Nashbar Elite Handlebar Bag
 

Hi. Anybody tried this bag? http://www.nashbar.com/profile.cfm?c...ndlebar%20Bags ? I know I can send it back if I don't like it. But I was wondering if there were any opinions here.

Thanks. DanO

Whether it sucks or not, I dunno (nashbar has a bad reputation with bags that I can attest to), but either way, wait until it's onsale, I've seen it at $15

I returned mine a year ago because it wouldn't stay upright on my handlebars. It was so unstable that I never did a test ride with it; the bag would flop down as soon as I installed it.

Ken

Against my better judgement to never by Nashbar softgoods again, I bought one for $19 a few months back. I've used it on my 25 mile daily commute regularly since then. It sags a little. It has detached once when I hopped a curb. The "waterproof" zippers only serve to make it ridiculously difficult to open and close since the fabric is merely "water resistant" and the stitching leaks like a sieve. The nut-and-bolt clamping the plastic mount to the handlebar pulled right through necessitating the use of fender washers. Other than that, I'd agree it's worth about $15.

OK. I can see how it's not necessarily good to have a big bag that holds a lot if the mounting system is wonky. How about this topeak http://www.nashbar.com/profile.cfm?c...ndlebar%20Bags which is smaller... Perhaps more stable for it?

Thanks again. DanO

If that is elite, lets see what the regular kind looks like.

Well my story is different. I rode 73 days 4244 miles across the US on the TransAmerica with mine with no big complaints. It was overloaded and there were lots of rough roads. It held up fine other than a bit of sagging. I remedied the sagging after I was home by reinforcing the stiffeners inside (easy enough to do). Since then it probably has another 1500 miles of around town miles on it.

It was waterproof enough for an hour of drizzle, but I always put a plastic bag over it if it really rained since it had my DSLR, lenses, cell phone and other stuff that I wanted to keep dry inside.

Bottom line I thought it was a good buy.

The zipper is a bit stiff when new, but loosens up with some use.

BTW: I really like the Nashbar Waterproof panniers. We used 4 pairs of Nashbar bags and one of Performance bags on three bikes. They kept everything dry and don't really show any wear after the coast to coast ride. I did have to sew a couple of the Velcro tabs back on, but other than that they are still perfect.

The other two riders on our TransAmerica used these and liked them quite well. I didn't use one because I wanted a large map pocket and my DSLR was too big for it. I think the only minor hassle they had was that it took a few seconds to switch over to fanny pack mode. That was handy at times even if you had to dig out the other piece of the belt every time.

BTW on the Nashbar Elite the shoulder strap served a similar purpose. On tour it is nice to have an easy way to take the handlebar bag with you in a store or on a side hike since that is where the valuables go.

I have this bag and found the bag to be fine, but the mounting system I did not like. I provide more details on how I corrected it here:

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...22#post7092222

My experience also. I had to use pliers to grip the zipper pull to get it open, then used some silicon on the zipper and it was still nearly impossible to open.

I figured I'd end up ripping it off the bar mount just trying to open it. Sent it back, even though I only paid ~20 bucks for it.

Also, the map pocket had no seal whatsoever.

A lot of stuff Nashbar sells is like this bag - looks good, price is unbelievable, and product is borderline functional.