Crumpler Free Wheeler Messenger Bag

Crumpler is an Australian company that makes a vast array of bags, pouches, sleeves, luggage and sacks. The Free Wheeler Messenger Bag, as the name might suggest, is a cyclist-friendly, over the shoulder courier bag.

The Free Wheeler comes in a stealthy and stylish black. It doesn't even have any reflective doodads which won't please the Be Safe Be Seen crowd but people who have to be smart in an office will appreciate the understated looks. In stark contrast to the subtle exterior the internals of the bag are a bright yellow ripstop fabric, this makes it a lot easier to find things in the corners while you're rummaging about in the capacious interior.

What the Free Wheeler Messenger Bag does very well is pockets; there are A Lot of Pockets. If you're an organized person you will love this as everything will have its right place. If you're a disorganized person it will infuriate you as you will spend a lot of time riffling through all the pockets looking for that thing you want. If you're not that interested in pockets it's probably best you skip this next bit.

Inside the main compartment there's a large lightly padded divider that splits the insides in two with a Velcro tab at the top to keep things secure inside. Alongside the internal wall there's a large zipped mesh pocket that's divided into three sections. The flap has a similar internal large zipped mesh pocket.

There's a zipped outside compartment that has its own separate zipped compartment inside, along with a line of five sewn-in open topped compartments, one mesh, one fabric and three pen pockets. Another large zipped pocket is on the outside back of the bag and there's even a little zipped pouch on the padded section of the shoulder strap.

Pittaphobia sufferers, you can come back now.

The most useful of all the myriad of pockets were the one built into the padded section of the strap, handy for getting at keys without having to fiddle about in the main body, and the large pocket that was on the outside against the back which lent a certain amount of security to important things, especially when traveling. The large central divider was handy for keeping laptops and important files away from all the scruffy grubble of tools and kerfuffle that tends to accumulate inside messenger bags.

The Crumpler is designed to be worn over the left shoulder. There's a large but thinly padded section on the strap that runs almost the whole way across the chest tapering as it goes making carrying even the heaviest hauls of shopping a comfortable trial, helped by the fact that the padded bit is tailored on a curve so it ergonomically hugs the body. This makes walking off the bike with it dangling off that shoulder supremely comfortable too. It's also really easy to adjust the tension of the shoulder strap thanks to a large D-ring at each end of the Single Hand™ adjustment system. Top strap marks there.

The Free Wheeler Messenger Bag doesn't come with a cross-strap that most courier bags need to keep everything stable, although there is a buckle in the bottom corner should you want to fit one. If you don't, and you won't, it tucks away to hide into a little pocket, something it does so well it took some time to actually find it. The cut of the Crumpler bag is so well designed it doesn't need a stability strap, the width and curve of the shoulder-strap is enough to keep the bag secure and stable enough on your back without the safety net and sweaty mark of an extra cross strap. Throughout the entire duration of testing there wasn't one oh-shit-I'm-going-to-die moment where the bag swung round in traffic, despite some deliberately overladen thrashy efforts.

This bag is the XL but it's more of a large medium compared to other bags, swallowing 25 litres of stuff, other smaller sizes are available if your life is less demanding ability to carry belongings. It's big enough to take about as much as you'd fancy carrying on a bike without it getting too ridiculously heavy and having a can of cat food painfully digging into your kidneys.

But it's best not to get too over-excited by the 2-for-1 deals and overfill the bag though, for you'll discover the only failing with this bag, and it's quite a big one. If you fill the bag over maximum capacity, you'll find that the straps aren't long enough to reach up to meet their corresponding buckles on the bag flap to close it down. It doesn't help that the tabs of Velcro on the flaps aren't big enough or strong enough to hold the flap down on their own. That's all a bit of a bummer at the checkout or when needing to take more of the office home than you thought.

That's the only drawback to the Free Wheeler Messenger Bag. It's been subjected to the usual poor quality of life that messenger bags suffer. It's got wet and gritty, been put away dirty, carelessly thrown into the back of all kinds of vehicles and kicked under too many pub tables and the Crumpler is just showing a softening of the edges rather than any actual tatty age.

The 1000d Chicken Tex Supreme™ hyper performance fabric is to thank for this, it's a tough material whilst also being soft and yielding enough to be comfortable to have against your back, and while not making the bag totally waterproof is somewhere between that and water-resistant. While it did need hanging up to dry off after particularly miserable soakings on the way home none of the contents ever got damp edges. If the bag does let you down then Crumpler offer a lifetime no-questions-asked warranty.

Verdict

Good-looking, comfortable, compartment-laden bag that unfortunately doesn't like being over filled.