No Ortlieb or Crumpler. This poll is a farce!

I'm lucky, I've been getting advice from the mother of a long time friend, who's been a seamstress for a long time. She makes clothes and things, but also makes musical instrument cases and gear for firemen. The cases are these cordura/vinyl arrangements, some of which have metal skeletons, that are meant to protect 25,000$ string instruments, and they would put most messenger bags to shame in build quality and material quality. The firemen gear is beefy as hell too, if it wasn't, people would die.

If you look at most bag construction, you'll see that they are very simply made, with simple sewing techniques. Thats why they are made by people who were messengers for a few years and decided to try out a sewing machine. If they were really that hard to make, they'd be made by people like this old lady who makes crazy clothing that people trust their lives and most precious posessions to. The differences between these high end messenger bags are mostly subtle placement of things, and material quality. Because they are so simple, the devil is in the details. So the ability to make something beefy isn't really the question, its the ability to make something comfortable and intuitve, that is also beefy. They don't make their own buckles, they don't make the fabrics. Anyone can get 1000 denier cordura, and anyone can order buckles from ITW Nexus. The key is the small details that only someone who really uses that type of bag would understand how to place.

For materials, check with places that sell material for outdoor equipment, like seattlefabrics.com. I'm using recycled vinyl plus heavy duty cotton canvas, but I might try out cordura for another revision.

Anyway, making your own bags may not be for everyone, but its a fun project (almost as much fun as building bikes), and it can be a great way to get a serious bag for less money, that includes the exact features you want. Plus, you get X-tra hip points for having a bag no one else has.

peace,
sam

That's sound advice. It is fun to make bags (and anything else you can) it's true. Not all bagmakers are ex-messengers though, my wife is but she was a seamstress (in clothing) and designer beforehand. Her actual specialty is dressmaking and we hope to have a shop for her someday. We have had orders from firemen though, they are always on the lookout for gear. I really don't like it unless it's an individual item, the stuff they use called Nomex is high-tech but my issue with it is it costs $65+US a yard so it's hard to keep around for the occasional order.

It's all about application too. When a special order comes in for a specific type of bag meant exclusively for carrying something pricey the customer knows they'll have to pay a premium that'd put the price of a messenger bag to shame. It's not the materials at that point but the 8-20 hours of design/construction they're paying for. Our largest messenger bags only take about 2 1/2 hours to build if there is no flap art but that's a pretty long time compared to many. A Timbuk by comparison takes about 20-25 minutes. Their time is reduced by some excellent assembly line function but also by the basic design/lightweight construction involved.

There is certainly no secret as to what a bag is made of, that's why all bagmakers tell it loud what they're using. The secret is having a design that is tested and proven on the street. It takes years to test and all of that time you get feedback and find small adjustments here and there that make all the difference. Take any of the top bag companies products now and compare them to what they had 4-5 years ago and you'll see the differences. (except companies that have been around long enough to settle and stick with a format already good or bad. Good ones keep evolving, Baileyworks for instance has a new design after 15 years or so in the biz)

Some recommendations if you're going to make your own bag:

Nylon 69 is the heaviest thread a home machine can use and the lightest thread for use making bags.

Take it easy on your home machine! Don't push it too hard or you'll need a new one quick.

Anyplace you sew through both liner and outer body is comprimised so think about how you'll attach the two together.

Add something, subtract something, good or bad not making someone else's bag = extra style points.

It's harder than it looks/sounds, expect to take 20+ work hours on your first bag so don't quit unless you aren't having any fun anyway.

Consider attaching your mainstrap by hand, a home machine isn't really up to it without regrets.

Have fun with the colours. Match it to your ride?


Sounds like I'm giving away the goose? I don't mind, we can only make so many ourselves and why be uptight when you're in demand? Good Luck.

Thanks for the input, Sam.

I'm using a Bernina home machine now, and its doing a good job, but I'm trying to keep the big stitches to a minimum. I've got a big ole pop riveter which I use for some of the strap attachments on the heavier straps. It does a great job, and looks 'hardcore' as well.

It has been taking a lot of time, but so do all of my projects, and I'm happy to sleep when I'm dead.

The colors have been a lot of fun. I've done a lot of tiedying in my past (don't ask), but the skills have held over, and I've been able to do fun stuff with canvas.

The bag part is pretty well designed, I think... I spent some time in a few stores reverse engineering a few bags and deciding how I wanted the main bag/flap system to work, including how to keep water out. The strap is my biggest area of fiddling right now. A simple 2" webbing strap with cam buckle is what I've got now, because I happened to have webbing and a cam buckle lying around, but I'm figuring out a way to do a fully padded strap with release buckle.

Anyway, don't worry, I'm clearly not meant to make these professionally, so you don't have any competition. I'll be happy if I get one good bag to wear around. I'll post a picture of it full of beer cans when I finish.

peace,
sam

i know this thread is pretty much dead...and everybody hates it...but in a direct comaprison ...which comes on top....reload or chrome?...imgonna be getting one or the other....thanks

It still seems a bit impressive that Chrome bags are holding their own against all the "other" bags that people can think of.

well, if you're going to cmwc just buy one there. You can do a direct comparison yourself and everyone will be there with discounts for racers.
unless you want a custom reload all your own

My vote goes to Bagaboo. Im getting the new Workhorse-model this week!
Its going to be even better than the old one!

I own a Chrome, but I've been interested in Bagjack and Acronym bags too. I havent seen either in person though.

Reload gets my vote. works well with boobs.

Bailey's are also pretty comfy and would I consider getting one if i wasn't already in love.

How did this get revived? If it's not stickies everywhere, it's poorly constructed polls from a year ago.

Oh well...umm...sooo...BANJO MFING BROTHERS REPRESENT!

i've got a chrome, reload, and a timbuk. the chrome and the reload are both way nice and fit great. the timbuk2 on the hand is not really comfortable and a little crude over all.

Reload - Gotta support the local folks. Quite reasonably priced for a handmade bag, and holds a lot of stuff comfortably. If I seriously abused my bag I might go with something a little sturdier than the "courier" base model, but as a poser/commuter it works just fine for me after a year of kicking it around.

I use an Ortleib backpack when it really starts coming down or when I have something sharp to carry though.

jandd iniki messenger

So make a better poll!

Hmm, I doubt the poll code has anywhere near enough options to list all the known bag makers.

What's the word on Seagull. This dude is never mentioned anywhere and he seems to have a pretty reliable setup.

Personally, I like CourierWare myself. I've had my bag since 09, zero issues, hauls all my stuff, it rocks~! Want to try sewing some bags of my own now - we shall see :-)

Pretty epic necro thread, BUT I didn't know of CourierWave and now I do. I am interested in their camera inserts... Hmmm

YNOT's Junction looks like a solid bag.

Custom 'Under The Weather'.

What happened to the moderator on this board that made messenger bags? blicblox or something like that was the name.

hehe - the search function is great, isn't it? Did I beat the record? Six years, not too bad- LOL