My wife is the best. I’ve been wanting an Acorn Handlebar Bag for quite a while now. These bags are hard to get, but she saw an opportunity to get one last week and ordered it for me. Acorn makes two handlebar bags, a large, boxy one that sits on a front rack; and a smaller bag that attaches to the handlebars. I have the smaller one.

Out of the box, the bag looked very impressive. It’s made of thick, stiff canvas and leather. It has a small front pocket closed with an elastic cord, a main compartment accessed by two zippers, and two rear-facing pockets with metal clasps (my camera fits perfectly). And, the bag looks even better on my bike.

I had some issues mounting the bag. I still don’t think I’ve found the optimal configuration, but a little more experimentation and it will be perfect. As you can see above, I put the buckles on the outside of the bag, thinking that it would be easier to get the bag on and off this way. However, Acorn recommends putting the buckles inside the bag, and I think I will try that.

The biggest problem I had with the bag during my test ride was that when I went over a large bump, such as a curb or speedbump, the bag flipped up in front. There are small stabilizing cords, and I tried hooking these to the both drops and the hoods. The cords just didn’t seem to be doing the trick. I have been experimenting with using leather straps instead of the cords, and I think that that is going to work very well. Time will tell.

For a test ride, I decided to ride on the paved Levee Trail, and to ride some of the dirt trails that connect to it. This would give me a good idea how the bag fares in rough conditions, and it would give me a fun ride.

The trails were quite muddy, and overgrown in places. Aside from the aforementioned problems with the cords, the bag held up well. In fact, it bounced around less than my old Banjo Brothers handlebar bag. I did notice that I can’t really ride with my hands on the flat part of the bar with the bag mounted there. I may try to use some kind of spacers to make more room between the bars and the bag. Overall, a minor annoyance, and one that I think I can work around.

(That ends my comments about the bag. Maybe I’ll do a full review once I have had a chance to run it through its paces.)

I emerged from the woods and rode along the base of the Levee Trail for a bit. I saw another trail heading back into the woods and decided to explore it.

These trails were even muddier, and I found some pretty interesting wetland areas, where I saw a couple of egrets and some other creatures. I also found a way to pass under highway 309, rather than attempting to navigate the road right by the exit ramp.

I ended up riding on a different part of the levee. This part had a mown grass surface. I wonder if they’ll ever officially connect the two parts of the Levee Trail that the levee reaches.

I found a neat dirt jump area on my way back. I decided not to try dirt jumping on the Long Haul Trucker. Soon, I rode back out onto the familiar, paved Levee Trail and rode back home.