The Velo Orange Campagne Bag Five Years In

This here is what Grant Peterson refers to as "beausage:"

And these are what you call "holes:"

And this isn't a hole yet, but will be soon:

This Velo Orange Campagne front bag has served me well for five years. Through five Super Randonneur series, the Cascade 1200, the Goldengate 1000, half of Paris-Brest-Paris, a couple of Fleches, dozens of other brevets and permanents, and countless rides that didn't count for anything in the rando world, this bag has carried everything I needed to get through cold rainy nights and blistering days. On most rides, if it wasn't in this bag then I just didn't need it.

For a bag that costs less than $100 (at least that's what it was when I bought it five years ago, it's a little over that now), I'd say it's held up well. It probably hasn't held up as well as the fancier bags that cost two or three times as much, but... well, they cost two or three times as much.

It's been a good bag. Not great, but pretty darn good. To be great it would need something easier to deal with than the buckle enclosures that confound me when my hands are cold, or when I need a candy bar in the dark. And hardware that didn't rust would be nice too. It wouldn't hurt if the window on map pocket on top were bigger and while you're at it, waterproof would be a nice feature for the map pocket. But these are really fairly small nits. Overall, the bag did what I expected it to do and did it with a good attitude. It didn't even complain the many times I over-stuffed it with smelly wet clothes and sticky candy wrappers.

This bag is far from used up. I think I may get a new bag for my main brevet bike, but I'll continue to use this one on my commuter bike until the holes get too big and I start leaving trails of bike tools and Clif Bars. Even then, some hand-sewn-on patches should put things right for a few thousand more miles.