Jahue's dashboard

wheee~! great~! i want in~! please.~!

I travel on business, and have been working to reduce the number of things I carry. I do not want a ton of little compartments. I do not want something that is clever for the sake of clever; little discrete compartments sound great on paper but then you get held up in security by the little complimentary pen knife that got stuck in some little crevice.

Model Name: Johnny Go Lightly

1. Must be carry on.
2. No WHEELS please. Wheels mean a frame, and this is definitely a soft-side bag.
3. Courier style, convertible to Backpack, with carry handles on long and short edge of bag.
4. Outside zippered pocket for passport and airline tickets. Must be long enough to hold standard tickets.
5. Compression straps to reduce size inside and out (clothes mysteriously get bigger on return trip.
6. No metal.
7. Zippered inner compartments to segregate dirty clothes from clean.
8. Double, water PROOF bottom
9. In both subtle and glaringly bright colors (easy to spot on luggage carousel)
10. Place for iPod and headphones, including iPhone.
11. Inner pocket with removable, sealable leakproof liner for toothpaste, cosmetics, etc.
12. Straps that allow an slimline laptop case to be added externally, not internally. That allows you to check in your bag and have your laptop with a case if need be, or leave it behind if you don't need the extra bulk.

Will there be new colors for the commute pack also?

people, there are new commute colors and fabrics.. some of them fit 15" and other 17" laptops .. take a looksee
http://www.timbuk2.com/tb2/products/l...

I have an all silver medium commute that I love, but my new MacBook Pro won't fit in the laptop sleeve. I wish they made another all-silver model that would fit the MBP.

+1

I do the same thing - use my large messenger bag and toss my (15" PowerBook) into a sleeve, and there's usually plenty of room leftover for clothes/toiletries. (I too pack light for a girl.)

I think a combination of the two would be helpful, I like the rigidity that the back of the commute offers, as well as the external zippered pouch, but I do NOT like the two slanted pockets that are covered by the flap when latched. Having the water bottle holders on the side is also helpful, I tend to use those for storing my laptop lock, maybe adding external pockets to the sides would offer more accessability. Give it a closure (Velcro? a clip?) and I'd use it for my digital camera/iPod/etc. Having the internal space of the messenger, and some of the external details of the commute would be a great combination in my opinion.

Also, what about some kind of modular bag that detaches into two bags? Now that liquids have to be checked I've lost my status as "security checkpoint ninja" but I still like to travel light. It would be helpful to have a smaller bag (I'm thinking similar to the Eula?)that would unzip or unclip from a larger (possibly wheeled, duffel style?) I'd be able to take that with me as a carry on (big enough for iPod, camera, book, current knitting project, wallet, etc) and once I reached my destination I could re-unite the two.

I'm really bummed that I didn't see this forum earlier. I travel a LOT (>150k miles/yr) and have a large collection of bags (bit of a bagophile). I have a large collection of Timbuk2 (a laptop briefcase, messenger bags in all sizes (some doubles), accessories, and I just got a Wool Commute bag that I haven't used yet!). I also have a large collection of Tumi (20", 22", 22" expandable, 24", trifold suit bag, bifold suit bag, rolling large suit bag).

I know the design phase is over, but I'd be thrilled to give my $0.02 worth on whatever design has been arrived at.

Bleep...I would say go with a morphable bag. Today I am in a Jungle, tomorrow on a bike, and the next day given consultation to a social media CEO...

So something that will wrap every which way I want it to! Colors? Cameleon, if you get my point!

Oh yeah, and please, please bring back something like the Arnold gym bag. I know it was limited edition, I know the retailers didn't like it, I know it's discontinued, but I still want one.

My comments here aren't so much about travel as they are about getting around with a laptop and other stuff. I've used my Commute bag for a few years getting around New York City by foot, subway, and car. Overall, I'm very pleased with my bag and I recommend it to others. My comments for future designs are based on that experience.

1. I have developed a bad back and would love a cool laptop bag that easily converts to rolling mode for longer walks. Weight, ease of conversion between carry and rolling modes, and laptop protection are key design aspects for a roller. If it's too cumbersome to convert between modes quickly, or subjects the laptop to potential damage while rolling, it'll never get used. I guess general durability would be pretty important too.

2. The external pockets on the front of the Commute are a great idea, but almost useless. Because the opening to those pockets are not elasticized and they're tight, it's very difficult to get things in and out of them. Also, when there's something in there, it generally intrudes on the interior of the bag. If those pockets were better designed, I would probably stow my power supply or other stuff in there.

3. Speaking of the power supply, because there's no good place to put that within the bag, I use one of the external beverage pockets for that. Any laptop bag really needs a good spot for a power supply. I'm thinking a large, elasticized or velcro-secured internal pocket on the side wall of the bag. In the Commute, that would be back-to-back with one of the beverage pockets.

4. The Commute beverage pockets are great, but could either be taller, or include some sort of strap to support carrying a tall travel mug or a taller water bottle securely. I've had to pick up my mug and my umbrella enough times that I've given up putting larger objects in the beverage pockets.

5. Umbrella storage! We all need umbrellas, they all get wet, and when you live in an area where mass transit is king, you can go from outdoors to indoors several times in one trip. Some place to stow or secure an umbrella where that umbrella won't soak the interior of the bag. Of course, this is critical so you have some hands free to drink your beverage out of the beverage pocket and read that magazine you've stored in the back zipper pocket while holding onto the pole, instead of holding your umbrella the whole way. Now I put the wet umbrella in the beverage pocket where it won't get the rest of the bag wet. That's not a secure place for it, though, and if I move around or get bumped, the umbrella will fall out.

6. Semi-rigid laptop protection. The padded laptop protection in the Commute is fine for a bag that gets carried, like a messenger or a backpack. I'm not that concerned about putting this bag in the overhead compartments or under the seat on a plane, because I understand that there's a laptop and other potentially fragile stuff in there. Therefore, I try not to subject it to a beating. However, in a rolling version of the bag, the laptop protection should be more rigid to provide better protection against impacts.

All this in a backback that converts to a roller would be awesome.

I own 4 Timbuk2 bags and I love them to travel in, however each of them are just not perfect! I travel a lot due to my work and mostly internationally, I took my messenger to Kabul with me in 2003, it was perfect. I love to have one carry on bag under 22" that I can use for everything, from carrying my laptop, to a book, my travel docs, ipod, and where I can roll up a change of clothes. But once I get to my destination I would love to use it as a regular backpack ( I know too much to ask for!). Lately I have been using the older women's version of the laptop backpack, I can't remember the name of it. The only downsides for me are:

1. The bag is not waterproof (I've loved TB2 for this reason alone, and hate seeing backpacks w/o this option)- since you are carrying high priced electronic gear this is an important feature.

2. Since you are carrying a laptop, which does make things heavy it would be nice if it had some type of hip pad belt (not a skinny belt, I mean a nice padded one that will take some weight off your shoulders while going from terminal to terminal).

3. Please for the love of god, stop putting the water bottle hold INSIDE of the backpack. This takes up precious room!

4. I would be happy to try out whatever demo's you have cooked up! But please WATERPROOF!

And since I don't read directions- this posting is really really late!

This thread is probably closed since it is past the deadline, but it is worth a shot to weigh in...I travel about 6-10 times a year for work and a few more for personal trips per year. Work trips are usually a couple of days at a time. I carry a Swiss Army Trevi for my work briefcase and have a basic Timbuk2 Messenger for weekends of carry stuff for the kids. What I'd love to see:

1. I need any bag to be designed around holding reasonable business attire without wrinkling. I do not wear a tie but wear nice pants, a dress shirt and usually wear or bring a blazer. I like to be able to take off my blazer but most bags seem to get the insert wrong so if I put the blazer in the bag, I end up with a wrinkled mess. I have an insert from 4 or 5 bags ago which worked pretty well but it doesn't fit as well in newer bags.

2. A nice carry-on duffle bag (or cabin bag some luggage makers call them) that can hold pants, shirt, blazer, etc. For a quick overnight trip a roll-aboard carry-on seems like a big waste and I like the duffle bag, but it is really hard to find a good one. They are either too small to be a good carry-on or too big to meet airline carry-on regulations. A little shorter and a little wider than most duffles seems to be what makes a good "cabin bag".

3. Next step up would be a small roll aboard good for a 2-3 day trip.

4. Must have separate compartments to hold liquids for easy removal. Otherwise you look like a dufus pulling all the stuff out of your bag for a security check. It also provides protection if the plastic bag and a bottle break--they seem to both happen at the same time to me.

5. Good selection of styles and colors. Ideally there would be some that were interesting but professional. Too many makers have choices of just black or really bright solid colors like red. Since a lot of time I end up in meetings with my bags in the room (such as when you take a cab to the hotel, walk across to the meeting, then a cab back to the airport), I need a color scheme that looks ok in a business meeting and bright red or orange or whatever don't work. But on the occaisions where I have to check a bag--or get forced to gate check on a small commuter plane--I want to be able to find my bags.

6. I'd also like a separate compartment to put a book or things for the plane in. It seems like my briefcase (a Swiss Army Trevi) often ends up filled with work materials so I'd love to be able to have an easy place to put a book, my iPod, etc. for a plane. It would need to be very accessible for just a small number of things.

7. Good quality without the ridiculous price tags of Tumi and the like. I pay for good stuff (Victorinox Swiss Army seems to be about my price point luggage wise) but would like to find something a little more distinctive.

would the new commute (due out early next year) be coming with the limited wool edition?

I travel internationally, primarily.Currently mostly to China, and other non-western countries. Thus a wheelie is necessity, it's got to be thin enough to fit on an escalator, waterproof, and durable enough to handle constant battering. Most of my trips are 1-3wks, or longer.

I'm currently traveling with a 22-24" Samsonite & XL canvas messenger, but have been looking at other options. I've just ordered a new 13" laptop(down from my original 15.4" when I originally got the messenger; also 4lbs vs. 7.5lbs
(laptop only).

I need durable, waterproof, and space for charger, power converter, mouse, HDs, cables, camera, ipod, and noise canceling headphones, & minimal paperwork. I tend to carry my passport in hidden pockets in some travel trousers.(passport and some money are my most important items)

I tend to pack for greater then 1/2 of my total travel time. As I'm not in that remote of location, I can pack for laundry service. It would be a great relief to be able to put my laptop/messenger bag on top of my carry-on/check-in and wheel about with it.

I do tend to check as I'm flying known International airlines, domestic I carry-on, and if I were in the wilds of ... I'd carry on as well. (sad fact, I trust commercial intl airlines more then domestic ones)

most imporant...
I need to be able to easily recognize my bag in the airport or on the belt. I used to travel with camouflage bags, but those are more common (and mine were'nt wheelie). And best...make it cool, or allow me to choose color/material.

I love my canvas messenger bag and would be hard pressed to give it up.

So on the CLASSIC/ Regular Messenger the laptop insert is sewn in? I have a laptop messenger that has the compartment sewn in. So when customizing the classic messenger with the compartment/sleeve its also fixed? This makes little if any sense I need to be able to remove the compartment if you select that option then it makes it a laptop messenger not a classic/regular messenger.

If you mean is the whole sleeve a velcro in piece the answer is sort of yes and sort of no. On the custom made laptop bags they velcro into the bag on three sides. However, they are sewn in at the top so it is not a fully removable compartment.

Hey, I know this may be a bit off topic but I'm going to be using my bolo messenger for a trip to California. I'm curious do you check your bag or do you carry it on with you and store it overhead? I'm really excited to find this post.