Originally Posted by
lil brown bat
I only have experience with one brand of bag (Bontrager), but I can't help but notice the number of cyclists walking around with messenger bags or messenger-bag-wannabees. There's a ton of 'em out there. Whatever you end up buying, make sure you buy something that isn't just a knockoff designed for people who are interested primarily in the look.
To add to that, all of the good messenger bag companies are small ones. 1 - 10 employees, operating out of someone's basement or garage, and when you call them you'll end up talking to the person who started, owns and operates the company.
Almost everything made by bigger companies like Timbuk2 or Novara (REI's brand) isn't very good.
Anything made by a really big company is probably going to be a shoulder bag that's called a "messenger bag" for marketing reasons in addition to being crap.
Expect to spend $100, bare minimum, for a good messenger bag. Realistically they're more like $200 or more.