I’ve long searched for the ideal handlebar bag. It needs to be small enough to be easily carried off the bike, but big enough to carry all the personal items that I won’t leave on my bike when lock it up and I go off for a meal or a few beers. Acorn makes 3 handlebar bags; a small bag similar to the Carradice zipped roll; a boxy rando bag that needs a front rack or decaleur and the medium sized handlebar bag that draws a lot of inspiration from Rivendell’s Hobo Bag.

I waited about 6 weeks for Acorn to make and deliver my bag and I was very please with it when it arrived. The stitching was neat, the leather was thick and the whole finish of the bag excellent. The bag has a main top zippered compartment that measures 3.5″x7″x11″, two rider facing pockets of 2″x3.5″x4″ and a front pouch suitable for documents and thin things that is 5″x11″. The bag mounts to the handlebars with two leather straps and there is a wooded dowel. al la Carradice, for support. There are two D-rings on the top of the bag for a shoulder strap and two on the bottom of the bag with cords that can be tightened around drop handlebars for lateral stability.

So far so good , but before I get too critical let me state that this is a great bag and it’s just right for my style of credit card and ultralight touring. So now I can complain. My first gripe came when I tried to mount the bag to my handlebars. The leather straps supplied are thick and have large buckles that make it difficult to tighten them sufficiently against the bars. So I took a couple of thinner Carradice straps and used them. The greater flexibility and smaller buckle of the Carradice straps was a great improvement. The pockets facing the rider have a nice rotating closure that makes them easy to open while riding, but I discovered that they are very unforgiving if you try to over stuff the pockets, they just won’t close. It’s not a big issue, but I think I’d prefer to have a leather strap and buckle arrangement or even some velcro. The cords for lateral stability work well 90% of the time, but I found that they would slip off my handlebars a couple of times each day when I was riding. However, even without them the bag didn’t sway too much.

So I have three issues with the bag, but I’m being hyper critical. The bag is great and can swallow a good amount of stuff so it’s now become my default handlebar bag. Here’s a list of what I packed in it on a recent trip.

Rider facing pockets

• Cannon camera,
• iPhone,
• chocolate bars,
• bandana,

Main Compartment

• eeePC,
• a bag with all my cables and power supplies,
• passports,
• notebook and pen,
• toilet bag,
• gloves,
• hat,
• wallet,
• umbrella,
• leatherman juice,
• maps and documents.

I take the bag with me whenever I leave the bike. It is small enough to sling over the shoulder and big enough to carry everything I need in an emergency. If I lost my bike and all my other luggage I’d be able to survive and get back home with what I have in my handlebar bag.

The brown straps are the originals from Acorn that I replaced with the gray straps from Carradice