From the looks of things, you all spend your days whizzing round London with a bag full of letters and parcels on your backs. I have the utmost respect for the lot of you.
My question is this, what bags do you guys actually use? I spend a reasonable amount of time each day cycling in and out of university with books, folders etc, and need a decent bag to stick them in. I currently have a messenger style bag, but whenever I cycle with it, even on mounting up, it swings round to my side and disturbs my balance and just generally gets in the way, and no amount of fiddling with the strap has solved the problem. I'm worried that any other bag I buy will have exactly the same problems.
Could you guys recommend any decent messenger bags, ideally not too expensive for a cash-strapped student!
I used to use a Timbuk2 bag but it was beginning to infections on my shoulder, and it was uncomfortable when i had an uneven load. I recently invested in a Chrome Backbone and love it, it so much more comfortable, the only down side is that you have to take the bag off to get things out. You can carry pretty much anything in it.
Sorry to be slow on getting back to this, but thanks for the suggestions.
First up, panniers are too slow, with cycling between lectures I need to be off my bike, locked up and into a building as quickly as possible, so attaching/detaching panniers is not an attractive option.
The chrome looks fantastic, but that's a bit too expensive for me. Any experience of maybe the North Face Base Camp? Major issue is whether it will swing around the body, or otherwise be unbalanced when cycling.
what's your budget? "proper" courier bags tend to come in at over £100, often quite a bit more than that. north face aren't known for their cycling gear let alone messenger specific equipment so i doubt you'll find any users here. i favour the ortlieb rucksack but that's not everyone's cup of tea.
yes "proper bags" do have a habit of being expensive, a semi cheap one i have found is here http://www.briefcasedirect.co.uk/Messenger-Bags/5.html it is £68 which is not too bad. northface basecamp would be kinda unruly on a bike a berghaus freeflow 25 would be pretty good though.