Gear Review: Bike Cargo on the Cheap

I ❤ Miller’s Surplus

If you’ve seen me around town on my bike, you might notice I make use of various canvas bags attached to my handlebars.

I’ve been wanting to make a post dedicated to these budget-friendly bike cargo solutions to share with the world.

Now, I can’t take full credit for this discovery. The original use of military surplus bags on the bike (in my circles, at least) comes from Tempe’s favorite Mangleur, Ben Mangleur. One day I noticed he had a little tan camo snap pouch strapped to his saddle for flat-kit storage. It had never occurred to me to use surplus gear in that way; I’ve always thought of it as very overbuilt, heavy and bulky. But here was an example of a compact canvas pouch, perfect for the small essentials. At this size, weight doesn’t really matter.

Some time later I had the chance to scope out Tucson’s Miller’s Surplus for some useful bike bags. When shopping for these in person, especially without the bike present, it takes some creativity and an eye for design to pick out the usable bags. We are indeed re-appropriating something designed for a somewhat different use-case. But bags is bags.

Now I want to showcase a few of the bags and pouches I’ve found useful, with some Amazon links to the equivalent item from Rothco.

Disclaimer: I don’t want to discourage anyone from buying hand-made well-designed specialty bike-packing bags. I’ve got a few myself. Nothing can replace a good framebag! These are good supplementary options for someone who can’t afford spend on a $60 handlebar bag to get them started.

Large Handlebar Bag/Molle Pouch