Originally Posted by
Skaughtto
GCN did a test that concluded with a giant saddlebag coming out on top:
https://youtu.be/wdfB5fbVHck
I bought the same saddlebag in the video and used it for wet weather commuting. (Loaded with jeans, shirt, button up, wallet, phone, keys, frozen burrito...) It made a good mudguard when I wasn't using an Ass-Saver.
Lately I've found a backpack to be more convenient for accessing stuff mid-ride. I toss the inner dry bag from the saddlebag into the backpack when it rains. Having the backpack at work is nice when I take trips to a grocery store or someplace else. I usually load up a fridge at work with sandwich components, so I don't need to transport food from home. When I do bring in leftovers, I just wrap the resealable containers in plastic wrap and they travel well. I have a filtered water pitcher at my desk and a small electric moka pot for coffee, so no drinks on the bike.
How do people handle
pot luck events? That's been my biggest challenge.
Measuring drag as even being a factor during commuting in England is ridiculous. The traffic density will be so high that those analyses are about as far away from real world as possible. Unless you're living somewhere non-urbanised, to which 84% of people of the UK live in an urban area, suggesting that study makes no sense.