Crumpler/Twin Six T6 Sack

The Fonz had his leather jacket, Elvis Costello had his black-framed glasses—I call it "gear-by-association," when an object becomes synonymous with the person. For me, it's my messenger bag. Even though the Velcro has long lost its grip, tears line the mesh pockets, and the once-white exterior is now a patina of dirt and grime created by years of biking on DC's grimy streets, I've demonstrated a downright unsanitary loyalty to the damn thing. And I never thought I'd be swayed away from it—until I encountered the T6 Sack.

The brainchild of alt-cycling apparel company Twin 6 and the Aussie geniuses at Crumpler, this courier bag gets damn near everything right. The satchel itself is an exact replica of Crumpler's Complete Seed, a design that's dominated by a massive 1,340-cubic-inch main pouch voluminous enough to swallow your laptop, gym clothes (shoes included), groceries, and a six pack—with room to spare.

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Six additional pockets—three on the outside, three on the inside, including one with Velcro closure—provide OCD-level organization, and the main flap is secured by two clips and three generous, oval-shaped swathes of Velcro. The wide shoulder strap, which is outfitted with a removable pad, is secured by an easily-adjustable plastic buckle, and its excess slack can be folded and tucked into a narrow loop underneath the buckle. The bag also has a narrower stability strap that wraps around your torso for when you test every cubic inch of the bag's storage capacity.

Twin 6, meanwhile, lends their refined aesthetics to Crumper's architecture with a toned-down black-and-green color scheme. The flat-black exterior, made of water-resistant 1000D nylon shell, looks worn-in straight of the box—a quiet victory for most urban cyclists, and the dominate graphics—an embossed matte-black "6" and two green stripes, both on the main flap—are also refreshingly simple. The shoulder strap echoes the embossed "6," alongside Crumpler's playful logo in white, with a wink of the same green. And other than "Twin Six" stitched in black thread between the twin clips, that's it. Inside, the 420D ripstop nylon lining is brighter green, accompanied with the Twin 6 slogan—"Ride with Pride"—stitched in white (though when wearing this bag, that phrase seems superfluous). And while I will forever use my dirty old courier bag until it's pried from my cold, grease-stained fingers—especially for loads that don't demand lots of storage space, the T6 Sack has achieved the impossible: It's made me shamelessly unfaithful. $110.00; twinsix.com

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