The Echelon [S]

An amazing bag

As a cyclist for at least 40 years, I've had many bags :-) Life Behind Bars Echelon S is the best messenger bag I've ever had. Versatile, waterproof, roomy for its size, super comfortable, great looking, smartly designed and the workmanship is quality.
The magnetic closures work perfectly and the strap for this type of carrying is the best I know. You can also choose to carry the bag on your left or right shoulder with the removable strap. Smart. The idea of putting the laptop compartment on the opposite side of the bag from what is usually done is brilliant, it doesn't lean against your back when you carry the bag. There is a handle on top to grab the bag easily. The inside of the bag is made of a completely waterproof, bright yellow material that allows you to see very clearly what you have in your bag, even at the bottom. It's surprising that nobody distributes this brand in Europe. The quality-price ratio is superb. The Echelon S costs $95 while the equivalent in the most distributed brands, like Chrome, Timbuk 2, Freitag or others cost much more. These American or European brands whose manufacture are often outsourced and yet extremely expensive to purchase.
LBB is an Indonesian brand made in Indonesia. Trying a LBB bag is adopting it. Congratulations LBB, I'm a brand new fan.

My first LBB bag is great

Forget all usuals american or european brands, made in Asia with western high prices, like Timbuk2 (good as well) and Chrome Industries (which fail on me), etc...This bag is fantastic, very confortable, spacious, clever, waterproof and very good looking. It's a pity we don't find this brand in Europe, the price is great (but the shipping from Indonesia makes it quite more expansive then)...One thing I would ad to make it the perfect bag is velcro's silencers...What a great work LBB, congratulations, I am a fan now:-)

5 years and maybe a little more...

Got this at 2016 and have been my literal daily-carry to work, one-bag travel, jack of all trades kinda bag. I've used it cycling, walking, on the scooter, on boats...in intense Borneo-an heat, in storms, in open boats bathed by salty waves, and so on. You get the picture. And no matter what was thrown at it, it kept going. I never thought it would fail and this may just be the best bag I've ever used and already, I was thinking about handing this down to my daughter when she goes to school.

Alas, all things good meet their ends :( The stitching has all held up but sadly, the tarp is showing wear. The parts where the laptop fastener is and the sides where the bag folds is starting to show through and the tarp is flaking. Though this is by no mean a flaw of the bag, it saddens me to have to replace it soon as the lack of tarp meant that my laptop is not going to be safe from the elements no more.

My replacement will be in the form of its bigger brother :). Apart from knowing how it takes whatever one chooses to give it, I think this must be one of the most comfortable straps I’ve ever used in a messenger bag. I’ve used Chrome, Crumplers, Timbuk2s, G136s, Freitags and none of them come close to the comfort and versatility of this thing. And despite the strap’s smooth-ish feel, it has not once slipped or moved after it’s been set regardless of weight and load. If I have to choose, the strap will be the one thing I think you should not touch or change (at least not until the rest of the industry catches up with you guys). Because of that, I know with confidence that i’ll be able to handle the load that the bigger Echelon can muster and with the X-strap playing a supporting role, I may never ever get back to using a backpack.
With all the songs of praise and feelz, why then the less than perfect star-count? Mainly because I think the “21-litres” of the bag does not load like one. I know there is no industry standard for this, but I would say it’s a tiny 21-lit while something like G136’s proportions are more ‘Large’ x-litre while Crumpler’s are an ‘average’ x-litre. As a comparison, I think the Barney Rustle measures 13-ish litre and the Metromonger is about 11 litre, but usually, I can move most of what I have packed in the Echelon to the Metro (which is ridiculous), with the former still gives me some “very slight” wiggle room for some groceries while the latter is filled to the brim. In comparing to the Barney, if I really packed the Barney and it’ll look ridiculous, it might actually match the Echelon in terms of load-swallowing.
I think the main ‘flaw’ here is that LBB’s bags tend to share the total space. Although the Echelon has a cavern of a main compartment, that cavern’s space is compromised once I start loading up the zippered compartment (which pushes against the laptop) and the other pockets (which pushes in to the main compartment. If I loaded the cavern first, then these pockets suddenly become really tiny in terms of what they can take. E.g. I used one of the open pockets to stuff 2 wrenches, tube, tyre tool, multi tool and a pump. But once I load the main compartment first, the front pocket can only load half of them and I’ll have to use the other pocket to take the other half. The ‘pro’ of space-sharing is that the bag’s main silhouette will not change at the price of load. This is one main reason for my opting of the bigger Echelon this time around. While I’m trying not to ask for too much, I think the one thing you guys should change is how you get the pockets to work to take up a separate space. Take some of GR136’s strategies for sewing pockets that do not ‘steal’ space from the main compartment. Mission Workshop does this quite well as well. Another way I can think around this is to modular-ise the laptop compartment? (ala velcros like Rickshaw’s Zero?).

Once y’all can fix that, I can proudly and confidently say that I don’t think I will ever have to look or think about brands to look at whenever I need to look for a bag. It’ll just be yours all the way.

Pssst…please (please!) get started on a toddler/child-friendly bag. I would love to get my children to rock one of your bags.

THE Cyclists' Messenger

I can't believe there aren't more reviews of this bag out there. A versatile rain-proof (EQUATORIAL TORRENTIAL rain-proof) by-cyclists-for-cyclists' messenger bag that IMHO is better built and better designed than most of the other expensive "branded" messengers out there who have left their cyclist roots behind to trade up for "trendy" colours and shoddy materials. This one carries my 13 inch MacBook Pro no problems, in addition to a surprising amount of space left over for more gear. They put the padded laptop/tablet sleeve to the FRONT and not up against your back.I can't go back to the old way again! The strap is a breeze to put on and off, and adjust and is ambidextrous for lefties Velcro webbing at various points on the bag gives you space for your bike locks, lights, whatever you can throw at it. Oh, and the bright yellow interior liner not only helps me find my stuff under almost any light conditions, but it has also held up without any sort of ripping or the kind of wear and tear - more so than I can say for messenger bags that cost me $100 - $200 more than the Echelon. Great stuff, LBB. Syabas LBB! Syabas Indonesia!

• 0 out of 1 people found this review useful.

The Echelon [S]

Bought this bag in 2016. Still using it daily up to today. Been with me with daily rides, field research, trips, throughout every season, still going strong and waterproof. The reflective strip is already showing signs of wear, tho.

waterproof tested

this is my first LBB bag.. actually my first sling messenger bag ever..

bought this more than a year ago, I use it daily, with or without bag, carrying 13.3" notebook and all accessories.. including spare clothes when I ride my bike.

built quality is great, had some stitch loose but they fixed it quick. magnetic plastic buckles still work as they should.

once I brought my DSLR with some lenses, and ride through hard rain, great waterproofing.

The only flaw is that I had to rearrange my stuff often, especially clothes to have a better position in my back.

• 10 out of 10 people found this review useful.