Product Description : The Westwood commuter bag lays out into a full-length garment bag. Two full-sized pannier compartments accommodate extra clothing and toiletries. It mounts on a bike rack for your commute. When you get to work, it carries like a briefcase by its center handle. Reflective trim increases visibility. Volume: 3510 cubic inches. I have been using this bag for my 10-mile commute for about 4 weeks now. It does the job adequately enough, but I assumed that a garment bag would have a hook from which to hang a clothes hangar with the clothes on it. The product description does not note that there is no such hook, and that even if there were one, the bag is not wide enough to accommodate a standard wire hangar, forcing me to fold my shirts and suits to pack them in the bag. This adds additional time to my packing each night and causes my clothes to end up with more wrinkles when I get to work.Also, there is no way to hang the bag from a hook while packing or unpacking it. Instead, you have to lay it out flat to get your clothes out. Space is at a premium in my office's shower room, and it is a logistical challenge get clothes out with only a narrow bench to place this on.I understand the desire to save space and weight, but the description should make these limitations clear. Had I known about it, I would have purchased another bag. I am a 100% bicycle commuter. Initially when I stated biking to work I would drive in on the weekend and drop off a week's worth of clothes, then do the walk of shame as I went upstairs into my office filled with professional individuals in shirts and ties in my bike gear, grab my clothes, then head down to the gym. I needed a solution.This bag was the solution. The bag is a very sturdy (ie..fairly heavy) design that straddles the rear rack of your bicycle. It secures to the rack lip (near the seat post) and there are two steel hooks on the inside to hook onto the rack. I have a sun rider rack and it mounts with absolute no issue.Point of Note: The picture of the bag improperly shows how clothes are placed in the bag. They lie across the entire length of the bag, not tucked into one side.The positives:I am 6'4" with 36 inch inseam pants. I have to fold them at the top in order to fit the bag, but they come out looking as if they are fresh off the ironing board.Shirts fit easily.There are two huge zipper pockets inside to hold underwear, socks, undershirts, etc... then there are two fold pockets behind those that you can hold important documents you don't want folded.There are two large pockets on the outside of the bag that can hold anything from my size 14 shoes to an Ipad easily. It can hold an 11" laptop as well, but not my wife's 17".Sturdy: The inner support appears to be a very thick cardboard that is very sturdy.Seemingly waterproof - I waited to write this review until I experienced the bag in rain. It was a total downpour this morning and I was nervous because if the bag leaked. I would be soaked. It performed perfectly. I could feel a very slight dampness on the inside of the outside pockets, but my clothes and a paperback book I had in out of the outside pockets were bone dry when I got to work.Reflective strips on the outside of the bag are very useful and functional.The negatives:Pockets and Organization: There is amazing space, but little organization. If I were to design the bag, I would add a key hook, a small zippered pocket somewhere, and maybe compartmentalize one of the large outside pockets. I have had to alter my storage methods to prevent everything just being thrown in the bottom of the large pockets.Weight: There is always a balance between being sturdy and being light. This bag is heavy. I would be nervous mounting this on a true road bike fully loaded, with my added 220lb weight as well. If you weigh 140lbs this may not be an issue. But I am already a hefty guy for my poor bike. I have had zero issues, so this criticism may be extremely unfair on my part.Spacing: The clothing section needs to be a little deeper to accommodate several days of clothes. I can only really carry 1, maybe two days of clothes, then the bag stops folding correctly for me. I would love to be able to take three days worth of clothes with me and just ride bag less the other days. But a smaller person, with smaller clothes may not have my issue.Overall I am extremely happy with the bag. The name is silly and I get teased by co-workers. But when they see it on the bike, they immediately say that is the coolest idea they have ever seen.If you have to dress professionally and still want to bike to work this is the bag for you I use this bag on Mondays and bring a few dress shirts, pants, undershirts, socks, boxers, and my lunch. Each day after I take a little home using a smaller bag. This bag holds a lot but I had to add a couple of s-hooks to keep is from sticking too far out. The one provided hook attaches well enough to a rack but when you have several shirts and pants and more it tends to bulge and sticks out quite far so the addition of another s-hook on each side allows me to pull it tighter against the rack. If I could recommend another suggestion it would be the addition of reflective material on each side. I added 3m prismatic tape to each side and think this really adds another level of visibility from the side.
No comments:
Post a Comment