Well, you know me; always trying out something new! As you may know I have a rack and rack trunk on my regular commuter, supplemented with a pannier as needed. But when I ride my road bike once a week or so I have to transfer some of the basics to a backpack which I hate wearing. I had been looking for a quick release setup that would handle the regular stuff with space for more if needed so I could just move the whole bag from one bike to the other. I could not find a seatpost quick release rack that looked sturdy enough to satisfy me. The leverage situation just looked to great. I wanted something that would handle the equivalent of a small to medium daypack. I think I have found it. Yesterday I bought a Carradice SQR (seatpost quick release) Slim.

The SQR Slim seems to meet my standards for sturdiness and volume. The quick release block mounts to the seatpost and requires a 4.5-5 inches of free space. The setup is very sturdy and mounting/dismounting the bag is a snap. There are 3 SQR models - Tour, Trax, Slim. The Tour and Trax are about the dimensions of a rack pack though a little longer. The Slim is not quite as deep front to back, but is wider to fit notebooks, folders, etc.. The Tour and Trax have external pockets; the Slim does not. After a couple of rides with heavy loads in this baby, it is VERY stable. No discernible side to side or up and down bouncing. I bought an extra mounting block so I can use the bag on both bikes. Oh, yeah, it's waterproof, too!

I bought my bag from wallbikes.com which I just learned last week is physically located right here in New Orleans! Thanks D*Alex! Bill Laine, the proprietor, is active in the local cycle touring club. You can see descriptions of Carradice bags at the website. The Carradice website has more detailed info, http://www.carradice.co.uk/index.htm

I discovered one minor inconvenience, though it does not dim my enthusiasm for this product. Because of the way the bag mounts and dismounts, the rack on my commuter is in the way. However, I discovered that by releasing the seatpost quick release (the one for the seat, not the SQR block for the bag) and raising the seat I could mount the bag then lower the seatpost back to the proper level. It's not an issue of room but the angle at which the bag is held initially to start the mounting process. Since I will only do this once a week or so, I can live with it. It only adds a couple of seconds.

If you are looking for a sturdy, good size, waterproof bag that can be quickly moved from bike to bike without a rack, check these out. Carradice has long been considered one of the best brand of cycling bags in the world.
Regards,
Raymond