A tiny review of a medium-sized bag for a small folding bike: the Brompton Roll Top Shoulder Bag
By Ren Willis
After years of riding with a backpack — Osprey Flapjack to be specific, the best commuter and travel backpack, period — and after converting to the Brompton S2L a few months back AND with all the fun luggage options made available for the Bromptons, I felt it was high time I fully embrace my Bromptoneering (Bromptoneerage?) and find an on-bike bag.
Phew, that was a mouthful.
In my exhaustive initial search, I struggled. All the bags I could find were either too small, like the Mini O-Bag or random handlebar bags to be useful, or too big, like pretty much all the other bags between Brompton, Carradice, and a few other rando brands. The big ones would’ve been fine, but it gets windy here in NYC on the water and with all the wind tunnels and all reviews pointed out how the bigger bags acted “like sails” in the wind. Great for a tailwind, but, and I don’t know about you, I seem to always find myself in headwinds.
Over the years, I’ve learned to carry light, keeping things like shoes, deodorant, random emergency underwear, etc, at work meaning, I just need a bag to carry a change of clothes and some food, maybe some artwork or a small package, or possibly an order of take-out for two. I’m not like those silly faux-messenger kids on fixed geared bikes with messenger bags the size of my international luggage on their backs, I believe in riding smarter, not harder.
I was this close to settling on the S-Bag, one of Bromptons somewhat larger commuter bags, when Brompton suddenly (or suddenly to me) released some new bags, specifically the Roll Top Shoulder Bag.
On paper, it seemed perfect. Stylistically it was cute. The size was medium and when closed, not to “sail-ish”. It had some water-resistance, but also came with a high-visibility bag cover. The price was reasonable compared to their other bags, so boom, I was in.
Well, to put it simply, the bag has been pretty great. It’s not perfect (we’ll get to that in a sec), but as a medium-sized bag, I couldn’t ask for too much more.
First, the good…. The size. Perfect. I can fit a change of clothes, breakfast, lunch, and a bag of loose things (wallet, headphones, chapstick, etc), easily.
With some room to spare. Days I needed extra room like when I carried the above plus a 9x12 painting I sold and was shipping that afternoon, or when I brought home a bunch of stuff that my family ordered online and shipped to my work, it fit. The roll-top rolls open pretty high, meaning that even when it’s too packed to close the strap, in a worse case scenario, it can act like a basket of sorts.
Another good thing is the cleverness of the should strap, which clips to itself to stay pressed against the bag when riding. I pop off the bag, unclip the strap, swing it onto my shoulder, grab my bike and go — like a pro!
Once on the bike, with the top rolled tight, clipped shut, and the strap clipped, the bag is compact and seems to have minimal wind-resistance impact on some of those windy days. I’m sure it has some, of course, but like all headwind rides, you just keep on pedaling.
When it rains in NYC, it can rain and we’ve had a few lovely rainy days since I’ve got the bag a few weeks ago. No problem, slipped the bag cover over it and everything stayed super dry.
All good right???
Well, mostly. A couple negatives:
The pocket in the bag is completely useless. This is inside on the hard side of the bag, the side with the bracket, and when you unzip it, you can barely fit your hand in there, let alone things. Yes, I could fit my ziploc of loose things from the “what’s in your bag” photo, but I need to get access to that bag before and after every ride (and sometimes during). The pocket stays closed now and unused. I wish it was on the other side or maybe more open pockets inside on the side of the bag like in a backpack. Oh well.
The only other pain point is when adjusting the clips to close the bag. While the shoulder strap is super clever, adjusting the length on it and the closing strap between a heavy day and a light day in the bag is awkward, clumsy, and time consuming when you just want to ride.
That’s it! Beyond those two things, the bag is near-perfect and I’m super happy with my purchase.
Cheers and keep on riding!
Ren Willis
