19 August 2008

Alf's Elegant Bike Bags

Brooks Glenbrook saddle bag bike bicycle
I'll only send one entry, my Cadillac Bike, the ladies 1980 Schwinn Suburban. The bag is a Brooks Glenbrook and I bought it new specifically for this bike because I think the Glenbrook is the only bag currently on the market with enough class to compliment this particular bike. A second point and which I only realized some time well after installing the bag, is that the bag is perfectly sized to distract an observer from noticing the ungainly saddle height position. While my ideal frame size is a 22", we vintage-bike rescuers have to make do with what we randomly find and the Cadillac Bike's frame is a 19".

Brooks saddle bag bike
Other fashion accessory bags which I have are a Brooks Millbrook on my green Raleigh; a Brooks Challenge Bag on a Ferrari-Red '67 American-built wannabee-Raleigh; a Carradice Barley Bag on a fantasy backdated Schwinn Continental made to favor a 1940s British Clubman; a grotesque yellow nylon deep handlebar bag on a bright blue Austrian Steyr of about 1970 or so; and a currently-surplus Schwinn Approved leatherette touring style large saddle bag. Nice bag in the manner of the Glenbrook but quite frankly ... just not a Brooks. BTW, I currently have it listed for sale on the QUAD CITIES IA/ILL Craigslist.

And of course you already know about the converted ladies handbag I mounted on Eliza Doolittle.

This'll be fun to see how other people use bags on their bikes, hope the turnout is good.

4 comments:

MELI. said...

Loving that red schwinn and its lush matching fenders!
Looks great ;)

lotta said...

I recently discovered your blog and absolutely love it! Thank you for the thorough listing of bike bags. I am in the market for one and will check out these options for sure. Cheers.

Mackenzie said...

Ooo. Fancy! I love 'em! I took a "page" from your blog, and stopped some well dressed Minneapolis cyclists yesterday. For once I had my camera on me, and they were just too cute. Really enjoy your blog!

Betty @ Purse Party said...

Wow that looks really great! I never thought you can put a bag like that on a bike and still would look elegant. I think I need to shift to biking from hereon now those gym routines don't work on me. Thanks for this you just made me rethink my fitness regimen.