07 August 2025

Kriega has it in the bag

Keeping everything together when out on the road is important on more than one level.

When it comes to stowing and protecting your essentials – and indeed your little luxuries – Kriega has it in the bag. The Urban Messenger to be precise.

Paul Browne is a fan.

 

The more experienced I get at this motorcycling lark, the more I find that I develop a certain comfort with some of my kit.

Comfort then leads to the chosen gear becoming indispensable.

One of these essential pieces is the Kriega Urban Messenger Bag.

It’s a little bit smaller than a traditional courier bag and can carry a laptop, charging cables, a pair of jeans, a pair of trainers and the rest of a basic overnight kit.

All in all it has 16 litres of capacity.

It completely negates the need for a topbox, has a side pocket with a waterproof YKK zip and inside the outer ‘flap’ there’s a see-through document pocket that’s big enough to hold a small stack of A4 pages.

Clap strap

There’s a number of different ways to set the strap.

I prefer to use the bottom right and the top left anchor points.

This allows me to carry it close to my back where it feels ‘weightless’.

There’s an anchor point on each corner of the bag so it can be set up whichever way I need it to be.

One of the things this allows me to do is to pivot the bag around my torso and wear it on my chest. This in turn allows me to adjust the weight as well as free up my back to carry an additional bag if absolutely necessary.

The strap has a clever little feature in the adjuster. It can be pulled loose or tight via a glove-friendly tag.

This means I can take it off or put it on over my head, even when I’m wearing a helmet.

It’s also very handy for getting in and out of the bag without having to remove it.

A detachable waist strap is also included. This can be used to keep the bag from moving at high speeds. I’ve taken mine off and put it away for safe keeping. Very safe keeping. So safe, in fact, that I don’t know where it is…

There’s a highly effective fabric on the back that helps it ‘hold on’ my jacket and prevents it from moving around.

It remains unbroken after much closing and opening. Where I’m concerned that’s no small achievement!

Roll with it

The body of the Kriega is closed via a really simple roll top.

Either end of the roll can be drawn and clipped together via the quick release buckles on either end.

The flap, which has an abrasion- proofed outer simply drapes over the roll top and is fastenable with the same type of buckles.

The body is made of 1000D Cordura.

This is the same type of fabric used in all-weather motorcycle suits and wears incredibly well.

Both the pocket zips are YKK pieces and the whole thing is waterproof. There’s an inner lining that can be taken out for cleaning.

The internal white taped-seam liner makes finding kit easy and is removable for cleaning.

Ten years after

I’ve been using this as my ‘go to’ luggage for over a decade. Then there a series of unfortunate events occurred in rapid succession.

Facing a long journey on my trusty T7 I made the decision to fasten the bag to the pillion seat. Error number one.

I then opted to use a bungee net from a well-known distributor/manufacturer who infamous for their ‘keen pricing’. Error number two.

Then for some bizarre reason I allowed a third party to tie it to the bike for me. Error number three.

Around 200 kilometres later I could feel something unpleasant happening to the bike’s rear wheel so I pulled over to investigate.

You can imagine my displeasure when I found it hanging from one side of the bike by the remains of the bungee cord with the body of the bag having been worn through by the rear wheel.

While nothing fell out, the bag was destroyed as were a pair of new trainers. My laptop was, miraculously, undamaged.

Happy ending

In all the years I’d had the Urban Messenger, it never leaked, never broke a zip, the strap never failed and it always fitted perfectly.

And then, through my own incompetence, I’d destroyed it.

You can imagine my joy when I was gifted a new one earlier this week. The one from a decade ago and the one from today are exactly the same since the piece was so good it hasn’t been revised.

At €189 the thing cost me less than twenty euro a year! If I hadn’t wrecked it I’m quite sure that it would have done the same again.

If you want – hey, need – one, the Kriega Urban Messenger is available from brilliant motorcycle shops all across Ireland.

Want to bag our best motorcycle insurance quotes? Call our specialist team on 0818 945 950!

 

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