I'm looking at buying a new Chrome bag to commute to class from my apartment. I have no car on campus so my bike is pretty much the only way I have to get from place to place.

Could someone who has used one of these bags recommend one size or the other? I'm going to primarily be carrying books and a small laptop to and from class, but I do make the occasional trip to the supermarket.

Sorry if this has been asked before, it's 9 in the morning and I'm far too lazy to use the search feature.

mini metro should be fine for that. I have one and does well for that task. Pick a common object that you want, and I'll see how many of it fit in mine.

i had a citizen (commuted to/from work and ran errands) and it was good enough for that. Fit's about 1 1/2 grocery bags depending on what you buy.

for your purposes i would highly recommend a backpack. trust me, daily commute with books and a laptop will get very annoying with all that weight on one shoulder. i switched to a freight backpack and haven't looked back.

I have used both the citizen and metropolis for the same application as you and would say do not get anything smaller than the metropolis. Once you get a laptop in there, maybe a snack, or a change of clothing/change of shoes and the citizen will be too small.

I am always glad I went bigger with my bag choice. In the month I used the citizen I found it too small on several occasions.

Totally agree; you'll be surprised how quickly those small bags fill up with a thick hoodie and sneakers. My feeling is always go bigger. It won't weigh noticeably more when carrying it empty, and having the option to carry just a few more things on any given occasion will come in handy more times than you'd expect. Plus it's a good size for a carry-on bag or a weekender.

And hey - the Kremlin's now on sale for $99! That's a fantastic price.

Here's another vote for the Metropolis, if you can swing it. If you ever need to carry practically any combination of books, laptop, jacket, groceries, and/or shoes, the Citizen is almost certain to be too small. The Mini Metro is little more than a purse.

I spent all of college with my bike as my only transportation, and the Metropolis made that possible. Especially for grocery runs, with a Citizen I would have had to go about twice as often.

The 'always go bigger than you think' advice is so damn true.

mini metro is out of the question trust me. a book, binder, and a notebook and that thing is 90% full.

i use a citizen for commuting to school. holding a good sized text book, binder, laptop, tools(mini frame pump, rescue tool, tube, tire levers, and 15mm wrench), calculator, a few pens and the bag is pretty full. I definitely would not be able to carry groceries, extra clothes, or shoes.

in a nut shell: if you're only using it for school, go with a citizen. if you need to bring extra items or groceries go with a metropolis.

+1 on the Metropolis. Been using the hell out of mine for 4 years and the size is perfect most of the time.

Manhattan Portage bags have huge volume and don't look that big!

If you are carless or car light, I would actually get 2 bags. One for most days and one for bug trips. I also tend to carry way more stuff in the winter. I've got a Backbone for the winter and a small (~1300 ci) bag for the summer. My list of stuff to carry is about the same as yours.