ISO discount luggage: Chichi saddlebag, 9 to 13 liters, and utilitarian handlebar bag at least 11" wide.

[Patrick Moore]

Seeking on lists before I buy new.

#1: I want to replace the perfectly usable and as-new Carradice Junior with something that looks more upscale; a piece of purely vanity luggage. Black, dark grey, dark blue, dark red, tan all good colors. Must be the transverse saddle bag type, unless someone has something else about 10-12 liters that fits directly to the saddle rails -- would prefer no bracket hardware.

Banana Sax too small, Happisack too big, but perhaps Rivendell had something once with about 10-12 liters of displacement?

Acorn IME -- limited -- no more vanity-like than Carradice.

Must be pretty close to new. 

Have various things to trade as well as liquid assets. 

#2: A purely practical desire. I want a small bar bag that is still big enough to hold a 10" long pump; so minimum width of 11". 

No chichi required, just well made and not ugly: black preferred, zippers fine, no hardware except straps for bar and head tube.

A well-used Rivendell EZPZ would be perfect.

Thanks.

--

Patrick Moore

Alburquerque, Nuevo Mexico, Etats Unis d'Amerique, Orbis Terrarum

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[Patrick Moore]

Someone just told me that a Korean company made bags "like Nigel Smythe" ones -- that sounds like a Rivendell name? -- and sold them on ebay but I'm utterly clueless here.

Does anyone know what the company might be?

Thanks.

[mikel...@juno.com]

Zimbale Bags.

[Patrick Moore]

Thank you!

On Thu, Dec 28, 2023 at 4:17 PM mikel...@juno.com <mikel...@juno.com> wrote:

Zimbale Bags.

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[Patrick Moore]

Re Zimbale bags: there is a nice 11 liter (IIRC) one available right now on ebay for $89. It looks good in the photos  and I almost bought one, but decided to research and came up with these:

Review: Zimbale bicycle saddlebags
by RAYMOND PARKER on MAY 26, 2011
http://veloweb.ca/2011/05/26/review-zimbale-bicycle-saddlebags/

However you translate it, Korean manufacturer Zimbale have done their homework. Here we look at three of their saddlebags.
Though the company begins by comparing itself to other leading brands like Carradice and Ortlieb—a mistake in any business—these bags are not quite in the same league as Carradice; neither the leather straps or canvas are of the same quality …. close, but not quite.


Saturday, November 10, 2012
Carradice vs. Zimbale saddlebag comparison
https://georgebike.blogspot.com/2012/11/carradice-vs-zimbale-comparison.html

[T]here are some strengths in the Carradice bag that stand out. Also, some of the bling of the Zimbale seems only skin deep. The best example of this, I think, are the humble buckles!

Carradice buckle, simple, but carefully engineered and wonderfully effective.

Compare the two buckles above. The Zimbale certainly looks nice, but look closely. The buckle has no roller. It's just a very basic buckle. The Carradice buckle is a simple steel device but that roller is very important, it makes operation much smoother and relieves a lot of stress on the strap. finally, notice the thickness of the leather straps, Zimbale's are paper thin.

This is generally the advantage that the Carradice bag holds: quality where it counts. These bags are the results of many generations of English cycling experience. They are simple, and they are built to last.

Another example of this is found in the quality of the leather. After only a couple of months of use the straps holding the Zimbale to my B-17 show severe wear:

This shot doesn't show it well, but that strap is just about ready to let go! I installed zip ties to support the bag, otherwise they would have broken in half! To be fair, Carradice has brown leather straps that are also very thin, but at least they lasted a couple of years on my Nelson! The white Carradice straps are the way to go, they're very thick and last for years. i wonder what it is about non-white leather that makes them so skinny?

To sum up, these are both above average bags. They seem to be fairly close in price too. It would be a difficult choice to make. The Pendle is a very tough and reliable bag, you can use it out of the box with no change for years of service. The Zimbale offers some very nice features, especially the provision for outside storage of gear which the Pendle doesn't have. Some of Zimbale's materials are not up to the same standard or Carradice, but you can replace some of those easily.

Given that the only fault of the Carradice is that it's not "fancy" enough, I'll keep looking.

Thanks, all.

[Patrick Moore]

Thanks, all, I found a used but VG Sackville Small that measures about 13 liters and is just what I wanted.