Last year Surly released their full-size “Porteur House” rack bag, designed for their 24-Pack Rack and other platforms of similar ilk. A beast of a bag, you could easily pack a full litter of Schnauzers or four dozen tamales in the Porteur house. Of course, sometimes the picnic is of a more modest size, and you really only need to bring one Schnauzer and/or a dozen tamales, and for this reason I’ve been eagerly awaiting the Porteur House’s little sibling, the Petite Porteur House.
The PPH is built of heavy duty 1050 nylon canvas with a polyurethane coating, featuring a large main compartment with a roll-down closure and buckles on both sides to cinch it down. A large external pocket on one side, and two smaller external pockets on the other side, round out the storage and organization options. The PPH measures 270mm x 160mm x 400mm (approx. 10-½”” x 6” x 15-¾”).
While initially designed for the Surly 8-Pack and 24-Pack racks, the 6 velcro straps that make up the attachment system on the PPH are both secure and generic enough to work on just about any similar rack I can think of. The plastic stiffener in the bottom of the bag also provides enough support so that you can mount the bag in either orientation – if it hangs over a little on either side of a narrower rack like the 8-Pack when mounted perpendicularly to the rack, no big deal.
The kind folks at Surly were also thoughtful enough to include a full assortment of urethane-coated liner bags, sized to fit the main compartment (with velcro to keep it from wandering) and each of the external pockets. Of course, my first thought was that the huge main compartment liner would also work well for filing the PPH up with ice and the beverage of choice. Speaking of which, the PPH swallows a sixer of Shiners with room to spare in a way that would make your distant cousin in Terlingua proud. The bright color of the liner bags also makes it easy to see find things inside the PPH without feeling like you’re blindly noodling for catfish in an undercut riverbank and wondering if a giant snapping turtle is about to rip your arm off. Regardless, I highly recommend storing sharp pointy bits like folding saws and ninja throwing stars in protective sleeves before putting them inside your rack bag. Just take my word on this…
Like all things Surly, the Petite Porteur House is built stout enough to be included in your Last Will and Testament and handed down to your offspring (or that distant cousin…) when the time comes. As my Gran-Pappy used to say, “Buy quality and you only need to buy it once.”
For more information about the Surly Petite Porteur House Bag visit – http://surlybikes.com/parts/racks/petite_porteur_house_bag
Lookin like Gomez is tryin to keep OldBear at bay…