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**TL;DR:** It’s very expensive at 349 Euro, but the \[Lumabag Rucksack\](https://lumabag.de/rucksack-brom-e-passend-fuer-das-brompton-electric/) immediately became my favorite bag for the Brompton Electric. It easily has the best carrying capacity of any current Brompton Electric bag, it’s super nicely made, is cleverly designed thought out, and it makes carrying the 5.4lb (2.4kg) battery much less of a burden.
(You can save 45 Euro by ordering without the frame. If you’re in the US like me, you won’t pay VAT, but shipping pretty much balances that out. In all, I paid $325 or about 308 Euro).
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**More Thoughts:**
I’m always looking for ways to carry more stuff on my bikes without having to attach my cargo trailer. As such, I owned the three available “big” bags for the Brompton Electric before buying the Lumabag.
* I was disappointed with the official City Bag; I felt it carried too little for its size and weight. It’s not bad if you get is as a freebie and can be nice if you need to carry a laptop, but I feel the design makes it awkward to carry a significant amount of things in it.
* The Valeria Bag has a lot of cargo space and is easily the lightest of the bags, but the material and frame are really thin, so it tended to bounce around and sag a lot with heavier loads (say, cartons of oat milk, for example). Crucially, I noticed this would sometimes block the headlight on rides, which made it a no-go for me. It’s still a solid choice and I love the various designs, but I’d find some way to reinforce the bottom.
* The Brough Basket is nice, and it’s what I’d recommend to most Bromptons Electric owners who want an upgrade from the small bag. I have the bright night version and it looks quite nice too. It’s versatile, light, and convenient without costing too much with a frame included, and I like the attachment points. I appreciate that it can be partially closed off and made thinner with the straps on the side. It’s also a little larger than the non-electric Borough bag, to compensate for the volume of the battery. But it wasn’t greatly sealed against the elements, I missed having more pockets for trinkets and it still felt a little awkward to carry.
Then I learned about the Lumabag. It basically has all the storage capacity of the basket bag, plus a large rolltop area, as well as some external pockets and a bunch of loops for attachments. Overall, it seems pretty close to the Borough Rolltop bag in terms of overall storage capacity. That’s exactly what I was looking for, since Brompton hasn’t deemed Electric owners worthy of one yet.
[The depth and width of the bag’s primary compartment are nearly identical to the borough basket, but the height is much greater and recovers some of the depth lost to the battery. for larger items.](https://preview.redd.it/y1awavhxkpqb1.jpg?width=4000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=44806437474001a12665f3f3169fb5f9973197c8)
But unlike the Borough Rolltop, the main benefit of the Lumabag comes from its backpack design. I suspected carrying the battery in a backpack would be more comfortable than a sling or tote, but the quality-of-life improvement was even larger than I expected.
On a messenger/tote design like the other bags, the weight balance always felt a little weird, and those 6 pounds of battery inevitable dig a bit into your shoulder.
But with a backpack, you barely feel the weight of the battery thanks to the even weight distribution Moreover, because the battery is centered on your back and fixed to the frame, you don’t have the awkward swinging weight you get with the messenger-type options, or even with throwing the battery into a regular backpack.
[The straps attach to the back magnetically and are cleverly angled upwards to prevent them from touching the wheel](https://preview.redd.it/spzvx0k6lpqb1.jpg?width=4000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4bd0bb5b13148bf74223a248549a06f6698463ee)
I was worried about the hard frame digging into my back, but it’s not as much of an issue as I expected; there’s sufficient padding, and it altogether doesn’t feel much different from having a large laptop in a regular backpack.
That said, looking at the photos on the Lumabag site, I did wonder how I would carry the bag as a backpack if it was stuffed to the brim; it would be awkward to have an open rolltop sticking out of the left side of my back.
To my pleasant surprise — because it’s not mentioned on the site, as far as I can tell — it turns out the bag can be used in a messenger style as well. It includes a shoulder strap and has sturdy attachment points on the back. Aside from letting you maximize storage capacity, the shoulder strap comes in handy when you’re shopping and want to quick throw things in. It can also be used to help secure loads when the bag is full.
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The bag is nicely water resistant, as I tested during recent heavy rain in NYC. It’s not fully waterproof, as water can still come in through the seams, but I spent about 30 minutes riding in the rain and my groceries arrived dry. The front pocket was a little damp, but nothing too bad.
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I personally think the bag looks quite nice too, in a functional type of way. It’s available in multiple colors. I dig the blue waxed cotton on mine, and having had bags made of similar materials before, I appreciate that they age gracefully.
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[The reflective material in the front pouch is quite bright.](https://preview.redd.it/d3o2w65yrqqb1.jpg?width=4000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6724ad5349d6712250d11d994a3b04c012261ac2)
There are nice touches throughout:
* The front external pocket and bits of the sides are lined with reflective fabric; this gets quite bright under direct light.
* The straps for the rolltop part attach magnetically and are easy to tighten and loosen. This also serves to help the backpack get slimmer when it’s empty and on your back.
* The backpack straps magnetically snap onto the back of the bag at an angle that prevents them from dangling down and into the wheels.
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[If you tighten the straps all the way, the bag can have a much thinner profile.](https://preview.redd.it/uzw5dyu2oqqb1.jpg?width=3000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f639246e38300c58e69f7fbb0d56a75a77a300c5)
My only real complaint is that it can be little hard to install the battery in the bag if you frequently remove it (I have two batteries I regularly swap between), and it would be nice if it came with a full waterproof cover for the price.
All in all, if you’re looking for a way to maximize cargo capacity and convenience on your Brompton Electric, I think the Lumabag is well worth. Even if Brompton came out with an official Borough Rolltop Bag for the electric, I’d want to stick to this one.
by OmniDumpling
1 Comment
Wow amazing write up! Thanks for sharing