But what about all the stuff?
I can only envy people whose lives are so elegantly structured and uncluttered that they can carry their daily needs in a shoulder bag. I'm one of the people carrying a work bag with laptop, soft sided cooler with two meals, and a gym bag in my 3 bag Givi setup.
I discovered there are some upsides to the hard bags after getting knocked down in traffic. First, the bags kept my bike off my leg and saved me lots of bike damage. Second, the bags protected my stuff quite nicely. My laptop suffered no damage, my cell phone still worked so I could call my office, and my digital camera still worked so I could quickly document the circumstances of the accident leading to eventually reaping a full payout from the offender's insurance company.
Until I am owned by less stuff, I'll stick with the hard bag and just envy you cool folks who can get by with one of these messenger bags. But I'll also be secretly thinking "my stuff is safer than their stuff."
Oh, and Consumer Reports would have been proud to have published this review.