The now well overdue birthday present to myself is still undecided.

Going off the idea of a racktop bag and a seatpost mount on my spindly carbon seatpost, and now toying with the idea of a Carradice Pendle with a Bagman support. It will be for audaxes (audii?) and the like. Looking for any experiences from the STW massive.

(Obviously, I realise that the only real solution to my problem will be to get a proper dedicated audax bike with a rack, but the present buyer is less keen on that option….)

Yes, I do… It’s a spot on combination IMHO.. Solid and reliable, and plenty of room for all your kit.
I use a Barley bag.

i do , but only when theres a rack under it.

without it the bag (which is a camper longflap) swings forward and catches the back of my legs.

bag man does its job – just replace the grub screws supplied with propper capheads and file a flat onto the tube where the bolt goes through or it can come loose some times with vibration.

edit’ i read the op as “without a bagman” … with a bagman its great – no need for a rack.

I use a Bagman with a Pendle Longflap for my 52km daily commute. weighs a bit but no complaints at all. you can get a surprising amount in it without the lonflap extension. I typically have lunch, trousers, shirt, pants, pacamac, tubes, tools, CO2 inflator and I have room for more if required.

I have a bagman support but found I can use a Barley or a Cadet (which is slightly bigger) without it. The lower strap just snugs up tight against the carbon seatpost and stops any wobbling. The saddle does have proper bag loops, which probably helps.

I expect bigger bags would need the support though.

Thanks so far guys

So what attaches where, so to speak, especially with a saddle without proper bag loops?

I use a Carradice, without a support. Yes, it does touch my trouser legs, but my legs aren’t impeded by it. I’d like some sort of spacer on it, to hold it back an inch or two, but haven’t got round to making one yet. I might do something with one of those seat collars with rack mounts. Bagman is overkill, IMO.

I have a Super C barley, perfect for my commute, change of clothes, plus tubes / tools / mini pump and a jacket. Quite a bit of room left over as well.
I started using it without a bagman, and found it too far tilted back when strapped to the seat post (hitting my legs, plus I didn’t trust the outer pockets to be very secure when tilted at 45 degrees) and without strapping it to the seatpost it swayed too much.
So I got a QR bagman without the wire support, mostly for the quick release aspect, and then bent some 5mm steel rod into an appropriate shape to stop it tilting back – the pockets are now back to the horizontal position. I didn’t bother with the bottom support that the proper bagman has cos I think the Barley is small enough that it’s self supporting. It also looks neater when the bag isn’t attached.
Worth nothing that if you buy the bagman QR without the wire support, it’s exactly the same as the wire support version, but without the wire support, sounds obvious, but it has the holes (already threaded) so you can add your own support if you need to later.
I’d post a photo up, but I don’t have one handy, I totally rate the carradice stuff, really like and the super C barley is classic looking without the tedious buckles!

I use a Carradice, without a support. Yes, it does touch my trouser legs, but my legs aren’t impeded by it. I’d like some sort of spacer on it, to hold it back an inch or two, but haven’t got round to making one yet. I might do something with one of those seat collars with rack mounts. Bagman is overkill, IMO.

Some people use one of those handlebar extenders mounted onto the seatpost, then attach the Carradice strap to the extension bar.

Just rode a 400 with two guys using Barleys on Bagman Sports, they were proper firm. I might swap from bar bag to that combo.

A better pic of my set up…
They are a great bit of kit, and well worth it IMHO.
That and they do hold the bag upright too!

Thanks for that. There seems to be a supply hiccup with the sqr bagmans at the moment.

Review of Carradice stuff and the Bridge Street bag in the latest Arrivee mag that arrived today.

I use the Expedition version of the bagman which fixes permanently – I don’t need the quick release feature of the SQR plus it’s a lot cheaper!