Looking for handlebar bag recommendations
 

So I bought a new road bike and am enjoying the heck out of it. It's sort of become my commuter - I only bought it 11 days ago so I've been riding it every chance I get and that includes commuting.

I know there are plenty of folks here who commute on their road bike so I thought I would try to glean wisdom from the collective. :) Does anyone know of a handlebar bag that's 12" x 7" x 7" that I can carry my work clothes in and also can be quickly and completely removed (not leaving any mounting clamps on the bars)? The reason I want it to not leave any clamps is purely one of appearance - I think the bike looks better on the weekend group rides without clamps on the bars. :o

I was originally thinking about using a quick-release seatpost rack but the carbon seatpost seems like a bad combination with a rack - even if I only have 2-3 pounds of clothes to carry (plus the weight of the bag plus the weight of the rack - probably about 6 lbs. hanging off the seatpost) it just strikes me as a bad idea - the carbon of the seatpost is probably woven to handle only compression from the weight of the rider and not squeezing from a rack. I assume my thinking is sound on not using a seatpost rack?

TheTouringStore: Ortlieb Ultimate 5 or Lone Peak, BUT you can't have everything ...
 

Contact Wayne at TheTouringStore.Com but you may not be able to meet every one of your criteria. The hardest will be a bag as large bag as you want with the weight capacity you want but no clamps; if you can not meet all of your criteria, I would give up the appearance criteria.

Do you have carbon handlebars? If so, this eliminates Ortlieb's very nice Ultimate 5 Plus bags, available in medium and large. These are high quality, waterproof, have a shoulder carrying strap, will take the weight you want and the large is just a bit smaller than you stated. Useful accessories available, such a map holder (which might be useful for you weekend rides).

TheTouringStore also carries the Lone Peak handlebar bags. They too should not be mounted on carbon handlebars.

Call Wayne as he is VERY helpful and good to deal with. I suspect if he does not have what you want but it exists, he might get it or otherwise tell you what handlebar bag meets all your criteria.

Thanks Giro - I sent an email to Wayne and will see what he says.

I use a Klick Fix mount, and their wire support frame allows other bags to work too,
the same mount for a Detours or their KF version of a cloth front basket, oval wire support , It has a drawstring to keep stuff in .
wider oval and bigger than my Ortlieb [ they're 10" wide] bag.

But both will leave a mounting clip on the bars,
but its screwed on so wont get stolen separately.

this rack on Quill style stems line Nitto, or Cinelli 1A, is removable
but then you need a different bag..
http://www.velo-orange.com/rackaleur.html

traditional handlebar bag will un buckle from that rack,
http://www.wallbike.com/berthoud/ber...dlebarbags.htm

I love that Rackaleur but from the Velo Orange website:

Ahhhh well, I'm guessing it won't fix on my threadless stem. But at least it does give me a design to copy - I guess I'll need to dig out the old tubing bender and see if I can't come up with something that will fit. :)

FYI: I don't generally like handlebar bags, particularly with a lot of weight in them. The mass at the handlebars makes the handling feel sluggish. Personally I prefer a rear rack and rack trunk or panniers for commuting. It doesn't seem to change the handling of the bike as much. Some rear racks are "quick release" you you can easily pull the rack when you don't want it.

YMMV, but I thought it would be worth mentioning.

I agree with you but as I said in the first post in this thread I'm worried about a clamp on rack with my carbon seatpost.

26,000 miles on mine.
http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/h...RainJacket.jpg

Walmart sells a Schwinn branded bag about that size for $20 that straps to the handlebars with velcro. They are pretty well made for the price and might be worth trying out to see if that works for you before spending a bunch of money on a nicer bag.

Unless you can keep the weight low to the wheel, frontbags are nothing but steering nuisances. My favourite is my Berthoud GB28; 12L capacity and I can fit everything I need for a 400k into this sucker. For the work week, I can fit clothes and lunch, and leave a pair of shoes at work. The issue you'd face is that it requires a rando-style front rack and should have a decaleur to stabilize it at the top; so even though the bag is an easy-off design, there's still mounting parts attached to the bike.
Check out how everyone in this pic has theirs mounted, so the top of the bag is even with or below the bars tops, and the bag is almost sitting on top of the fender (literally, the racks have a mounting point for the front fender; that's how low you should have them.)
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._3247415_n.jpg

Thanks for the image and reply. I'm starting to think that 10Wheels has it right. For a bag with only 3 lbs. of stuff in it a clamp on seatpost rack might work OK even on a carbon seatpost. Certainly it has for 10Wheels!

That might be a carbon wrapped aluminum seatpost.

Nope. It's all cf, and he's never had issues with the rack on there. It was quite an issue on the LD forum at one point.

Why not use an aluminum seatpost? You aren't racing to work. You can get a solid seatpost for $50 or less that would be fine with a rack.

I'm thinking that while a seatpost failure while riding wouldn't be a good thing it certainly isn't likely to be catastrophic like a fork failure. Also, the carbon seatpost has to be able to withstand the clamp on the seat tube holding it with enough force to prevent the seatpost from sliding down while you're sitting on the seat right? I imagine the force of a seatpost rack would be concentrated more in the top front and bottom back of the mount on the post but if I'm only putting a lightweight bag with some pants and a shirt (no tools, no groceries, no water...maybe a spare tube, a hand pump, and a cell phone but all together I doubt the bag and contents would weight more than 5 lbs.) so it might be OK since 10 Wheels looks like he has that much on his rack.

Some days when I hit snooze a few too many times it feel like I am. ;)

You do make a good point though.

Or you could buy an aluminum seatpost (and saddle?) to use w/ the rack, swap the whole thing when you don't want the rack?

I bought an Arkel Big Bar Bag for cheap off Craigslist because I really wanted to rid myself of my backpack without having to add a rack and panniers, but it has thrown off the bike somewhat - all the weight makes it hard to carry when I do have to carry the bike around, and it causes the front wheel to go nuts every time I try to park the bike. It's nice, sure, but I'm not real thrilled with it so far.

My only problem with a rack/pannier setup, and I'm pretty sure this could be overcome with work, is that I can't stand it when my legs touch something when I ride. I'm 6-3, so I know that's gonna be a problem. I know it's crazy, but it would drive me insane to hit the back of the pannier as I pedal. That's why I bought the handlebar bag, but the more I use it, the more I'm tempted to eBay that sucker and try to find a way to make sure the rack/pannier setup would work without scraping my legs on the bag. I'd really like one of those pannier/backpack things.

smaller handlebar bags can be mounted directly to the handelbars without to much trouble, but that the size you want, the best bet for a handlebar bag is a rack mounted version. As Clifton pointed out, they sit much lower and tend to be more stable. They would work for your application, but they would leave an unsightly rack on your bike when the bag was removed.

It might be a good idea to have two seatpost setups. Buy a cheap aluminium one (think kalloy), attach a seat-post mounted rack, a trunk bag, and a cheap commute saddle. Save the carbon seatpost and fancier saddle for longer rides without a commute load.

I'm 6'5" and the only time I brushed something on my legs/feet was when I had the car carrier rack strapped to the top of the bags and got a little crazy with bungee cords. I ride my commute every day with an m-wave rack and bags on the back of my bike -- if your feet are hitting that, then either your bike is too small (very possible at our height) or you've got things attached incorrectly. I even added clips to my pedals which keeps me "on my toes" and I still don't hit them.

Good to know, thanks. Bike shouldn't be too small, it's a Schwinn XL, for 6-1 through 6-5. I thought about getting a Racktime Addit rack to give me a bit more clearance if I need it, but from what you're saying, that might be overkill. I'll have to look into that M-Wave standard bike rack.

Why would your height be an issue? I would think your shoe size would be the problem with hitting the panniers.

handlebar bags
 

This is the handlebar bag I want to get:
It attaches to the fork, not the handlebars, so it's low.
I'm not sure what the best front rack would be that works with the above bag.

And this may also be needed:
Grand total, $255. I'm saving my milk money...

I figured height and shoe size were related. I wear a size 13 shoe. Sounds like one of those odd deals where I should try before I buy, but how the heck do you do that?

Unless you really need the capacity of the Ostrich bag, I would look at a different one. The first issue that most people find with it is that for a frontbag (which should have easy access while riding), it opens the wrong way. That is, the flap opens from the front, making the rider have to reach over the bag to undo the latches and then the top flops back toward you. A frontbag should have an open-from-rear design for two reasons: Easy access during riding and the breeze of riding will keep the lid shut even if you don't latch it.
Secondly, it's a shallow design with a large footprint. If you have a tall handlebar setup this bag will likely sit well below the top of the bar; when you open the top flap, it will hit the bar and just stick up like a canvas wall.

If you're just using it to haul stuff, it's a great bag. If you're looking for a functional-while-riding frontbag, there are better options.