Today was my first ride with a bike trunk bag instead of a backpack. It was great. My back wasn't all sweaty and the ride just felt better.
On Tuesday I bought a bike rack and bag from Tom's bicycle shop, but had trouble installing it my bike doesn't have any attachment points for a rack, and the p-clamps that came with it are too small for my frame. Ended up going for a walk with the family to ace hardware and bought some bigger p-clamps and some washers because the clamps had larger holes that the nuts could fit through. Went on well, took some work to get it level.
So now the problems I have with it. The bag doesn't fit on the rack if I have my saddle bag, not sure why, this seems unusual, though I haven't researched it. Also, the rack bag is much smaller than my back pack and my clothes arrived wrinkled. I read that I could roll them and that should help prevent wrinkles, but I'm tempted to upgrade to a larger bag. Currently I have the banjo brothers #01040, and I'm looking at upgrading to the #01070. The 1070 has bungee cords on top and side panniers, not too found of the side panniers, because I was thinking I may want to get real ones, and it requires more effort to attach and remove. But I do like the bungee cord on top to strap things down that don't fit in the bag.
My goal with the bag is to carry my lunch and clothes, so I want to be able to take it off and on the bike easily. But maybe that shouldn't be the solution. Maybe I should just take things out of the bag and leave the bag attached to the rack.
So many options.
