Po Campo Armitage Satchel Review

A while ago I posted about bike bags. I did end up ordering the Po Campo Armitage Satchel. I've now had it for about a month and have been using it daily, so I thought I'd post my impressions.

Overall, the bag is gorgeous! It gets so many comments and people are really surprised when I show them how easily it clips to my bike. The thing that I really love is that it looks like a regular purse/bag - and a stylish one too!


As you can see from the pic above, it fits nicely onto my Raleigh Superbe's bike rack. It's a longer one. The long straps go under the rack between the fenders and the rack itself and then clip onto the O-rings. On the ends there are velcro (sorry, no pics!) straps that go around the ends of the rack to hold it securely. I've found that I have to use these diagonally due to the design of my rack. It works fine, though.

 
Here's a pic of it on another bike, this time on a Pletscher-style rack. As you can see, it's much shorter and the bag hangs off the end. I can't attach both straps, so it'sa bit wobbly. Not ideal. However, any of the smaller bags wouldn't have a problem.

Here's a view of the inside. It's got really nice purple lining and one zippered pocket (there's also one on the outside). There is no dedicated mobile phone pocket, but I never use those anyway. I suppose you are supposed to use the one on the outside, but it's a kind of tight fit to put your fingers in so I think if you had a smart phone it would be hard to retrieve.

It's a very large bag and I've been able to fit lots of stuff in there without it being over stuffed. For example (over and above the usual stuff - wallet, keys etc):

• Full lunch (sandwich, fruit etc), large Klean Kanteen
• 2 kids' sippy cups, snacks
• 2 large bike saddles
• 1 sippy, adult sized thin athletic jacket (a Lululemon one for reference)

So as you can see, it holds a lot of stuff. The big toothed zipper also seems very sturdy.

My only negative comments are regarding the finishing of the bag. Overall, it is excellent, however there were some loose threads that I pulled and then snipped off (nothing came apart). Because I'm a sewer I can see that their tension was out on their machine when they sewed through the really thick stuff. Also, some of the binding on the stop isn't caught down perfectly, causing some of the folded under binding to flip out. It's a cosmetic issue and can easily be rectified with some fabric glue.

So you can see that I love this bag. I use it every day and don't use anything else! Go and get one!