Originally Posted by crust & crumb
i've always questioned this piece of seemingly conventional wisdom (which lies interspersed throughout many a bag thread) insofar as: to what degree? for example, i run my bars at saddle height, which by most of your standards would seem to be well classified as "a really upright position". speaking in general terms, of course, am i still within the realm of a shoulder bag here, or is my riding posture sufficiently upright-enough to merit a backpack?
I think it's a very personal matter. Nobody can you tell you what feels wrong or right to you. I ride a mountain bike with flat bars, so I'm in a pretty upright position, but compared to all the backpacks I've used before I prefer my messenger bag when I'm riding a lot. Walking around with it on my back for more than twenty minutes gets to be a pain though.