Manhattan Portage, NY Bike Messenger Bag: A Quick Review
After crawling through the lists of best sturdy messenger bags for the real world, I settled on this gray “NY Bike Messenger Bag” from Manhattan Portage.
The colors look quite nice and the Cordura material appears top notch and very strong. The strap is especially strong and wide. I’ll probably get a pad, but its been totally adequate as is even with a full load. The bag is pretty stiff at first, so it will probably take a few weeks to break it a bit. There is a zipper pocket in the center portion where the neon yellow logo patch is, as well as a carrying handle on the top, towards the back.
As you can see, there are not a whole lot of organizational pockets or pen holders. However, I tend to needlessly put various tiny objects in a bunch of different pockets just because they are there and forget that I ever did so. The two long zipper pockets are fine for basic organization and pens with clips can easily slide into the front pocket on the left. The hook and loop strips work well and the bag clips have a nice springy feel to them, sort of ejecting the fastener when you press on the sides.
As for the interior pocket, you can see the nice yellow waterproof lining. You could probably throw some ice and a 12 pack in here and it would be good to go. There is one zipper pouched that is attached along the top. The bag does a good job of keeping that zipper facing up even when the bag deforms under heavy loads. There is plenty of room for several large books, a laptop, water bottles and a change of clothes in here, and the bag nicely deflates when more empty so that it doesn’t feel too bulky.
Overall, this is a nice, urban bag that is neither overly professional or casual. I would feel equally comfortable taking this into the office or around campus.
PROS: Very sturdy, well made materials. Pockets are well laid out and everything on the bag is seamlessly stitched and well designed. Plenty of room, nice looks and comfortable as well.
CONS: Slight lack of organizational pockets, front flap feels a little short when the bag deforms under heavy load (but not a major problem), kind of expensive
Thanks for this review dude, been looking for some decent pics and an honest opinion for a while. Probably gonna buy one soon, cheers.
After a couple of months using this bag I couldn’t be happier. The lack of organizational pockets is not a problem, since in the past I would just organize away a bunch of stuff into the small pockets and forget it was even there. This is just the right balance between organization and keeping things within obvious reach.