Hello,

I'm a young civil engineer in NYC looking for a bag I can bike with to work. I've done some serious reading on these forums in search of the answer but, maybe like a lot of people, I think my commuting/carrying needs are a bit unique. Looking for suggestions on a new bag to check out. I hope I am not duplicating any similar threads here.

I ride a Xootr Swift (based on the Swift Folder) folding bike. For portability, I'm not too interested in a rack or panniers.

I spend most days doing inspections in the field, and I go to job sites anywhere from 1 to 10 miles from my apartment. My office is a 5 mile ride from home and I frequently hit the office after a day in the field before riding home. I have not yet made the leap to all-weather riding, and occasionally I have time constraints or multiple job sites to visit in one day. So subway rides and some walking are a regular part of my week too, depending on circumstances.

The equipment I bring every day includes all of the following: hard hat, one or two items of clothing, tape measure, fiberglass roll tape, field book, metal clipboard, lunch, water bottle, digital camera, safety glasses, sunglasses, mp3 player, a book, umbrella, often an extra pair of shoes or even boots, and a big floppy duffel bag for putting my folding bike in and carrying it into the office.

In other words my gear is bulky but not particularly heavy. No textbooks anymore...

I am currently using my old school backpack and clipping large items (hard hat and shoes/boots) to the outside where they swing around and hit things. I decided I could use something with a big central compartment to keep everything inside. I've looked hard at messenger bags including Chrome, Timbuk2, Pac Designs, Crumpler. I also want some more people's opinions on larger top-loading backpacks that are suited for bicycling (hug my body without riding high or way out as my current backpack does). A big question on my mind is people's opinions about back issues after using a messenger bag extensively. Although I don't need to constantly access my bag during a ride, it would make life easier, and there seem to be a lot of people out there who think that a well-designed messenger bag is just as ergonomic as a backpack. Perhaps this is the case for me since my loads are not too heavy?

I've gone out to stores and tried out:
* Chrome Metropolis (really like, really comfortable, good size, could use a couple larger non-flat pockets, and I'm curious about the whole balanced-load issue)

* Crumpler Famous Wine Bar (seems comfortable, holds a LOT for a backpack, pockets a lot closer to my needs, velcro closures are kind of loud/big/annoying, is it waterproof? Although I don't do wet-weather riding by choice now, I probably will in the future and I don't want to get caught in the rain...)

Pac Designs and Reload are too expensive for me. I can't find a lot of reviews on the web for Chrome's backpacks which I'm curious about (Ranchero or Backbone?). Seem like a good brand and possible alternative to the Crumpler bag I liked. The downsides I've read about in people's Crumpler bag reviews seem to mainly include the odd shapes of the velcro closures, the fact that they're not American-made, and the annoying logo. Also I'm wondering if anyone has suggestions for backpacks of a similar type, and the answer to the all-important backpack vs. messenger bag question?

Thanks for reading. Hope this post was not mis-placed or too long.