About Using a Rack Bag on My Brompton
For the last seven years, I have been riding a Brompton folding bike. I love it. Not only is beautifully designed and engineered, but it rekindled my love of biking after almost 20 years without owning a bike.
As a Brompton owner, I have developed a minor obsession with bike bags. Bromptons are built for urban practicality, and part of that is being able to easily carry your stuff around with you. Nearly every Brompton is sold with a luggage mount on the front of the bike — and if you don’t get one at purchase, you can easily buy one and install it. Brompton and many third party manufacturers make bags compatible with this mount, and there are also people who DIY their own compatible luggage using a bag they like and a generic mounting frame. These bags can be easily and securely attached to the front of the bike and just as easily removed. It’s one of the best things about owning a Brompton.
I own three bags for use with the Brompton luggage mount: a small black canvas tote that came with my bike as part of a Memorial Day sale promotion; a taxi-cab yellow canvas Game Bag sold by Brompton but handmade by Chapman in England; and Brompton’s gray Cordura Basket Bag which I use almost exclusively for grocery shopping (a partially folded Brompton makes an excellent shopping cart). My yellow Game Bag is the one I use the most. It is handsome and eye-catching (it gets lots of compliments from other Brompton riders) and it just fits the 15” laptop I need to carry to work.
My only complaint is that, when the weather is not good, it can become difficult to carry everything I need in that bag. In addition to my laptop, some work clothes to change into, my glasses, and maybe a little lunch I occasionally need to bring my rain cape or other foul weather gear along with something to wipe down my bike when I get to work.
I need something a little bit bigger.
I watch a lot of YouTube videos about Brompton bike bags (see: minor obsession). Recently, the 2 Bikes 4 Adventure channel and the Velo Works channel both published reviews on bags by a company that I’d heard a bit about: Vincita. They make several different types of bike luggage including bags for Bromptons. A relatively recent addition to their catalog is the Big Nash Rack Bag.
This is where I need to explain something. A Brompton bike has two main ways* to carry stuff. On the front of the bike you can have the luggage mount and carry a bag there. On the rear of the bike (as on many bikes) you can install a rack and carry stuff there. Putting a bag on the front of a Brompton is the most sensible solution for two reasons. First, it’s a folding bike; you cannot fold a Brompton if there is something on the rear rack. You have to remove whatever it is first and then fold the bike. By contrast, you can fold a Brompton even if you have a bag attached to the front luggage mount. It was intentionally designed that way. Second, the bike has better balance if you mount your bag on the front of the bike. The weight is distributed more evenly between the front and rear tires and the bike will feel a bit more planted. This is why, until recently, I only ever purchased bags that mount on the front of the bike. This is also likely the reason that 90% of the bags made for Bromptons are made to be mounted on the front.
The Vincita Big Nash is made to be mounted on the rear rack.
Rear rack bags seem popular with people who need to carry a lot of stuff on their Brompton. They are perhaps going on vacation with their bike and need to be able to carry all their luggage on the bike. Or they may be bikepacking and need to bring camping gear. Either way, a rack bag is a secondary bag. They always have a bag mounted to the front of the bike as well. The rationale (I guess) is that they will be riding long distances and won’t be folding their bike until they are ready to stop and camp (or stay at a hotel). So having a bag strapped to the rear rack is not an inconvenience.
My typical use is a bit different. I have a multimodal commute — partly by bike, partly on commuter rail. I need to be able to easily and quickly fold and unfold my bike as I arrive at and depart from train stations as well as when I reach the office or return home. I really don’t want to have a bag that will take time to secure to and remove from the rack.
This is where the Vincita bag has provided a solution. The bag is built on a universal rack mount called the UniKlip made by KlickFix. The UniKlip can be adjusted to fit onto many different size bike racks including a Brompton rack. Once properly adjusted, the UniKlip allows the bag to be quickly and securely locked onto the rear rack — almost as easily as attaching a bag to the front luggage mount. And it’s just as easy to remove. No straps or bungee cords or Velcro; just un-clip the UniKlip and you’re done. It’s really well designed.
Today was my first day riding to work using the Big Nash bag instead of my Game Bag and I learned a few things.
The UniKlip
The UniKlip system delivers on its promise of ease of use. One must fully unfold the bike before attaching the bag — not true when using a front-mounted bag — but the Big Nash bag can be so quickly attached to the rack that it’s easy enough to balance the bike for a moment while doing so.
The clip is very secure. The bag does not wiggle or jiggle or rattle when riding over bumps in the road.
When off the bike, the part of the UniKlip that aligns the bag on the rack also serves as little feet so the bag stands up off the ground about 3/4 of an inch, keeping it clean.
Aerodynamics
One of the minor annoyances with many of the front-mounted Brompton bags is they catch a lot of wind. Depending on which direction you are riding, a front-mounted bag can feel like a sail that is pushing you in the wrong direction. It can be very windy in the city and somehow the wind always seems to be working against me. A big bag on the front of the bike only makes this worse.
The Big Nash bag actually has a low profile. It is mounted on the rack with its long aspect parallel to the direction of travel, not perpendicular. This keeps the wind resistance to a minimum and might make really windy days a little less frustrating.
Size
The Big Nash bag is, as the name implies, big. It’s not enormous, but it is bigger my Game Bag. Today the weather was nice so I didn’t need to carry much, but I did carry more than I usually would just to see how it would work out. The footprint of the bag is not different from the Game Bag, but it’s deeper. I now have more room to layer items into the bag. There are also interior pouches to help keep that larger amount of stuff more organized. And even though I didn’t completely fill the bag, the sides are stiff enough that the bag does not collapse in on itself.
Balance
This will take time to get accustomed to. With a bag on the rack and not the front, most of the weight on the bike (me and my bag) is over the rear wheel. This is (of course) the drive wheel, so it’s not a big issue, but it really changes the riding characteristics. It really feels like I’m pulling the weight of the bike more than pushing it. The bike feels a little slower from stopped. The front wheel is a little more likely to lift when coming off the line. I’ll probably need to re-inflate my rear tire more often and to a slightly higher pressure.
I also noticed that, without a bag on the front, I hear more noise from my front tire. It’s not a problem; it’s just something I never noticed before because there is usually a bag there dampening the sound.
Carrying the bike (when it’s unfolded) is also an adjustment. One of the easiest ways to carry a Brompton is by lifting the bike and resting the underside of the seat on your shoulder. Usually, the bike’s center of gravity is near the seat post so this works well. With the Big Nash bag on the rack, there’s to much weight on the back. I have to work to keep the bike balanced as I carry.
The Verdict
I like this bag. It’s nicely padded and will keep my stuff safe. The shell of the bag feels stiff and tough and is water resistant. It provides plenty of carrying capacity. It will be very useful when I need to bring more gear on my commute. It also gives me a different option for how I use my bike, and that’s always a good thing.
I also think it looks nice both on and off the bike. Maybe not as classically stylish as my Game Bag, but it fits with the black-on-black aesthetic of my Brompton.
* There are other ways to carry stuff on a Brompton besides the front luggage mount and the rear rack. There are first and third party bags that attach to the handlebars, the handlebar stem, the main tube, the seat, the seat post, and even the little triangular space below the rear part of the main tube, just above the chain ring.