Product Review - Twin 6 Messenger Bag

I have a lot of messenger bars. I seem to attract them the way that light attracts moths.
I have several examples of Timbuktu, Patagonia, Crumpler and more, and most of them do get used fairly regularly. In current use, is my T6 Sack, which is a large basic Crumpler back with some very cool graphics. I scored this pack from my friends at Twin Six when I was out in Minneapolis for QBP's Frost Bike.

It is a no frills pack, it has one large main compartment with 3 pockets, a flat zippered front compartment. There are pockets on both sides that easily fit water bottles. Anyone who has seen a Crumpler Bag knows how well they are built.

I've been using this bag for hauling my laptop, a change of clothes and some shoes back and forth to the shop whenever possible. The rising cost of gas sucks, and frankly, I'd much rather spend my money on something more fun. I've not had to fill my car up in over 2 weeks.
Riding a bike is far much more enjoyable too. I've been towing the boy to daycare in his trailer, so I'm using it as an opportunity to spend some time outside with the kiddo, and get a bike ride in too.


It was yesterday though, when the bag really proved it's worth. I was charged with picking up dinner. I didn't have the car, so I grabbed my biggest bag, the T6 Sack. Well. We had some of the ingredients at home, but still needed a few things. We were going to have burritos.
I was able to fit 4 limes, an orange, a lemon, a loaf of bread, a big flat of chicken, a bag of rice and a 12 pack of beer. Not bad eh?

The loaded pack was heavy, but fit snugly to my back with the help of the stabilizer strap. It was also pretty comfy too, despite having huge box of beer in it. I managed to get it all back to the shop safely, without crushing the bread even.


I'm not sure, but I think that if pushed, I might even be able to get 2 12 packs in there!
I give this bag 3 thumbs up (if I had 3). One for top notch construction, one for the excellent graphics, and one for being able to haul the beer home.
Cheers!

Home Finally

As I spent most of yesterday stuck in the gleaming jewel of our civilization known as Newark, I had some time to reflect on the happenings of this last weekend at Frostbike. A whirlwind trip for sure, I was very flattered to have been invitied to this dealer only event. I took in some very valuable info at the seminars, saw some cool new products, but most importantly, got to put some faces to names.

The most anticipated meeting was with Guitar Ted. After many years of lurking on each other's blogs, and several failed attempts to connect at Interbike, we finally meet. I had a great time catching up with you man! After our conversations, it looks like we may see each other again this year, with bikes even.

I had dinner with Brent from Twin Six with Tim Grahl and Arleigh from Crooked Cog at a cool little Minneapolis neighborhood restraunt called Chatterbox. I felt right at home there, good food, good vibes, and a Scooby Doo mural on the bathroom wall.

I also spent some time catching up with Jason from Salsa as well. Despite missing Jason's presentation, I know there are some cool things ahead...

My return flight was later inthe day on Sunday, but stormy clouds were in the forcast for the north east. I tried to get out of dodge early, only to be thwarted in New Jersey. You'd think with the amount of time I've had robbed from my life from that place, I'd know better, but I always have that hope that things will work out. Well, they didn't. I did get home though, for which I am very greatful. Big thanks to Aaron for the opportunity to sneak in to the President's Club. They have beer and TV in there!

More news on the horizon from Bike 29 shortly...

Holy Crap!

Boy did we ever manage to squeeze a lot into 2 1/2 days.

Friday afternoon, I headed up to Newport VT to check out the "ice crit" portion of the Jay Winter Challenge. Newport, is practically on the other end of the universe from us. I started my day in Burlington, and drove 2 hours in the afternoon to reach the crit in time. I'll have a detailed post on the event in the next day or so, there is simply too much to talk about in one post! I spent Saturday morning at the big race.


And speaking of events, we had our first annual Big 2.9 sale this weekend. We did a lot of work on the front end of this, as we knew we wouldn't be able to physically manage the sale, as we were double booked. Luckily, everything went smoothly. The website did what it was supposed to do, and we'll just say that I'll be busy over the next couple of days shipping everything out.
Having only a few free hours this morning, it was spent on the mountian, where an overcast morning turned into a serious blow down storm. In our last 2 runs, our tracks were quickly being covered up by the pounding snow. I estimate that it was coming down about 2" an hour, maybe more.


At the end of this week, I head to Minneapolis for Frostbike. It's a trade show put on by Quality Bicycle Products (QBP, or The Q as it may be known to shop folks). It's a distributor that pretty much has it all, and every year, they have their own mini trade show. I hope to actually meet up with the infamous Guitar Ted this time around! I'm also hoping to spend some time with our friends at Twin Six.

Well, back to the grind for me...