Carradice Super C saddlebag

[Chris James]

Chuffy, I understand you are frustrated, and I am not employed by Carradice or anything but ....

As far as I know no bike baggage of that capacity has a built in support to it. Carradice are not unique in that regard.

If four of your five bikes take a rack then use that as the support. Problem solved - unless you want to fit it to your fifth bike! Then there is the whole issue of whether your saddle has bag loops ....

I agree with your point about the Carradice website being a bit rubbish. But if the bag is uniquely crap I am intrigued as to what you are going to replace it with. As far as I can see all the competitor products also require a support.

I would be amazed if one of the larger saddlebags could be fitted to a 54cm frame without some sort of support though. The only people who seem to get away with no support are CTC types with 25 inch frames and one inch of seatpost showing. But I suppose I only know this as I have used saddlebags on and off in one form of other for about 25 years!

Only the plus side, cotton duck is bombproof, will last forever, and using a simple support is lighter than using a rack.

Funnily enough, of the three saddle bags / wedge packs I have, the Carradice is the ONLY one that fits to my B17N without any bodging.

My Topeak wedge pack won't attach to the rails as the gap between the rails on the B17N is the wrong spacing for the bracket (so I use a cable tie instead). I have an Altura fusion bag which attaches via rixen and Kaul fittings - there isn't enough rail length left on my saddle so it doesn't attach very satisfactorily and the nett result is that I never use it).

 

[Chuffy]

I'm so glad it's not just me being stupid!

If Carradice had supplied the bag with a Bagman system, instead of the SQR then I probably wouldn't have posted this thread. But I would still question the wisdom of a system that makes it almost impossible to easily remove the bag from the bike and also requires a bodge to make it work in the first place...

 

[Chuffy]

If four of your five bikes take a rack then use that as the support. Problem solved - unless you want to fit it to your fifth bike! Then there is the whole issue of whether your saddle has bag loops ....

Brooks saddles on all of my bikes, so no problem there.
I don’t normally use a rack, I use a backpack, but the Carradice was sent to me to review. Initially I was pleased, because it would be nice to have my back free, but after an hour of grumbling and swearing in the shed I was less chuffed. Carradice sent us the SQR fitting (presumably on the assumption that we might not have bag loops) but that won’t work on any of our bikes either. The instructions say that it needs 5cm of post. Not true. It needs 5cm of post plus clearance above and below, so things like seat post clamps and saddle rail bolts will foul the clamp unless you have about 15cm (my estimate) of clear post showing.

I agree with your point about the Carradice website being a bit rubbish. But if the bag is uniquely crap I am intrigued as to what you are going to replace it with. As far as I can see all the competitor products also require a support.

I won’t be replacing it with anything, but I’m very glad that I hadn’t shelled out my own money for one.

I would be amazed if one of the larger saddlebags could be fitted to a 54cm frame without some sort of support though. The only people who seem to get away with no support are CTC types with 25 inch frames and one inch of seatpost showing. But I suppose I only know this as I have used saddlebags on and off in one form of other for about 25 years!

Then why not supply a support as standard? Or design one into the bag? It’s supplied as a standalone storage solution. If it can’t be used as such, except for people with freakish frames, then that’s a design flaw.

Only the plus side, cotton duck is bombproof, will last forever, and using a simple support is lighter than using a rack.

The bag is lovely, I just wish that it fitted on my bike…

Funnily enough, of the three saddle bags / wedge packs I have, the Carradice is the ONLY one that fits to my B17N without any bodging.

My saddle is the only part of my bike that it fits on. I’ve never had a problem with wedge packs on my saddles before.

My Topeak wedge pack won't attach to the rails as the gap between the rails on the B17N is the wrong spacing for the bracket (so I use a cable tie instead). I have an Altura fusion bag which attaches via rixen and Kaul fittings - there isn't enough rail length left on my saddle so it doesn't attach very satisfactorily and the nett result is that I never use it).

Fair enough, other stuff may have compatibility issues, but I’ve never come across a product where the usage was so badly compromised.

Criticising a Carradice Saddlebag feels wrong somehow, like slagging off steam engines or the Lake District, but however much I want to like it, I can’t help but be deeply irritated by the basic crapness of the design….

 

[Plax]

I have the Carradice Barley saddle bag using the SQR system. It holds 7 litres and I love it. I had it just looped through my Brooks saddle to begin with but discovered the SQR system when I wanted to transfer the Barley onto my hybrid which can't take a rack. Ideal as I can swop between the bikes now. Anything larger and I can see how you would need some kind of support - with the Barley on my Brooks saddle the bottom used to touch the top of my rack.

 

[Eat MY Dust]

I use a Carradice SQR Tour on my road bike and can't fault it (on my bike) I have however heard of people having problems with wheel clearance.

 

[andrew_s]

When I was a kid you could buy a support that looped around your seat stays, so you didn't have to bolt it on the frame.

Like this?

The bag tipping back thing is because the bags were designed when people rode bikes with frames as large as possible. The saddle would be well forward on the rails, and the seatstays would keep the bag pretty much upright. If you want to use a modern compact frame, the simplest thing to avoid the bag tipping back is to use a long seatpost strap threaded through 4-6" of plastic pipe.

The big Carradice saddlebags (Super-C, Camper Longflap) will need 19-20cm of space below the attachment point if supported, or 22-23cm if not. If you don't have the space, they won't fit your bike so you'll just have to use a smaller model.

I find that the Bagman QR system works really well. I've the full system on one bike (no rack), and just the clamp on the bike with the rack fitted. As quick on & off as anything

 

[Chris James]

Like this?

Yes, that is exactly what I was talking about. I bought one for about a fiver in around 1985 and thought it extortionately expensive then!

It worked well though, and so I wonder why they are not more generally available. I suppose the current trend towards smaller frames makes them less useful?

 

[John the Monkey]

A friend of mine has one on his (rather lovely) old Mercian - the only problem he seems to have is that the bag sometimes moves about a bit too much.

Chuffy, I think it might not be such a bad idea for you to do a review, tbh (as well as passing it on for someone else to review as well). A site that never pointed out the downsides of products that don't work for everyone is not much use at all. At the very least, forward your comments to the next reviewer.

 

[Pottsy]

So what is the general opinion of whether to go for the SQR system or the Bagman?

I have the same problem Chuffy, it is annoying.

 

[andrew_s]

At the moment, go for the SQR because the Bagman is out of stock just about everywhere
I prefer the Bagman QR though.


A standoff to stop a saddlebag with no support swinging forwards under the saddle and brushing the backs of your legs
http://128.83.80.200/bike/nelson.html

 

[Tail End Charlie]

I have an SQR Tour bag and it's brilliant. Easy to get on and off in seconds, well made and tough. The pockets at the side of the main bag are great for tools, inner tube etc, which can just stay in there. The SQR fitting mount is a great idea.

 

[Danny]

You can just buy the SQR fitting system from Carradice and use it with a Super C saddlebag. I've done that and it works really well. Also makes it every easy to put the saddlebag on and off the bike.

 

[Fab Foodie]

Ha!
I had/have one of those old Karrimor rear-stay fixings to support the bag and a large black cotton Karrinmor saddle-bag to go with it... but it doesn't work on my Compact Giant. The Karrimor bag was brill, better design than the 2 Carradice I have (Barley and Camper Longflap).

I use the SQR on my Giant with the Barley and the Karrimor bag, it works a treat for ease of use. The Karrimor fully loaded is a very big bag on the back of a TCR but found that it was pretty stable, the addition of a bungee cord to the saddle-rails made it rock solid.

Fitting the Barley to my TCR was a fag without the sqr as my Brooks saddle is waay back on the rails and the bag was nearly horizontal, I made a stand-of with a space-grip and some plastic pipe. The SQR fixed the issue and is readily transferrable from bike to bike.

 

[Chuffy]

Right then...

Tarnation, I'm going to review the damn thing. As JtM said, the problems I've had are as valid a view as someone with a perfect frame who has no problems. I like the 'length of plastic pipe' standoff bodge though. I might well try that...

Meanwhile I've fettled a rack onto TC, so that will solve the problem for the moment.

 

[Fab Foodie]

Right then...

Tarnation, I'm going to review the damn thing. As JtM said, the problems I've had are as valid a view as someone with a perfect frame who has no problems. I like the 'length of plastic pipe' standoff bodge though. I might well try that...

Meanwhile I've fettled a rack onto TC, so that will solve the problem for the moment.

That's the spirit!

Remember, if you diss the Carradice publicly, you'll have hoards of beardy men in Tudor longs torturing your soul for ever...

By the way, what's the saddlebags name (who made it... generally biro'd onto the tag inside. My Barley is a Christine).