Carradice Nelson Longflap saddlebag review

Inspired by randonneuring bikes and especially classically styled British audax machines like the Mercian, I placed an order for a Carradice Nelson Longflap saddlebag a few weeks ago for use on my trusty Surly Cross Check. Was around $80 delivered direct from Carradice of Nelson in the UK… not bad at all.

The bag has been good so far, able to swallow my old Timbuk2 messenger back when needed (though only when the Timbuk2 is partially loaded), and overall being quite nicely put together. It’s made from heavy waxed cotton duck with leather trim and metal buckles. Way oldschool in this age of Cordura nylon, Velcro closures and plastic quick releases… refreshingly so, in fact.

However, some rather serious design flaws surface when you try to strap these “vintage” Carradice bags to a contemporary road bike. The main issue is that the bag was designed back when saddles were pushed all the way forward on seatposts. This put the “face” of the bag right against the back of the seatpost, in a near vertical position. While this worked just fine “back in the day”, subsequent evolutions in bicycle fit have the saddles positioned with quite a bit of overhang off the back of the seatpost, and this results in the Carradice bag hanging at a nearly 45* angle to the ground… making the risk of stuff falling out of the side pockets quite real. It also causes the bag to hit the back of your thighs while pedaling, and can allow the bag to drag on the rear tire on bikes with smaller frames. And the long distance between the seatpost and bag mean that sway becomes a much bigger problem. None of these are good things, obviously.

Here’s the stock Nelson Longflap setup without support:

There are various Carradice saddlebag “hacks” published online as a means to work around this issue, but the best solution is to use some kind of support underneath the bag to A) provide a solid mounting point for the bottom strap on the bag; B) keep the bag off the rider’s thighs and the rear wheel of the bike; and C) keep the bag closer to vertical so stuff doesn’t fall out of it.

I tried going with a rear rack as one was available locally and I could always use the rack at some point in the future to mount panniers or whatever. And the Old Man Mountain White Rock rear rack is quite versatile, capable of being mounted to almost any kind of bike, be it road or moutain, so long as there are eyelets on the rear dropouts and either rack brazeons or v-brake studs on the seatstays.

Nelson Longflap with Old Man Mountain White Rock rack:

Overall I think the rack looks somewhat ugly (having flashbacks to the Schwinn World Sport I rode in middle school with a French Horn (!!!) strapped to the rear rack… a story for another time to be sure), but effective in providing an attachment point for the lower bag strap. I think it will eventually get replaced with a Rivendell Silver Hupe (nice review here)… I just don’t care for the aesthetics of the rack, even though it’s really, really nice. But in the meantime, it’s working out quite nicely for its intended use, so let’s carry on.

Note that I didn’t end up using the saddle loops on my Brooks… turns out that for my application, I could get the bag further forward (and hence more upright), low enough to sit on the rack (and hence attach to the rack without overly straining the leather attaching loop), and get the wooden dowel inside the Carradice better cinched up (and hence less sway-prone) by attaching directly to the saddle rails instead of the saddle loops. I can also get a rain cover on the saddle now without interference from the bag straps. Your mileage will almost certainly vary.

I was a little frustrated with the complete lack of interior pockets on the Carradice. You have to improvise if you want any built-in organization of your regularly carried gear. I felt that carrying the bulk of my tools inside the big pocket, rather than in one of the side pockets, would hopefully reduce the likelihood of their “walking off” when parked outside the coffee shop or whatever. Who knows. The dishrag-cum-tool pouch idea was completely and shamelessly appropriated from viewing the “burrito wrap” on the Rivendell website. I hung it from the dowel inside the big pocket using an old toe strap.

Lastly, the strap of webbing meant for blinkie attachment was pretty loose, resulting in my SuperFlash pointing at the ground instead of blazing into drivers’ eyes… no bueno. Turns out the nice metal Carradice logo works perfectly as a blinkie mount!

Overall the above insights (which are surely what every Carradice owner sorts out eventually) have helped me enjoy my bag quite a lot more. It looks nice and works well, but it’s getting even better now that I’m learning some “tricks of the trade” so to speak.