bishbashbogoff
New Member
I want a 15L or more for kitchen sink storage.
Mountain bike, though mainly riding on roads.
Don't want to pay a ton and some for one of the 'gold standard' ortleibs.
After having searched for weeks I had honed it down to the topeak backloader 15L. I got as far as checkout but funnily enough it would not complete on the site I was using so I started looking around again at other options in the meantime and ran across some fair priced Carradices. I had skipped past them on my previous perusals as I saw them to be in the same premium range as the O but I stumbled across some sub 100 ones and even a couple cheaper than the topeak! either clearance or on a deal.
I did give a quick dalliance for the Longstrap 24L one as it is on offer for 90 on ebay due to a defect but I am off that now as it seems overkill and greedy and I think it would probably be OTT and might have trouble getting it on the saddle.
In some aspects I like the wider 'lunchbox' styles they Carradice seem to generally do for saddle bags, for their simplicity, while in other aspects I like the streamlinedness of the conical ones which are more standard for bikepacking and seem most popular.
I did also find a Carradice Colorado for 69 so that is pretty much the same as the topeak which was coming in at 62 I think and having looked through the companies' wares you get the feeling they are made with love rather than the conveyor belt mass produced type of vibe with topeak. The latter is fine if it means you get a bag for a fair price but since the CC is coming in at a similar price and capacity then I think I would choose that as preference.
The other Carradice I have in my sights though is the Carradry SQR. Now this one is of the 'blob on the back' style. Looking at the pictures it certainly does not look sleek or sexy, just a large mass welded to the seat. It looks like a hiking bag has just been glued at an angle.
Looks like this one is reaching end of life though and can pick this up for around 55, cheaper than both the above and sporting the biggest capacity at 18L max.
Reviews seem good, but yea won't win any prices for style. It is a question of form or function then I think but if anyone has experience with both/any of the above, I think I will take one of the carradices now really, over the topeak, then please chime in. Either seem a good bet. I think I might be swaying toward the function side of things again as those side pockets look neat and 18L and the simplicity of a big box on the back, rather than a long thin cylinder, is kind of floating my boat.
Mountain bike, though mainly riding on roads.
Don't want to pay a ton and some for one of the 'gold standard' ortleibs.
After having searched for weeks I had honed it down to the topeak backloader 15L. I got as far as checkout but funnily enough it would not complete on the site I was using so I started looking around again at other options in the meantime and ran across some fair priced Carradices. I had skipped past them on my previous perusals as I saw them to be in the same premium range as the O but I stumbled across some sub 100 ones and even a couple cheaper than the topeak! either clearance or on a deal.
I did give a quick dalliance for the Longstrap 24L one as it is on offer for 90 on ebay due to a defect but I am off that now as it seems overkill and greedy and I think it would probably be OTT and might have trouble getting it on the saddle.
In some aspects I like the wider 'lunchbox' styles they Carradice seem to generally do for saddle bags, for their simplicity, while in other aspects I like the streamlinedness of the conical ones which are more standard for bikepacking and seem most popular.
I did also find a Carradice Colorado for 69 so that is pretty much the same as the topeak which was coming in at 62 I think and having looked through the companies' wares you get the feeling they are made with love rather than the conveyor belt mass produced type of vibe with topeak. The latter is fine if it means you get a bag for a fair price but since the CC is coming in at a similar price and capacity then I think I would choose that as preference.
The other Carradice I have in my sights though is the Carradry SQR. Now this one is of the 'blob on the back' style. Looking at the pictures it certainly does not look sleek or sexy, just a large mass welded to the seat. It looks like a hiking bag has just been glued at an angle.
Looks like this one is reaching end of life though and can pick this up for around 55, cheaper than both the above and sporting the biggest capacity at 18L max.
Reviews seem good, but yea won't win any prices for style. It is a question of form or function then I think but if anyone has experience with both/any of the above, I think I will take one of the carradices now really, over the topeak, then please chime in. Either seem a good bet. I think I might be swaying toward the function side of things again as those side pockets look neat and 18L and the simplicity of a big box on the back, rather than a long thin cylinder, is kind of floating my boat.
