Customer Reviews

Bell StowAway Bicycle Seat Bag

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(13)
1 star:		(17)

 

 

I just used the bag for the first time this morning, and here's what I was able to fit inside:

A large cookie
A breakfast bar
A plastic (grocery) bag
A sunblock bottle
My iPod with 2 accessories attached

It was crammed full, but that's quite a bit of stuff. It's not quite large enough to fit a sandwich tupperware, but I think I can fit a sandwich in there as long as it's just in a plastic bag.

The bag attaches easily to the seatpost with a velcro strap, and also has 2 velcro straps on top which can attach to the seat itself. I don't think the bag budged during my 1-hour bikeride even having all that stuff inside. Since it's so easy to attach, I just took the whole bag off and brought it with me after my ride!

Although there isn't much behind a good seat-back bag, this is on of the best I have had. There is little trouble mouting it, and the zipper is smooth. It can hold a ton of stuff, and the reflector gives it an extra safety boost. All in all, great buy.

Bought this same bag at Walmart. Pleased with the mounting and the space; but the bag only lasted about a month. Majority of rides were through metro at lunch (roads and curbs) plus a couple trails. It has ripped out the stitching along the bottom side and along the top. It was carrying spare tube, patch kit, multi tool, tire levers, keys and c-card/cash.

This bag is just perfect. You can shove a light jacket into it. You can store your wallet and keys. It's just what you need without holding so much that it becomes a burdon.

I bought this bag because it looked like the right size to stow our medium-duty bike lock when my family and I go biking. Unfortunately, the velcro straps could not support that much weight when going over bumpy terrain.

My wife was testing it out and rode over a wooden bridge. On the way off the bridge, one of the straps came loose and the pack came in contact with the rear tire and got abraded pretty badly. She had to re-secure the straps and then ride very carefully for the rest of the trip.

This bag is probably fine for carrying light objects on paved roads, but it wasn't quite up to the task for our needs.

Most bicycle shop cycling equipment is a total ripoff moneywise when compared to the intrinsic cost of materials and manufacturing. So it's great that Schwinn and Bell make decent cycling equipment for your dollar. But on some items, they could use smarter product designers. This bag is a very good value in regard to size and overall construction, but the mounting straps are lame. I couldn't get the velcro straps to stay attached on my seat rails because they're too short. And I had to uncomfortably squeeze my fingers into a very small space between the rails to attach the straps to their counterpart. But even if they were longer, the design is illogical, and I've wrote Bell about it. A better design would be to have longer straps that meet and attach on the underside of the bag so as to accommodate all types of seats, not underneath and between the seat rails as it is now. So I bought some velcro straps from Home Depot and rigged it myself, and I suggest buyers to do the same. After I did that, I am a happy camper.

I actually bought this bike bag because the one I bought at Walmart didn't seem to fit very well. The top strap was too far toward the zipper opening for it to be threaded under the seat springs and the result is that these straps disengage very easily. The picture of this bike bag indicated that the straps were set back toward the seat and that the zippered opening was actually a bit more functional. Surprise!!! No such luck. Exactly the same bag as is carried at Walmart with exactly the same problem. Teaches you not to trust the pictures.

This is a decent size bag for under the seat, but the picture makes it look like a different model with an expandable section by a lower zipper. This one is fixed size, about the size of the expandable unit when open. The mouth on this bag is nice and large unlike the expandable bag. Also the price is right.

This behind-and-under-the-seat bike bag is "Bell" sturdy and easy to attach and remove. Can't go wrong for the money.

This bag lasted for me less then a month before first tear on the bottom seam started showing. It couldn't hold a 4ft cable lock and basic tire repair kit, with total weight of 1-1.5 lb, using on city streets.
The whole design of holding strap seamed to very thin type of fabric (I wouldn't dare call it a "ballistic nylon" because of it's thickness, otherwise it sure looks like it) is a flaw. There are no reinforcements of any sorts and all the stress from content weight is in two places: where sides seamed to the bottom, straight down from where straps is sewed to the sides.
Since it has hard plastic insert, which covers top and bottom of the bag, one would expect that it would participate in holding the bag together, but it doesn't, it only uses to preserve the shape of the bag.
If the designers would put an reinforcement strap from side to side that runs across the bottom of the bag it would be perfect and much more durable.

I realize that the problem I had maybe due to defective item or maybe I didn't let the top straps relax and made them little too tight. I will check that with my next bag which won't be made by BELL.

The bottom line - I would not recommend this bag for more then carrying a large cookie in it (my apology to the the previous reviewer for this sarcastic analogy)