem set that would be hard to replace. When there is a better option IE racks.