Customer Reviews Chrome Barrage

This bag looks great, feels great, and stays put in motion. It's a little slimmer than some packs, which is great for cycling so you don't get caught on mirrors riding in traffic. It's obviously very different from the messenger, and there are tradeoffs. You can carry more weight, add more cargo with the net on back too which is very handy, and all of the interior goods stay dry. Where it falls short though is functionality, materials, and styling. Functionality | The cargo net thing is a great idea, but should be larger to really utilize the extra carrying capacity. Loaded or unloaded, the bag is again not a messenger, and is far more cumbersome to take on and off. This is a bag I'd recommend more for long distance commuters than avid errand running cyclists or occasional cyclists making many stops. It is waterproof, however bear in mind it has one central cinch strap to close the bag. This does make it convenient to close, but it doesn't function like a typical dry bag in performing an airtight seal, and does have a retainer to help keep that bag closed. Still works, but you do have to use caution especially if really loading it up. Carrying capacity is great, but what happens when you arrive where you need to use your gear? You have to take it out of course, and the bag is long and deep, so it makes taking out a binder, six pack, what have you moderately difficult. Again, not recommended for stop and go, repeat. It doesn't hold small stuff well. It does have water carriers on the side, a bit narrow for some bottles, but what it really lacks is just an easy place to stash your phone, or a pencil case, snack, whatever. It has one zip pocket built into the bag, and one sleeve pocket inside the bag. The latter works well, but the former is created by compartmentalizing the bag. Basically creating one huge pocket, that actually wraps under the main compartment. The result is anything smaller than a large textbook inevitably falls under this fold and out of reach once you put gear in the main compartment. Materials | Chrome makes bags out of great materials and this bag is no exception. One area for improvement however is the padding. It is soft and comfy, and cushions loads well. However after four days of use, it's showing crimps and lines as I'd expect similar bags to exhibit around 8 months of solid use. This was the other half of what contributed to my return. Styling | I personally thought the tan bag was very nice looking. And you can customize these in the Chrome stores as well. However, you won't look quite so cool trying to take off your bag on your bike, or whip something out of your pack on an errand. It's a stop, put it on the ground, unpack all your stuff before being able to reach what you want kind of backpack. Does it keep everything safe and isolated? Yes. But it's like depositing your items in long term storage.. You didn't really need your calculator did you? Barrage will just hang onto it a little longer. Bottom line. If you're looking for a solid backpack that you can ride through torrents or occasional showers, this is it. If you need a commuter bag to take with you on rides and errands, or a school bag, look at the messengers.

This is a good bag, but there are no pockets for organization. If you need places for keys, pencils, and pens look elsewhere.

This is a great bag. I took it on a cruise and it packs a ton of stuff. I don't often leave reviews, but I figured I would on this one. While I love the backpack, I do think it needs a few modifications. First, it could use some organization. I love the messenger style with less organization, but I'd love just a small inside pocket to slide my wallet in and maybe my phone or something else. I think the water bottle pockets on the sides need to be a bit bigger. I'm struggling to get a nalgene sized bottle in there when the backpack is packed out. Finally, sometimes I just want to carry the pack by the handle instead of the shoulder straps, but this handle will dig into your hand when the pack is even slightly loaded. If they had put more padding on the handle or even a rubber grip like a Patagonia pack, that would've been brilliant. That being said, I love the cargo net! It is the most useful feature I've seen on a pack. This pack can absorb a lot of stuff and the only downside is that it's so deep that you may have to remove a lot of your stuff to get to other stuff. I use this pack more on vacations than day to day because it allows me to take a lot, but I don't have to access it all often. Unlike other reviewers, I kept this pack.

This bag is GREAT, very durable and I really dig the cargo netting feature. Only problem is that it doesn't fit my frame. Straps are too widely spaced and the bag is too long for me. Otherwise, I'd definitely keep.