I am pretty much a one bag woman (I just use the same one every single day, until it’s too worn out, falling apart or just plain obsolete for my needs, I don’t have multiple bags to match different outfits). Today I’ve upgraded to a better one, the ZWEI mobil U7. One that actually looks like a “business woman”‘s bag, instead of a teenager’s. 😛 With a major plus, it was designed to be fit for cycling.
I explain why this is the bag for me:
It’s multifunctional: it has a two-way strap which makes it possible for me to use it as a normal shoulder bag (with adjustable height) and in a couple of seconds turn it into a kind of “low backpack”, secured to my waist or my hips. This is good to better balance a heavy load on the bag and also for getting on my bike and riding somewhere without having a bag constantly sliding over to the side and getting in the way of my driving (this is very annoying and messes up my balance and concentration, which must be at best performance when riding with traffic). Besides, it can also be used (confortably) as a tote (with or without the shoulder strap). As an option you can have it with a KLICKFIX system to attach it to the handlebars on your bike. I didn’t get mine with that system because it’s not compatible with the folding handlebars on my Mobiky Genius. You can’t have it all, i guess. 😉
The organization of the bag is pretty good. It has a big zip fastened pocket on the front with a smaller pocket inside for the mobile phone. I use it for my moleskine, pens and diary. When the flaps are down, they hide the pocket’s zip (good for safety).
Inside it has two “CD compartiments”, but I use them for other stuff. 😛 It has also a removable velcro fastened pocket for a mobile camera and/or music player. It has a soft lining so it’s safe for gadgets. 😉
If required, for extra safety, the main compartiment can be fastened with a velcro strip. What I like about this strip is that when it’s not being used it faces one of the bag’s “walls” so it never grabs up the woolen sleeves of your shirts. It happens a lot with my older bag and many of my clothes resent it. :-/
If I have a couple of A4 documents, they’ll fit in this bag, which is great. But with all the stuff I carry in it it’s difficult to fit the papers there too without messing them up a bit, it they’re not in a more rigid case. If it’s a large file the flaps won’t close down so well so it would have to be used as a tote. A separate thin compartiment before the small pockets would make fitting papers easier, although it might still not be perfect in terms of closing the flaps.
This is the most expensive bag I’ve ever own (74.90 €) usually they are about 15 €, maybe 25 € in one or two special occasions, but I’m not much of a spender. In this case, I make an exception because it really is a great bag, good looking, strong material (and weather proof), practical and multifunctional (a feature I always appreciate in everything). I was about to buy it when I saw it the first time, at last year’s Eurobike, in Germany. But the person at the stand told me the ones in display were not for sale, it was a very new product and they were still just presenting it. I had to wait… I loved these ZWEI bags so much that I decided to sell them and make them available in Portugal too. 🙂
