Best Bike Messenger Bag

hi there my name is Kelsey Lee I work as
a messenger here in New York and these
are all of my messenger bags there’s a
lot messenger bags are something that
you kind of just acquire the longer you
work as a messenger the more bags you’ll
have it’s just a function of whether you
buy them yourself or friend who’s
getting rid of one or a surprise bag
because if you win a race I’ll have
another bag I just end up having more
bags and more bikes than anything else
in my life and I guess it’s fine because
that’s pretty much what I need to do my
job so but I would say by far in the
history of this channel the most common
question that I ever ever received is
what is that bag what is your bag what
bag do you use what’s that bag
what’s that bag what’s that bag and it
makes sense because I often have the
camera going while I’m at work
documenting my travels throughout the
city and it’s usually featuring a big
old bag on my back so instead of
answering those questions one by one
forever until the end of time I thought
we just make one central video on this
channel to talk all about messenger bags
so that’s this video so obviously a
messenger bag is something that you
would want if your bike master need
obviously but I personally feel that it
just if you have a bike especially in a
place like New York where you don’t need
a car it definitely serves to just have
a big bag I used my bag not only for
work but for groceries for laundry doing
errands any kind of shopping like I I
use my bag for a lot especially with
like camera gear and stuff like that
it’s helpful traveling messenger bags
it’s kind of like a niche you know like
a big Messer bags kind of a niche market
so all across the board they generally
get the job done anyways they need to
and then people have their personal
preferences of which friends they like
in that it just comes down to like
functionality and the type of bag you’re
looking for so the main thing you just
have to decide
on is whether you want to go for
backpack or sling bag when a backpack
I’d say it’s two straps and a sling bag
goes across your chest now some people
swear by a sling bag some people will
never touch a sling bag and day in their
life I kind of enjoy both so I just want
to highlight the pros and cons of a
sling bag versus a backpack one I find
seasonally and there’s certain you know
advantages and disadvantages to each the
sling bag I prefer in the summertime
because the way that it ends up sitting
on your back where’s the backpack kind
of covers your whole back this sling
leaves a lot of room here so it kind of
keeps you cool in a way and the way this
sling kind of it wraps around your body
difficult to show especially when I’m
wearing black and this is a black bag
but it kind of curves right so it kind
of does that and in that way it creates
it almost reads like an air vent like I
actually feel cooler the summers here in
New York get really really hot and so
this kind of creates a bit of a draft in
a way where’s the backpack just like
sitting on your back so it keeps me cool
and also because in the summer I’m
pretty much is wearing the least amount
of clothing that I can so I never really
take the bag off and that’s why I like
to sling a lot of times you can I mean
it’s like really big jobs I’m just kind
of whip it around you can access it from
there so I end up just kind of going the
whole day with my bag just like affixed
to my body but I kind of like it because
it’s really chill and I mean if I need
to take it off you know not that big of
a deal but it’s just nice if I have
little things I’m not like having to
take it off every single pickup drop
everything the other thing about this
sling is that it’s hmm I’d say a little
I don’t know controversial it is the
kind of original messenger bag but some
people really don’t like it because they
say it’ll cause you back problems I
don’t know about that I don’t
not here to advise you like yes or no on
that so if you’re doing deliveries right
a lot of times you have stuff on your
back but there’s also a lot of time
where your bag is empty so either on
your ride to work on your ride home or
in between say your your all the way up
on the Upper West Side and you have to
pick up something in Soho it’s like a
long trip with an empty bag you know so
I find this playing is like it’s like
just nothing it’s just chilling there
you know it’s not heavy at all
but the backpack can be a little more
cumbersome like you really feel the
backpack while you’re riding with an
empty sling you don’t really feel it but
the backpack is you just feel there you
feel it kind of like up here in your
neck personally I have a bad shoulder
this shoulder is not too great so I find
that with the backpack because there’s
like weight on both shoulders I end up
kind of overcompensating this shoulder
because it’s it’s hurts a little it’s
uncomfortable so I do this and then it
hurts it even more whereas it the sling
I can put it like you put it on one
shoulder and then this shoulder is just
like rocking free so again it is
whatever works for you but based on you
know my experience with it you can kind
of decide like oh that might work me
that might not
however this sling is a little limited
in terms of jobs um although I would say
that the weight goes across your chest
and you have something heavy on your
back it kind of like creates a good
tension system once you get on the bike
I’m doing this a lot it’s like imagine
me on a bike but it is a little more
uncomfortable because it’s not
distributed as evenly across your back
so if you’re taking like a ton of like
heavy freight jobs all the time you you
might not want to go with the sling but
that being said I guess it just depends
on like I don’t know if you got a tough
back or not like I’ve taken crazy things
on the sling and it’s just it’s work is
work you know so just you just got to
get it done either way so the backpack I
find I prefer in the winter actually
over this length just because I’m
wearing so many layers of clothing and
the sling if you taking it on and off on
and off it it does get a little annoying
but the backpacks like you know it’s
pretty easy to take it on and off so
constantly like you know if I’m rushing
and
I got a deal and I’m chillin and I got
to put more put a sweater on you know so
with the sling it gets a bit annoying
some people don’t like rocking the sling
because some people they say that it
slides forward like it kind of comes
around your body and it ends up like
falling to the front or falling off
coming out of place but for me I kind of
have a little extra going on here
so it kind of keeps it in place that
might be like a bit of a tip for women
you might feel a little more comfortable
with this link personally I don’t notice
it sliding at all kind of a bit of an
anchor there if you will although I will
say that backpacks I feel like are
designed for men because the clip the
way the clip across the chest it just
doesn’t make sense with a woman’s chest
like it just it’s like hello like we
have these can you make you know may you
work for us too
the straps are always like really small
that ends up just like cutting into us
or like pushing things a certain way
it’s just uncomfortable like can we have
a bigger strap please so just to wrap
all that up sling bag don’t have to take
it off as much but it doesn’t fit as
much stuff and can be a little
uncomfortable on your back but might be
helpful if you have a bad shoulder
backpack can fit a lot more stuff
weighs more distributed on your back but
gets super extra sweaty especially in
the summer but nice to have it too
easier to take on and off in the winter
when you have a lot of layers on so
wrapping that up I hope that covers all
the points between slaying in a backpack
if you have any additional like pros and
cons to whiteford the other leave them
in the comments but now I want to talk
about Brent so you might be thinking
okay I want a sling bag or I want a
backpack but which brand should I get it
from I would say that the most common
bags that I see on the streets of New
York are Manhattan portage vessel ortley
and Chrome and the reasons for that are
because New York Jobs is a lot of like
fashion industry jobs big garment bags
big boxes things like that so the vessel
is known for being like huge personally
I just can’t see myself ever getting a
vessel I just don’t like the design
because and I find this with the chrome
barrage as well that’s the common the
common chrome one I would see is that
it’s just it’s like this big long bucket
I guess I would say I don’t know it’s
just when it’s expanded to its full
capacity it ends up just being like long
and it it’s like it comes above your
head it’s like right here and I
personally I hate that I would rather
have something that’s kind of like off
like this Thresh do your horrible job at
trying this but yeah when it’s like full
the vessel and the those those roll-top
bags they end up just going up and it’s
like annoying sits right here
although the roll-top is nice because it
kind of convinces small as just not my
personal preference you might like that
though so feel free to look at those
bags there are so many bags companies
other than just the ones I mentioned
there’s reload in Philly there’s trash
messenger bags and there’s a bunch of
West Coast bags that companies that
obviously you don’t see as much in New
York unless someone is messenger there
and they work there and then they move
here so in terms of chrome though and
you have this older model this that you
Bay now bag this is like five years ago
I got this egg from a friend
I do not even know so please don’t ask
cuz I always get that when I write this
bag people like do you eBay do you even
know like no I do that’s like a long
time ago this is a Warsaw bag and it’s
it’s good you know I taken I think my
record is like 25 garment bags stuffed
into here I always prefer a flap as
opposed to a roll top just because you
can really like when you want to strap a
box to the outside it gives you a lot of
security with that flap and then this
strap there’s an extender strap
somewhere I don’t know where mine is but
basically it’s drops an extension from
here straps to here and then you can
like strap a whole big thing in here
although the inside is not that big so I
end up always having to like strap it to
the outside which I kind of prefer like
putting it in the bag
I used it last year mostly and it’s okay
it’s not a bad bag but it’s just not as
like big as I would like for a backpack
although it is nice when there’s nothing
in it because it’s just really small
low-profile chill kind of bag even
though this eBay now I have another
sling that I won at the hurricane Alec
had but it’s very this is very light
work like small stuff envelopes papers
you know very very small and then this
bag which you’ve probably seen that a
lot in my videos I used it last winter a
this spring quite a bit and it is an
ortley waterproof the only thing I that
about this bag is I mean it’s big it’s
big pretty big but there’s just no
expansion so I’ve had to I mean there’s
a skeleton in the back here this it’s
like really hard and rigid right here so
I have actually strapped a lot of things
to this bag that you would not think
would be possible but it is like really
sturdy and strong material it does get a
little annoying to have to always like
strapped to the outside and then you
can’t fit anything inside or if you have
something smaller inside but you have
something strapped on the outside you
have to like undo the whole thing just
to get inside yeah so it’s like it’s
just one big compartment but the reason
I really like it that it’s so waterproof
like a million percent waterproof you
know once you get that it’s in a river
bag almost and this I’ve never had any
problems of water getting in there
anything and it’s also a perfect size
for a carry on like the carry-on size
and your plane when it’s full it’s like
it’s it’s not sized perfectly so this is
my like all good all-around bag travel
bag laundry bag grocery bag but it’s
just a little limiting in terms of the
size jobs I could take so moving on to
my last two bags these are the banks
through like the majority of this year
that I’ve used the most commonly and
worked with often and they’re both from
Manhattan portage and I love love
Manhattan cordage it just because it has
a long history of just
being like New York’s bag it started
just messenger bags I mean master bag as
we know it like like for you know just a
basic messenger bag like a book bag
comes from bike messengers obviously
because they were the ones that were
using little mustard bags before fax
machines before email messengers were
taking everything paper right always
pushing paper the oh geez they had the
messenger bags for envelopes blueprints
photos
editorial stuff you know always paper
right some guys have bags from they’re
still using from like 35 years ago from
Manhattan portage and then once the bran
kind of expanded a little they moved
into more like every every New Yorker
doing bags for all the New Yorkers like
office workers or the New York lifestyle
they wanted to cover more of like the
masses and while all of that was
happening they were expanding as a brand
the messenger industry changed and now
it has become what it is today which is
very cargo centric which is probably not
a word but it is you know it’s a lot of
freight jobs a lot of garment bags a lot
of boxes fashion samples PR work stuff
so it’s less paper for us now so they
have been recent years wanted to get
back into making like thanks for a
modern day messenger as you guys know
squid I’ve had on the channel he works
with them quite frequently squid my my
hero the messenger hero of many of us
and he works with them to make sure that
they are making bags that messengers
will actually use and that work for them
and because of him
this bag exists which is their empire
XXL so I would say this is like my
favorite bag of all time ever
basically I just told them like here’s
everything that would go in my perfect
bag and then they made that so it gets
I’ll show you how huge it gets it has
these sides and unzip kind of these
flaps come up on the top becomes really
huge so that’s the whole bag so you can
kind of condense it when you close it up
and roll it up kind of thing so when I
have it it’s like out I all I get is
doorman laughing at me saying how my bag
is twice the size of me any kind of it’s
really big bag but I love it because I
so far have not had to I’ve actually
been able to take jobs where someone
showed up and said now I can take that
and then they were about to call it van
and then I came and I was like yeah
because I just knew that this bag is
like it’s a beast it’s also really good
because it has these pockets out front
so you don’t have to always go inside
your bag if you need like the charger
your I don’t know your peanut butter and
jelly sandwich that you’re storing in
there and you can keep all your work in
here has this flap here
for envelopes or whatever or you can
even put stuff in this if you have this
small paper stuff and then there’s also
the extender straps so on the off chance
that I can’t fit whatever I’m taking
into the
the bags then I can stop it with these
extra extender straps
strap it to the outside and be on my way
it also has a strap at the bottom here
which you can extrapolate if you have
something really heavy it just helps for
that extra Anchorage this one is also a
common feature in most mystery bags
having the pocket on the bottom so you
can put your tools in there all that
stuff and there’s just down there and
it’s not messing with the actual
capacity of your bag and then this is a
sling bag this is how big it gets so
it’s not as long but I would say it gets
pretty wide pretty similarly as why it
has pockets on the outside the nice
thing is it has the big flap so I can
strap boxes to the outside as well so
both of those between these two bags I
pretty much get done I found my sort of
my workflow with both this plane and the
backpack so those are all my bags that I
kind of slipped between I would say most
commonly I go between the oort liebe and
then this sling and he’s laying an EMPI
backpack I hope that gives you a little
insight into like what what you should
be looking for and what kind of
functionality is important if you’re
looking for like a messenger bag for
work and you want to be able to take big
jobs definitely you need something that
you can strap stuff to strap to the
outside or whether it has big capacity
on the inside like I said I prefer kind
of the backpack with this you know flap
top netted meal some people like the
roll top so the vessel is good for that
murder bags in Brooklyn also I love
their bags I’ve been wanting to pick up
one of those four whacks they’re like
handmade in Brooklyn they have a roll
top but if you’re going to be delivering
like food just like something that’s not
too huge but gives you that nice long
thing and then there’s also a waterproof
is very essential so as you can see it
is various like brands types preferences
all that stuff that go into what you’re
looking for with a messenger bag I have
my certain preferences but I would say
the one thing that you should not really
compromise on is material so a common
most messenger companies use this
material and I would be a little
suspicious if they didn’t is Cordura
fabric which is um
it’s very I don’t know it’s almost like
hard canvas I guess you would say it’s
just super resistant to wear and tear
it’s really strong it doesn’t stretch it
doesn’t break or crack it’s kind it’s
kind of water fruit like if water won’t
get like in there yeah it’s just you you
need corduroy fabric for sure it’s just
kind of that one of those proven
materials that is sort of the standard
and then on the inside you want to make
sure it’s either like a vinyl this is
kind of like a quarter of vinyl kind of
thing and then this is a little more
intense like like very waterproof kind
of like the same I hope it’s vinyl I
don’t really know my material exactly
but it’s just very water it’s not soft
like it’s very waterproof fabric so it’s
good to have that on the inside so that
nothing is getting wet so that is my
current bag collection and all the info
that I can fit into a youtube video I
can do demos and things like that but
then this would be a two hour video if
you have any additional questions that
something I missed leave it in the
comment section below also if you have
like your favorite bag brand that you
use and swear by let me know what that
is – I definitely would say my favorite
over having used different brands and
things is Manhattan Portage just because
it is exactly what I want for
functionality makes my job a lot easier
and it is really cool to have a bag that
is part of New York’s history in a way
and that supports a lot of messengers
because through
Squigs relationship with them he kind of
he represents us to them and then he
represents the company to us to the
messengers so in that working
relationship he’s been able to support a
lot of messengers in New York hook them
up with the gear that they need get them
going and because of that I see a lot of
Manhattan cordage bags on the streets
like a lot more every month I seen one
of them so it’s cool that they didn’t
just stick to their mainstream part of
the brand that they want to make sure
that they are kind of honoring the needs
of New York messengers as well so when I
knew that I
gonna make a video about Meister bags
and feature there’s mainly I hit up and
have Portage and us if they wanted to do
anything for my viewers and they said
yes so I’m very excited that they have a
discount code for you for use on the
Manhattan portage website it is for 20%
off all of their bags so that includes
Messer bags but also like they have some
other cool bags they actually if you are
a cyclist and you like the design of
this bag you’re not quite like a Messer
you don’t need to be worrying about
taking like boxes they have like a
miniature version of this backpack which
is always excellent and yeah so you can
use that from a cold it just doesn’t
apply to any special edition or like
collaboration projects that they have
going on but all of their standard
Manhattan portage bags you can get 20%
off also this thing that I use their
phone pouch I love this thing again
Cordura fabric on the inside and have
this little pouch is you know you can
keep your keys here your MetroCard I
keep my ID there a lot cuz if I have to
go through security it’s like right
there I don’t have to take it out the
bag so yeah it makes a great stocking
stuffer you know if you’re into
Christmas right around the corner so
that’s a little holiday treat for you
guys and excited to bring you that
discount code it is valid from now when
you’re watching this video until
December 30th so scoop that up just in
time for Christmas if you know for you
if you want to drop hints to your family
members what kind of messenger bag you
want vizier load another promo code as
well so the promo code is Kelsey Lee my
name all caps no spaces Kelsey Lee and
that’ll get you your 20% off only from
now until December 30th so if you’re
watching this video after the fact sorry
you weren’t an ogee subscriber and you
missed the boat my cue to end this video
is the fact that there is no more light
left thank you thank you winter Thank
You wintertime and your lack of sunlight
we’re doing great
make sure to take your vitamin D now
it’s the struggle it’s a struggle out
here I hope you guys enjoyed a next
video on the channel probably be my
short film so look out for that it’s
come we’re coming up to 21
okay so have that to look forward to I
hope you enjoyed this little roundup of
all the master bags see you in the next
video trying to make myself look like a
messenger bag Christmas tree so happy
holidays I really have so many bags like
I complain that my room is small but
maybe if I didn’t have ten bags and five
bikes I wouldn’t wouldn’t have this
problem but there’s no fun and being
normal is there