4 ms·

Handlebar bags are not a big seller by any stretch of the imagination. I have spent years in the bicycle trade and have probably bought more handlebar bags for

Handlebar bags are not a big seller by any stretch of the imagination. I have spent years in the bicycle trade and have probably bought more handlebar bags for myself than I have sold to customers. This is not much of an exaggeration. Then the ones I do own are just for the grand tour rather than daily usage. That bracket on my handlebars is invariably not holding anything and there is invariably a bag on my back. As much as I adore the handlebar barbag as a product and will gladly try and sell it to customers, truth be told is that it is niche. Baskets for shopper bikes outsell bar bags 100 to 1. To get £45 out of a UK customer for a high quality handlebar bag is hard work. I can't imagine trying to get 179 dollars out of them for a handlebar bag. I wouldn't even pay that myself even though I like this product. The unique selling points are interesting. So it goes with gravel bikes. You can mount your phone and lights to it. The top isn't designed to hold a map which was 1970s USP. Let's look at what other manufacturers offer. Nowadays that top map pocket is for putting your phone in. Brackets for lights are not so common but I have LED lights on both of mine, albeit with brackets that are less than ideal. This 179 dollar bag lacks reflective strips which is weird. I also prefer standard Klickfix brackets as I can mount my handlebar bag behind the seat on my commuting bike, thereby getting better aero and handling. I don't think that fake pages trying to sell knock off versions of products are uncommon. Using such tales to hype your product is something else. Admittedly it is a curious story. Common sense would tell you that the cycling world needs this product. But try selling any handlebar bag to any customer on a busy Saturday in a wealthy area where customers happily spend 350 on cycling shoes. The handlebar bag is a hard sell.

alistairSH 6y ago
Yeah, this bag looks pretty neat. Most bar bags swing a bit and don't work well with my wife's cantilever brakes. But, the price tag is a bit much. I can get a handmade bag from any of a number of boutique bike bag producers for the same or less. Or, I can buy a small camera bag, rivet on a KlickFix and call it good enough for <$80.
analog31 6y ago
As an avid cyclist, I've noticed a couple of problems with bike accessories. First is looks. Folks have an idea of how a bike should look for a certain activity. Second is the huge variation in bike designs that make it hard to standardize attachments. A handlebar bag is likely to conflict with your controls, cables, light, and so forth. Gone are the days when a single Wald basket would fit on any bike that wasn't a racing bike. And the bike was already ugly. And if the basket messed with your brakes, it didn't matter, because the brakes never really worked anyway. For myself, I took a pair of worn out jeans, cut off one of the legs, sewed it into a bag, and attached it to my handlebar or saddele with a couple of old toe straps. Then again the whole bike was assembled from spare parts. ;-)
bombcar 6y ago
Niche markets can support VERY expensive items, if they are what the niche wants - see custom keyboards for an example.
steve_adams_86 6y ago
I know a very, very specific niche of riders who like these bags, and they make up an exceedingly small portion of the riders I’ve met over the years. Bike packers are one group, which has overlap with the randonneur group. They are probably the largest set of cyclists who typically have bar bags. And I don’t think they would buy this one - not a single one of them.
- sethherr 6y ago
  Counterpoint: I and my friends have bought this bag for gravel/randonneuring. And that segment is a growing segment.
  - steve_adams_86 6y ago
    It is growing, absolutely. I would love to see products like this succeed, so I’d be happy to be wrong.

alistairSH 6y ago

Yeah, this bag looks pretty neat. Most bar bags swing a bit and don't work well with my wife's cantilever brakes. But, the price tag is a bit much. I can get a handmade bag from any of a number of boutique bike bag producers for the same or less. Or, I can buy a small camera bag, rivet on a KlickFix and call it good enough for <$80.

analog31 6y ago

As an avid cyclist, I've noticed a couple of problems with bike accessories. First is looks. Folks have an idea of how a bike should look for a certain activity. Second is the huge variation in bike designs that make it hard to standardize attachments. A handlebar bag is likely to conflict with your controls, cables, light, and so forth. Gone are the days when a single Wald basket would fit on any bike that wasn't a racing bike. And the bike was already ugly. And if the basket messed with your brakes, it didn't matter, because the brakes never really worked anyway. For myself, I took a pair of worn out jeans, cut off one of the legs, sewed it into a bag, and attached it to my handlebar or saddele with a couple of old toe straps. Then again the whole bike was assembled from spare parts. ;-)

bombcar 6y ago

Niche markets can support VERY expensive items, if they are what the niche wants - see custom keyboards for an example.

steve_adams_86 6y ago

I know a very, very specific niche of riders who like these bags, and they make up an exceedingly small portion of the riders I’ve met over the years. Bike packers are one group, which has overlap with the randonneur group. They are probably the largest set of cyclists who typically have bar bags. And I don’t think they would buy this one - not a single one of them.

sethherr 6y ago
Counterpoint: I and my friends have bought this bag for gravel/randonneuring. And that segment is a growing segment.
- steve_adams_86 6y ago
  It is growing, absolutely. I would love to see products like this succeed, so I’d be happy to be wrong.