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review

Lezyne Messenger Caddy bag

7
£84.99

VERDICT:

7
10
Solid, weatherproof bag for heavy duty town use
Weight: 
1,750g
Contact: 
www.upgradebikes.co.uk

At road.cc every product is thoroughly tested for as long as it takes to get a proper insight into how well it works. Our reviewers are experienced cyclists that we trust to be objective. While we strive to ensure that opinions expressed are backed up by facts, reviews are by their nature an informed opinion, not a definitive verdict. We don't intentionally try to break anything (except locks) but we do try to look for weak points in any design. The overall score is not just an average of the other scores: it reflects both a product's function and value – with value determined by how a product compares with items of similar spec, quality, and price.

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This burly courier bag from Lezyne is full of neat touches and is well put together to boot. You can fit a decent load in it and your kit will stay dry too. It's not at its best when overpacked but for medium sized loads and the daily commute it's a hard-wearing workhorse.

The Messenger Caddy is constructed from a shell of tough cordura nylon and vinyl coated ripstop fabric. The shoulder strap features a nicely engineered Aluminium buckle that makes the bag easy to adjust and in line with Lezyne law there's a bottle opener slot in it too. The stabilising strap can be fitted on either side of the bag and the shoulder strap (with neoprene phone pouch) slides so you can wear the bag over either shoulder.

Two buckles close everything up at the front. Along the front of the bag there's pockets for all your bits and bobs, inside there's a padded laptop sleeve big enough for a 17-incher, a document flap and lots of space. There's a mesh bottle holder on the side too. The whole bag is padded and lined and feels like a good quality bit of kit - it's heavy too, mind. There's plenty of reflective detailing – including, bizarrely, a nice big reflective logo on the inside. You get an LED loop too. On the outside.

The Messenger Caddy's first test was an inadvertant one - I forgot to bring it indoors, and left it by the shed on a really foul night when we had about an inch of rain. Come the morning my phone hadn't fared to well in the exposed pouch – not really the bag's fault – but everything inside was bone dry, so top marks there. My phone dried out eventually too, and stopped bleeping at me in a wounded kind of a way.

On the bike the Messenger Caddy is fairly well behaved for a big bag. the seven raised pads on the back are presumably there to promote a bit of airflow, but a bag this big (and heavy) is always going to keep you warm. It's not the ideal bag for a long, quick commute but for knocking round town it's tough and visible after dark.

Given the quality of the bag and the fact that it's well padded it's a good mobile home for a laptop, and when it's full of the usual stuff (clothes, shopping, old inner tubes, etc) it wraps round your back well and the stabilising strap does a good job of keeping it in place. Overload it, or put something inflexible in it, and it's a bit more unwieldy. On the plus side though, if you do get caught having to shift a bunch more stuff than usual, the bag will swallow it, even if it's not the most comfortable ride. If you do have to over-fill the bag, it's worth being careful not to lose anything from the front organiser pockets, as the flap won't cover them.

My only other minor gripe was that the lining is a bit loose, and filling the bag can pull it down so that the flap is hard to close. A quick yank sorts that out though, and there's been no damage to the lining.

Verdict

Solid, weatherproof bag for heavy duty town use

road.cc test report

Make and model: Lezyne Messenger Caddy bag

Size tested: n/a

Rate the product for quality of construction:
 
8/10
Rate the product for performance:
 
7/10
Rate the product for durability:
 
9/10
Rate the product for weight, if applicable:
 
5/10
Rate the product for comfort, if applicable:
 
7/10
Rate the product for value:
 
7/10

Did you enjoy using the product? Yes

Would you consider buying the product? Yes

Would you recommend the product to a friend? If it suited their commute

Overall rating: 7/10

About the tester

Age: 36  Height: 190cm  Weight: 98kg

I usually ride: whatever I\'m testing...  My best bike is: Trek 1.5 with Ultegra 6700

I've been riding for: 10-20 years  I ride: Every day  I would class myself as: Experienced

I regularly do the following types of riding: time trialling, commuting, sportives, general fitness riding, fixed/singlespeed, mtb, Mountain Bike Bog Snorkelling, track

Dave is a founding father of road.cc, having previously worked on Cycling Plus and What Mountain Bike magazines back in the day. He also writes about e-bikes for our sister publication ebiketips. He's won three mountain bike bog snorkelling World Championships, and races at the back of the third cats.

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2 comments

Avatar
bikes | 1 year ago
0 likes

I have this bag but unfortunately the metal (aluminium?) buckle for the main strap has cracked and so it won't grip the strap anymore. Any clues on where to get a replacement? Anything the right size would do, not bothered about it being an exact replacement. I think you call it a 'cam buckle'. Lezyne don't seem to have a UK website. 

Avatar
ktache replied to bikes | 1 year ago
1 like

They appear to have a physical store in Amsterdam, maybe they can help.

info [at] lezynestore.com

And it would appear that the bag is still being sold.

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