Garmin Vivoactive 3 review

Work-in-progress! Check back regularly for updates.

It looks like 2020 is the year I've let loose on my acquisition program. Yes, I finally got myself a smart watch and it isn't an Apple Watch.

Why a Garmin instead of an Apple?

• Cost. No, I don't have infinite amounts of dough. At about half the price of an Apple Watch, this seemed to be a reasonable purchase. You do have to give up features like a high resolution OLED display, Apple Pay, a ton of iOS apps and the jewel like build of an Apple device. But I can live with that.
• Battery life. With a published best case battery life of 7 days in watch mode and 13 hours in GPS mode, it seemed to fit my needs better. I don't normally wear a watch and only do so for activity tracking. My plan is to use this as a heartrate sensor (broadcasting to an Edge 1030) while cycling and to track my runs with GPS.
• Sweet spot. The Garmin Forerunner 35 would be cheaper at SGD130 (for versions with brightly coloured bands, black costs more...) instead of SGD200 (could have gotten the silver bezel version for SGD175, but I really prefer a less conspicuous look). But it is black and white only, has half the display resolution, no touch screen, and doesn't look quite as good as the Vivoactive 3. Admittedly, it lasts 2 days longer in watch mode and has the same heartrate sensor and GPS features.

Initial impressions

When I received the box from the delivery guy, I thought he had handed me an empty box. The watch is light for its size. Noticeable lighter than the wife's Apple Watch. It looks well made, but workman-like, not in any way flashy. Other than the metal bezel, everything else is a matt black plastic. There's a heartrate sensor on the rear with 3 green LEDs, encircled by a metal ring. There is a charge/sync connector above the heartrate sensor.

Heading out for a slow run

Hmm... why isn't it registering my stair climbing?

Just last night, I came back from another slow run and cooled off by walking up and down the stairs. And for some reason, the stair counter would not increment. Tried a few more times. Still no dice. Took off the watch, wiped it down. No dice. Sync'd with phone, wiped again, gave it a few gentle taps. And viola! Stair count reactivated! No idea what happened there. When it does increment, it is accurate. One floor counted for every climb up the single flight of stairs. About 3m worth of altitude gain.

Battery weirdness and charging

Charging the watch is simple. Just plug one end of the supplied cable into a USB-A port and the other end into the receptable on the back of the watch (that thing with 4 silvery dots you see in the picture). It went from 50% to 100% in less than an hour.

Here's the funny thing. I switched off the watch. The next morning, when I turn it on, it says 90% battery. Weird. So I give it another charge and leave the watch on and now after almost 8 hours, it's down to 96%. Does that mean it uses less power when it is switched on? How could that be? Unless it didn't really shut down but went into some strange mode.

2021-01-27: Update on the battery issue. Googling revealed that some folks have had good success avoiding high battery drain when the watch is switched off. Before switching off the watch, disable the phone connectivity. Press and hold the button to get to the controls menu, press on the icon with a phone/Bluetooth symbol so that it's grayed out. Then press on the power icon to switch off the watch. I've tried this and it appears to work. Another method is to powerdown the watch by pressing and holding down the button for 10 seconds.

Watch faces

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A Giant Revolt Advanced Pro 1 (2021) Review

Check back regularly for updates. This is a work in progress...

After about 19 years, I've finally decided to spoil myself with a new bicycle.

But why a gravel bike?

• Fat tyres. I've toyed with the idea of buying a road bike with wider tyres for a long time. Wider tyres mean lower pressures and greater comfort. Also, it means you can roll over metal gratings with wild abandon, without having to steer at a 45-degree angle to avoid dropping your wheels into the gaps. And the occasional excursion over rough terrain can be undertaken without the slightest hesitation.
• Drop bars. More hand positions on long rides is always a good thing. Straight bars begin to hurt after a while and need bar ends. But then you can't go aero with straight bars without clamping on a pair of TT bars. And that just looks like a mess. Not to mention the weight.
• Lots of mounts. Bosses for 3 water bottle cages! Mount points for mudguards and racks. Unfortunately, this iteration does not have bosses for anything cages.
• One bike to rule them all. I can only buy and maintain one bicycle. Singapore is not exactly overrun by singletrack, although there is some. I dream of bikepacking someday.

So why the Giant Revolt?

Well, because I ruled out the following bikes:

• BMC URS 01 Two. The URS 01 One is way out of my budget. Even this one at USD6499. It is configured with a single chainring and I wanted a two ring setup for versatility and closer ratios.
• Cannondale Topstone Carbon. Nice. But expensive and heavy because of the rear suspension. For long term reliability, I thought it best to keep it simple.
• Canyon Grail. Finally great value for money. Decent weight. But just can't get over that double-decker hoverbar...
• Specialized Diverge. Really nice and really expensive. Threaded bottom is a really good idea. But the thought of maintaining a shock in the headset and the additional weight that brings is not so appealing.



I had been thinking of turning my 19 year old Principia MAC SL into a gravel bike with some drop bars. But the STI levers from Gevenalle needed for this conversion aren't exactly cheap. Normal STI levers wouldn't work because MTB v-brakes have different pull ratios. However, after conducting extensive thought experiments, I decided to get a gravel bike instead. I definitely wanted a bike with drop bars and fatter-than-normal tyres so I wouldn't have to scrutinize the road ahead with laser focus and so that the fillings wouldn't get rattle out of my teeth. Plus the idea of going bikepacking some day really appealed to me. After looking around for a bit and eliminating the options on a very short shortlist, the Giant Revolt Advanced 0 came up as the eventual winner. A Giant TCR would have been at least a kilogram lighter at the same price point, but not quite as fun or as versatile.

Seeing that it wasn't a cheap bicycle, I thought it would be wise to test one out at an LBS instead of ordering one sight unseen. It probably was a good idea since, according to the sizing charts, I could go for a size M or M/L. The M/L would be taller at the front, but quite a bit more stretched out, especially with the 100mm stem instead of the 90mm on the M. The only way to know for sure was to ride both M and M/L sizes. So I headed to the LBS (Tay Junction) to check out the sizing. It turned out that M was a much better fit. Size M/L was definitely too stretched out. And the lower frontend was easily made up for by flipping the stem. There was just one problem -- they didn't have the Advanced 0, only the Advanced 2 and the Advanced Pro 1. Since I wanted a double chainring set up, I had to upgrade. So that's my excuse for ending up with a higher end model. And it would have been poor form to test ride at the LBS but purchase the bicycle from another retailer.

First impressions

After a couple of rides I was thinking: this is nice! Smooth, plush ride, yet eager to accelerate. Responsive, yet stable. Seemingly opposing qualities in one and the same bicycle. The price to pay is weight. About 8.5kg stock with MKS style generic pedals. What does one get by moving up to the Advanced Pro 1? Shimano Di2 GRX, fully composite seatpost with micro-adjust tilt, composite handlebars and Praxis Zayante 48/32 carbon cranks instead of GRX 48/31. You do lose a little range on the low-end, but the Praxis is lighter and still shifts well. Basically more carbon bits and electronic shifting. And the frame comes in a different colour - a sort of copperish, purplish metallic chameleon look depending on the ambient lighting. Not really my thing, but friends and family seem to like it.

A little more depth

Frame and fork

I remember thinking how weird a Giant compact road frame looked when they first released it way back. It seemed to lack the elegance of a classic road frame with a horizontal top tube. The look has somehow grown on me over the years and it is now widely copied by many other companies. The Revolt takes the compact frame design to the extreme with an almost XC mountain bike slope to the top tube and dropped seat stays. About the limit of what I would still consider to be a fairly good looking design. Looks aside, it does allow for more clearance when you dismount from the bike. The downside is having less space in the triangle for a backpacking frame bag. No problem fitting two water bottles in the frame.

The downtube has a rectangularish cross section. Tapering from a width of 60mm at the bottom bracket to 50mm at the headtube and about 50mm deep throughout -- although the shaping of the tubes, how the curves and flat surfaces are placed, gives the impression that it is more rectangular. Not quite as wide as the 2021 TCR. There's a third set of water bottle bosses on the underside of the downtube. The lower third of the underside is also covered with a glued on black rubber shield to protect against rock strikes.

The downtube and toptube flare into the headtube creating a really beefy junction. I wonder if this was motivated by aesthetics or structural considerations? The crown of the fork is sculpted to match the headtube when steering straight ahead. The fork is colour matched on the inside surfaces that face the wheel and a black on the outside. There are two threaded holes in the fork. One next to the thru axle and the other midway up the fork. I am guessing one or both are for mudguards and/or some sort of low-rider rack.

Seatpost

Several components of the build helped convince me to decide on the Advanced Pro 1 over the Advanced 0 (other than the fact that the latter was only available through a parallel importer). The seatpost on the Advanced Pro 1 is the Contact SLR D-fuse. This is a full carbon construction that weighs in at 185g. The Advanced 0 is furnished with the Contact D-fuse composite that has a carbon tube but an alloy seatclamp. And from what I have read somewhere, is not only heavier, but does not offer continuously adjustable saddle angle adjustment. I could be wrong on the second point. The SLR seatpost is also compatible with oval rails. You may want to keep this in mind if you intend to upgrade your saddle to one with composite rails.

Shifting

Oh that annoying creak...

On the fourth or fifth ride, the Revolt starting to make faint clicking or creaking noises occasionally when putting down torque on the pedals. It would disappear when coasting and did seem to be less detectable when peddling off the seat. Brought it back to the shop. At first I thought it might be me not torquing down the seatpost clamp bolt sufficiently after fitting the new saddle. The shop guy fixed that, but the clicks/creaks were still there. And I was really hoping it wasn't the bottom bracket. They seemed quite confident that it wasn't. So the pedals got tightened and finally the through-axles. It turned out to be the rear through axle that was the culprit. Who would have thought? Hopefully, I will continue to ride in blissful silence from this point on.

Tubeless tyres!

Upgrade



Gave in and replaced the stock Giant Approach saddle weighing 310g with a 130g Selle Italia SLR Carbonio Flow S2 saddle. The Selle Italia has far less padding but a narrower shape that fits better. It has actually been quite comfortable. Plus, they were on sale at Wiggle for SGD118. Amazing deal. The bonus is that Shadowfax is now 8.3kg with generic pedals. Or about 8.0kg sans pedals. Quite a good weight if you compare with offerings from Canyon and Specialized.

At some point, I should probably give clipless pedals a go. Maybe a pair of Xpedo SPD's to go with Shimano cycling sandals. No it's not the greatest look, but I like sandals. But for now, I'm happy with old school pedals.

If you look carefully at the photo on the right, you'll notice that installing the saddle requires a 10mm wrench and a 5mm hex key. You can still make do without the 10mm wrench if you first loosen the hex bolt and then you can rotate the other bolt with your bare fingers before re-tightening the hex bolt. But that takes a little more guess work to adjust your saddle. But at least it is still possible. You may encounter an issue where you do not have sufficient clearance to use a 10mm spanner and have to resort to this method. The advantage though, it that the saddle clamps clamp from top and bottom so that it is compatible with oval carbon rails which tend to be ovalised vertically (i.e. the rails are narrower but taller).

The Giant Revolt Advanced Pro 1.

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Garmin Edge 1030 Plus review

Work-in-progress! Check back regularly for updates.

Finally pulled the trigger and bought this on Cyber Monday. Hope to make the most of an expensive toy. This mid-life crisis is really kicking in. Thought I'd start putting down a few thoughts while waiting for this to arrive.

Why get a cycling computer when a smartphone will do?

• Rugged. Not that iPhones are flimsy, but I like my phones to last a long time and having them bounce around on the handlebars under the blazing sun with the display brightness cranked up all the way probably doesn't do any favours for longevity. Turning off the display would help, but you won't get realtime metrics. I've also read some reports describing a degradation of camera autofocus after prolonged use on a bicycle mount.
• Battery life. With display always on, the Garmin should out last any phone in the daytime -- thanks to its transflective display. The ability to track for 24 hours or more should have most epic rides covered. And if that isn't enough, you can spring for the Garmin Charge Power Pack.
• Uninterrupted tracks. My pocket has a habit of triggering unwanted key-presses that can prematurely terminate a Runkeeper session. This has happened more than once to the disappointment of fellow riders who were hoping for a record of their adventures. I keep the phone in my pocket because I don't like it bouncing around on the handlebars. The other thing that happens is I pause tracking at a tea stop and forget to resume the track after the break. If battery life isn't an issue, one can just leave the device to track continuously.
• Subscription free. Most cycling apps on the iPhone are now subscription based. And the subscription costs can amount to several hundred dollars over the lifetime of a Garmin cycling computer. Sure, you can use most apps without subscribing to the advanced features, but that can be fairly limiting. As with all Garmin devices, you get to sync with Garmin Connect. This is both a phone app and a backend somewhat like most fitness apps except maybe not as strong in the social aspect. Interestingly, this savings from having to pay subscriptions is something most reviewers don't talk about.
• Worldwide maps with Garmin heatmap. The Edge 1030 Plus comes with access to worldwide maps (except for Asia). Previously, you had to roll your own maps from Openstreemaps if you needed maps outside the area from which you purchased the device. These are now included. Plus you get Garmin's cycling heatmaps which are an overlay of popular cycling routes gathered from Garmin's Connect backend. Only the Edge 1030 Plus has access to worldwide maps. Which is one of the reasons I got this model rather than the Edge 830, which would have been lighter and smaller. Well, that and the fact that the Edge 830 was sold out at the time I placed my order.

Where to get one

Prices on Amazon barely budged after a couple of months. No deals appeared over the Black Friday weekend. So I decided to go local and ordered from Parisilk via Lazada for 7% off the usual list price. The unit was delivered 48 hours after I ordered. Good service!

Setting up the new toy

This section isn't meant to be a comprehensive how-to, but more of a diary recording some of the stuff you need to do to get things up and running with the Garmin Edge 1030 Plus. I use an iPhone, so if you're in the Android camp, this may not work for you.

The zeroth thing (before you even unbox your shiny new toy) you should do is to install the Garmin Connect app on your phone, register for an account if you don't already have one and sign in. Sort of like what you need to do when setting up your Apple products.

If you're an Edge noob like I am, we'll need to configure everything from scratch rather than migrating settings from an older unit. Fire up the Garmin Connect app, unbox your toy and power it up by pressing on the button at the left edge of the device. If I remember correctly, it will then prompt you to configure your wifi and pair with your Garmin Connect app. Just make sure you have your wifi password handy and also Bluetooth enabled on your phone. Just remember to follow on-screen instructions and keep an eye on both your Edge and your phone because prompts and notifications can pop up on either device as you complete the setup process.

Oh, and my unit powered on with 92% battery capacity right out of the box. A nice touch. You can start doing stuff without first needing to plug it into the charger.

Taking the Edge for a walk

Took the Edge out for an after dinner stroll. Didn't feel like taking the bike out on the rain soaked streets. And thought I should take my time getting to know this one.

So I powered up the unit, waited about 10-20 seconds for the GPS to acquire lock and pushed on the start/stop button. This starts a track with your default activity profile. The track looked spot on and followed me around 90-degree corners without cutting corners on any of them.

One thing I soon discovered was that the screen kept shutting off. It turned out to be the Power Save mode. If you want your screen to stay on, go to Menu (the soft button at the bottom left of the activity screen marked with three stripes) --> Battery Save Mode and toggle Enable off. I would like to be able to glance down while cycling to read off data without having to touch the screen to wake it up.

Initial impressions

The last time I owned a cycling computer was more than a decade ago. It was a basic Cateye wired model. So this Garmin is a big step up.

Look and feel

The Edge 1030 Plus is a great example of understated design. It has a pleasant, clean outline, just like a phone on the front. There are no buttons on the front, just a screen. The power button lies on the left edge and a lap button and a start/stop button on the bottom edge. It is smaller in length and breadth than the first generation iPhone SE, but 2.5 times as thick (in part thanks to the mount that protrudes from the back by a couple of millimetres. I think it looks a lot nicer than a Wahoo. Maybe I'm biased. The whole thing feels solid in your hands and has some heft when you pick it up. Even though the entire case is made from plastic, it doesn't feel creaky or flimsy at all.

Mounting

Display

Here is where you need to set your expectations correctly. It has no where near the colour fidelity nor the resolution of a modern smart phone. What it does have is good visibility in bright sunlight without needing the backlight and good visibility at night with the backlight enabled. Data fields display very crisply. The maps on the other hand, are passable but not great. There isn't enough resolution or display area to do maps any justice. But they are there in case you really need them and it is good enough for you to follow routes or figure a way out in an emergency, but not very useful for planning routes. That is best left to a proper laptop or desktop or tablet.

Maps

More settings

First ride

Battery

Dropped 1% from 88% to 87% over the duration of a ride that lasted 45 minutes. Let's be conservative and say maybe it was actually from 88.49% to 86.50% drop which would mean 1.99%. I guess that's not too bad. Note that I only had GPS, no Galileo and no Glonass, no backlight on, display always on and only a Vivoactive 3 heart rate sensor connected. Data recording interval was set to "Smart" and battery save mode was disabled since I wanted to have the display always on. The backlight was set to time out after 15 seconds.

Garmin Edge 1030 Plus with box and out-front mount.

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Knog Blinder Road 2 Mini-Review

These are the most powerful headlights that I own. My first impression when I opened up the package was: wow, these are tinier than I expected... Really tiny. Smaller in two dimensions than the venerable Cateye dual AA battery powered Cateye HL-EL135 that has been my mainstay for years. It comes with two elastic bands that snap onto the light to fit different diameter handle bars. A helmet mount is included. Fit and finish get top marks in my book.

It's a great looking light but ergonomics are somewhat compromised because of the size of the light -- control buttons are small and probably next to impossible to depress when wearing gloves. A long press on the left button turns on the light. Another long press turns it off. Quick stabs at the button take you from one mode to the next in the following sequence: narrow, wide, narrow plus wide and flash. The right button selects high beam or low beam. I tend to keep mine on low power since the battery is rated for only 2hrs on steady modes and 6hrs when flashing. This is halved in high power modes.

The Good

• Tiny. The best light is the one you have with you.
• USB rechargeable. Plug it in when you arrive at the office so you have enough juice for the ride home in the evening. Don't forget the included USB extension cord.
• Easy to mount. Mounts quickly and easily on handlebars. Also easy to remove. Make sure you take it with you when you leave the bike.
• Waterproof. It has been deployed during several tropical torrential downpours and survived. Tropical monsoon rains dump serious amounts of water.
• Lovely tint. Not all white LEDs have a nice tint. Some tend to be purplish and some overly greenish. This one is just a tad warm. Renders colours beautifully!

The Bad

• Self detaching clasp. The exquisitely machined lump of heavy metal in the clasp looks and feels classy, but causes the clasp to release itself spontaneously when you go over a big bump. Now the Road Blinder Rear Light has the same clasp. However, the clasp for the Blinder Rear opens in a direction perpendicular to that of bouncing up and down from road imperfections, and therefore doesn't have the same tendency to pop open. This is a case for going to a cheap plastic clasp. Might not look as good, but at least, it will stay closed over bumps. I loop a rubber band around the clasp to avoid losing the light over bumpy trails.

The Ugly

• Expensive. From a doller per lumen per hour perspective, this light isn't the cheapest.
• Difficult to swap bands. The light comes with the smaller band attached. Swap to the larger band for 31.8 handlebars. This requires quite a bit of strength applied very carefully. The bands snap in easily, but are tricky to remove. So be patient.
• Non-removeable battery. LEDs have a lifetime of 10,000 hrs or more. Running at full power would mean 9999 recharging cycles. A very good lithium polymer might get to 1000 while dropping to 50% capacity... Now if only we could replace the batteries...

Here's the Knog with the USB charge plug flipped out and ready to charge.

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Making and flying a delta kite

Had to keep the kids occupied during the school holidays and was wondering what to do when we stumbled across a delta kite design from MyBestKite.com. Naturally, we chose a simple design to see if the designs were any good. The simple delta kite looked like a great candidate - easy enough to build and a different from the paper and bamboo diamond kites I used to fly as a kid.

Sail material was cut out of some lightweight garbage bin liner bags. We used white correction tape to mark the sail outline on the black plastic material. A couple of 3mm square section wooden sticks and 6mm dowels were purchased from Daiso. These were cheap but cut from soft wood. It did not take much force to break them. And in fact, the horizontal spreader snapped on the kite's maiden flight... Dude built up the tail by tying together strips of black garbage bag plastic.

With the kite completed, we piled into the car and headed to East Coast Park. There was a decent breeze and the delta kite took off effortlessly. Several gusts of wind snapped the horizontal spreader and sent the kite and crashing into the sea. No worries. We salvaged the kite, lashed the remaining dowel with some 3M scotch tape and sent it up again. Definitely a robust design!

Our confidence bolstered by the success of this first attempt, we decided to take on The MBK Dowel Delta.

Tools needed to splice Daiso 6mm square dowels into longer spars. Daiso dowels are 910mm long. The MBK requires 1200mm long dowels for the leading edge spars. The splice overlap was 40mm and so the extension was cut to a 330mm (well, I was half asleep and cut it to 290mm...).

Mark out the notch with a good old fashioned pencil. Start removing unwanted wood with a penknife. Stop before you hit the line. If you're a first timer, stop well before the line.

Once you have a pair of dowels whittled down with the penknife, finish the notch by filing with a rectangular profile metal/wood file. Use a coarse file or you will take forever to finish this. Here's a tip: line the two notches so they are side-by-side and file them down together. Check if you've removed sufficient wood by fitting the two pieces of wood end-to-end. Do this more often as you approached the marked out lines. Unless you have really precise markings, go slow and check often! You don't want to have to start over. I had to make 4 of these joints -- one on each leading edge spar and two on the horizontal spreader (for symmetry).

Light coloured plastic bags are a little harder to come by at the local supermarkets. Using correction tape to mark out kite sails isn't exactly economical either. So we got ourselves a white paint marker pen from the convenience store. This marker performed beyond our expectations. Remember, it's a paint marker. White lines that you lay down with this pen are more opaque than the black plastic of the trash bags. What's the big deal, you ask. The big deal is that the opacity allowed us to mirror the sail outline about two halves of the folded sail material by shining a torchlight from the bottom. Markings from the first half cast a shadow that guides you as you lay down dots. To keep registration between the two halves, cut down the plastic sheet to about 5cm from the outline before you transfer the trace from the first half. Staple along the edge every 5 to 10 cm. This will keep the halves from shifting with respect to each other as you trace along to transfer the outline to the second half.

Credit where credit is due! Thanks to Tim Parish for sharing his designs on MyBestKite.com. If you're a parent thinking of spending some time with your kids, visit Tim's website and try building one of his kites. They really work!

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Carradice Bagman2 QR Support - Expedition: A User's Experience

I ordered the Bagman2 QR Support - Expedition together with the Camper long flap after some deliberation. Here's a summary of the thought process:

• Bagman or saddle loop? Now that I was sure about getting a saddlebag, how was I going to attach it to the bike. Direct attachment to the saddle loops would be most budget friendly, but it would mean taking a risk with the bag nudging against the back of my thighs with every pedal stroke. Plus, I wasn't sure if it would "hang" nicely or end up resting on the plastic mudguard. Better bite the bullet and get a proper support...
• Quick release or standard? Well, since I was already in deep, why not go all the way and get the added convenience of being able to attach and remove the saddlebag quickly? Turned out to be a good decision as I like to take the bag with me when I lock up the bike.
• Sport or Expedition? After studying the Carradice website carefully and measuring the bicycle, I decided on the expedition model. Firstly, this is what Carradice recommends for the Camper long flap and secondly, I measured the clearance from the top of the rear mudguard (fender) to the attachment point on the saddle rails and found sufficient clearance to accommodate the 20cm height of the expedition. It turns out that the Camper long flap needs all of that height.

The official product page is found here. Because my old Principia Mac SL frame doesn't come with any eyelets, I had to order the Bagman2 seatpost collar. This little thingamajig clamps around the seatpost to provide attachment points for the two rods that help hold up the Bagman2 support. And if you're really observant, you'll notice that I used both rubber strips (shims) that came with the collar in order to fit my 27.2mm seatpost.

The other little thing you might want to take note of is that the sample photograph shown on the Carradice website appears to be that of a rather large mountain bike frame size. Look at the angle and length of the rods and compare that to my setup. In case it helps, mine is an 18" frame with 26" wheels. My guess it that you should be able to use this down to a 16" or perhaps even smaller frame size, but you should measure and check everything twice just to be sure.

Yet another important detail you'll want to pay attention to is that you have at least 15mm of parallel saddle rail exposed behind the seatpost clamp. This is where the Bagman2 support clamps onto your saddle. One of the reasons for selecting a Crank Brothers Cobalt 2 seatpost was the very short clamp length. A Brooks B17 has a very short section of parallel saddle rail and you may run into difficulties if you mount your saddle farther forward or if you have a seatpost with a wide clamp.

And finally, here's a photograph of the Quick Release attachment. The shiny bits are cylindrical pins that retract to accept the QR adaptor on the saddlebag. The knobs that retract the retaining pins are just visible, pointing downwards. Be sure to visually check that you have the retaining pins extended fully through the saddlebag quick release adaptor when you attach the bag to the Bagman2. One other thing: my sample of the Bagman2 isn't perfectly centered (left to right) with respect to the mounting clamp. This is visible when viewed from the rear of the bike. The support loop hangs a little further to the left, not quite enough to compromise functionality, but enough to drop it a notch in the quality rankings.

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Carradice Camper Longflap Saddlebag Mini-Review

After deliberating for over a year, I finally bit the bullet and ordered a Carradice Camper longflap saddlebag and Carradice Bagman 2 Expedition Support Bag Mount QR from SJS Cycles. I ordered from SJS Cycles because they stocked both the honey/green version of the saddlebag and the Bagman 2 at somewhat reasonable prices and acceptable (but not exactly cheap) shipping rates. The idea would be to fit the Bagman 2 support to my hardtail mountain bike to fulfil most of my luggage carrying requirements for commuting and short day rides. This combination would replace the existing front and rear Old Man Mountain Sherpa panniers and an old Abus rear pannier; altogether a much lighter and compact arrangement. My bicycle now resembles more of the lean mean racing machine that it originally was.

This review is written to help those who might be considering a similar purchase and wondering if it would fit their needs and whether it will fit their bicycle. The questions that came to mind after deciding on a Carradice saddlebag were:

• Which style of bag? Super-C or Originals? I knew it wasn't going to be one from the Carradry line.
• How big a bag do I need? Barley, Nelson, Camper? Longflap or standard?
• Will it fit on my bike? Should I just hang it from the saddle loops? Or get a Bagman? QR or fixed? Expedition or Sport?

Decisions, decisions, decisions... Always made easier by asking the right questions and answering them one at a time.

Which style of bag?

Browsing the web, you'll find saddlebags that fit into two broad categories. The ones that lurk in most bicycle shops tend to be tiny wedges made from modern synthetic fabrics that fit under the saddle. These are usually just large enough to take a multitool, spare tube, wallet and perhaps a snack or two. Oversized versions of these wedges appear to be available for those on ultra-light multi-day camping expeditions. Examples of these are available from Carradice in their Carradry line, from Topeak, Vaude and numerous other manufacturers. To my eye, these are either too tiny for my needs or rather ungainly in the aesthetics department.

And then there are the classic saddlebags from a different era. These are made to hang from the saddle loops such as those found on Brooks leather saddles and are generally made from traditional fabrics like cotton duck. Cotton duck is a heavy cotton canvas impregnated with wax to render it waterproof. I am guessing the term cotton duck comes from the colloquialism "water off a duck's back". Such bags are made by manufacturers like Carradice, Sackville and Zimbale. I am sure there are others, but right now, these are the ones that come to mind. Of the three, Sackville appears to be the most expensive and most handsomely crafted, followed by Zimbale and then Carradice. I favour the rustic build of the Carradice Originals and Super-C. Those seem to be the most reasonably priced (though not a bargain). Sackville and ZImbale, while immaculate in construction, seem a little too refined for my tastes.

Having narrowed down the field to one manufacturer and two product lines, lets compare the Super-C and Originals. There are two saddlebags offered in the Super-C line: a 9-litre Audax saddlebag and the 23-litre Saddlebag. And the Originals lineup include: the Barley, Pendle, Cadet, Junior, College, Nelson, Lowsaddle and Camper with "long flap" variants offered for the Nelson, Lowsaddle and Camper. Both lines are made from cotton duck, but the Super-C uses plastic quick release buckles as lid fasteners while the Originals employ leather straps and steel buckles. There is only one colour available for the Super-C. So if you're looking for something other than black with white reflective strips, you're out of luck. Originals are available in black fabric with white leather straps or green fabric with honey leather straps. Plastic buckles are really quick to use and leather buckles can require some patience. You have to decide. I found it too difficult to pass up on the Originals' looks and figured I could live with the few extra moments required to open and close the buckles.

How big a bag?

The idea was to purchase the smallest possible bag that would fit my needs. So I made a list of all the stuff I might want to carry in the bag:

• Change of clothes: jeans, couple of t-shirts...
• Rain jacket
• Couple of books
• Topeak Turbo Morph mini-pump
• A couple of bottles of water and drink cans
• Spare tube and pouch

Clearly, this would be a stretch for any bag under 15 litres. And the pump would probably not fit any bag less than 35cm wide. That narrowed the field to just three: the Nelson, Lowsaddle and Camper. Since the other dimensions seemed so close to those of the largest, it was hoped that the Camper wouldn't look any less inelegant on the bicycle than its smaller siblings. And one might as well go all the way with the longflap version. This is the A380 of saddlebags. You never know when some extra capacity might come in handy. So much for getting the smallest possible bag.

Yup, it all fits inside the bag.

As the photograph suggests, it all fits in the Camper longflap with space to spare. In fact, you could still fit a hefty Trek cable lock in there. Bottles and tool pouches will fit into the side pockets. Each pocket is fastened by a leather strap and buckle. The lids overlap the tops of the pockets so rain water cannot drip inside. You can see a 400ml bottle tucked into the side pocket together with a tube of sunscreen. A 500ml bottle should fit, although just barely. A 330ml can will drop in easily.

Carradice declares the dimensions of the Camper longflap as 35cm wide x 24cm high x 23cm deep with a volume of 24 litres. If you multiply the linear dimensions, you'll find a discrepancy with the stated volume. It works out to a much smaller volume than 24 litres. Measuring from the edges of the black piping in each dimension, I found the actual dimensions to be 35cm wide x 22cm high x 19cm deep. With the longflap unfurled, I estimate you can get an extra 5-6cm of height. This works out to 14.6 litres with the longflap buttoned down and 18.6 litres with the longflap extended. Factor in another 1 litre per side pocket and you are good for 20.6 litres. This is a very respectable number when you consider the fact that a single Ortlieb Back Roller Classic rear pannier has a capacity of 20 litres (as spec'd, I have not measured an actual bag).

Will it fit my bicycle?

You will need to give this careful thought, especially if you are buying a large saddlebag to fit a small frame. If you are thinking of hanging it from the metal rings (or loops) at the back of your Brooks or Gilles Berthoud, all you have to do is thread the supplied leather straps through the loops and around the wooden dowel inside the saddlebag. Since the bag is supported from the top rear edge (my definition of the front of the bag is the face where the main buckles are located -- which faces the rear when mounted on a saddle), the bottom front edge will tend to point towards the ground. This must mean that the rear bottom edge of the bag will pivot towards your thighs as you sit in the saddle and make the wheels go round and round. You may or may not contact the bag with the back of your thighs. I gather that this is somewhat dependent on whether you have a straight or set back seatpost.

This is the least of your worries if you have a particularly small frame with not a whole lot of clearance between the saddle and the rear wheel. You may end up grinding away the bottom of your saddlebag with the tread of your rear tyre. Henceforth you may have little choice but to resign yourself to a pannier solution or a smaller saddlebag.

Having decided from the start that I did not want to risk being tormented by the nudging of the saddlebag against the back of my thighs, I decided to purchase a set of Carradice Bagman 2 Expedition QR supports. The Bagman 2 differs from the original Bagman in that it comes with additional support struts that attach to rack mounts on your seat stay or a purpose made seatpost collar. It also doesn't have bits that shake lose and fall off after too many jaunts down cobblestone lanes. You will want the Bagman 2. It is a much improved product. The Bagman 2 ships with a plastic adaptor that you see in the photograph below. This is attached to the top rear of the saddlebag with sturdy zip ties that are included in the package. The adaptor mates with the spring loaded pins on the Bagman support to implement the Quick Release (QR) feature.

Quick release adaptor fitted to rear of saddlebag.

Should I get one?

Yes, if it fits your needs and if you don't have to go hungry to pay for it.

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