Friday, May 5, 2006

Large Banjo Brothers Seat Bag Review


I received a new large Banjo Brothers™ seat bag recently in the mail and I just decided to try it out for a century ride I'll be doing. Since I'll be in coastal Northern California, I'll need to be better prepared for wind and rain than I currently am here in Mesa. During the monsoon season here in the late Summer some protection from the rain can be handy. So this bag seems good because I will be able to carry a raincoat.

I picked up a new Cannondale™ rain coat and thought this would be a good opportunity to test out the large seat bag. It's roomy, fairly lightweight and has a convenient pocket. It will hold a couple of cans of beer soda I think, along with an apple if you expand the pocket. I didn't try any of this.


Here's the stuff that would be useful to have along. Patch kit, tool kit, tire irons, spare tube, gooey food. Rain jacket, condoms. Just kidding about the gooey food condoms.



It's all in nicely with some room to spare -- but not so loose that anything would rattle around against the plastic support inside the bag. Notice the convenient pocket for the tools and the patch kit.



Here it is with the expandable pack open. All in all it looks to be great addition to my luggage. It has reflective piping and a place to put a rear taillight. If the strap were a tad longer it might be able to hold a spare tire outside in addition to a full pack inside, but it would be easy enough to extend it with a bit of velcro strap. I think if I were to press it -- I could even fit my Marmot™ rain pants in addition to this new rain jacket.

The placement of the strap attaching to the back of the seat - could be set back just a bit further on the bag -- IMHO -- which would cause the bag to be a bit less dangly. It seems like it's going to be jfd (or just dandy for short).

All photos on this page are © 2006 Shawn Kielty. All rights reserved. I mean it.

4 comments:

The Donut Guy said...

Banjo Brothers make nice stuff, don't they?

I have the mini seat bag and it is perfect for a tube, levers and a cell.

Unknown said...

Looks like you are a fellow friend of the Banjo! Good for you! I know I sure like their bags! Whatcha got for miles this week and last?

John said...

Neat! Now if they make one that will hold 20 paperback books . . . .

shawnkielty said...

The bag is pretty good -- It handled the ride fine and is now covered in gu. Great Fun.