If you need to regularly carry your suit in to work, then you can choose from a number of suit bags. One of them is the Henty Wingman which ships from Australia for £115.
For the past few months I’ve been whizzing around London, testing it out and today, as our collective new years hangovers subside, I want to bring you a typically comprehensive “London Cyclist” review.
First off, here’s an overview of the Wingman suit bag
The main compartment in the Wingman bag is designed so you can fit your suit jacket, shirt and trousers. To do this you use the supplied hanger.
There’s also a separate bag, that clips on to the main bag, where you can store your shoes and a few more objects.
On the outside of the bag, there’s a pocket where you could fit a small notebook, pens, your mobile phone or an iPad. Unfortunately, there’s not enough room here to fit a laptop.
Once you’ve got your items in place, the Wingman bag then folds around in to a cylindrical shape.
Comfortable riding
On first inspection, you may be forgiven for thinking the Wingman suit bag would be uncomfortable to ride with. However, thanks to padding in the right places, it really isn’t. It’s the sort of bag that you’ll forget is there.
The only time I found the Wingman a pain, is during a short journey on the London underground. I kept bumping in to people due to the odd shape of the bag.
I found that the bag stayed in place, even when using just the main strap. For those who find the bag slipping around, there is a second strap you can clip in that should position it well.
Keeping your suit crease free
Despite leaving my suit inside the Wingman bag for many rides, it remains free from any creases. The rolling design seems to work really well to achieve this.
Use in any weather
The Wingman bag comes with a waterproof cover, which means you can use it in any weather.
There’s also a useful clip at that back that allows you to clip on a bike light.
Who this bag will be useful for
I used to work in an office where we had lockers and a shower. I’d just leave a couple of my suits at work and then get them dry cleaned. Therefore, I wouldn’t need the Wingman bag, as I was hardly ever transporting a suit.
However, for those without that luxury, and a need to regularly carry a suit in to work, the Wingman could prove very useful indeed.
What I liked
- Suit remained crease free – beating any other suit bag I’ve tested
- Waterproof cover
- Well thought out design
- Comfortable to ride with
- Reflective features help with visibility
What I didn’t like
- No room for anything larger than a netbook
Review in a sentence
The Wingman bag is a near perfect solution for those looking to carry their suit in to work, crease free.
The Wingman bag is available for purchase from Henty.cc, Evans Cycles and Always Riding
The bag looks good, but I especially like the placement of where the shoes and other bits go (to be rolled in the middle).
Innovative design and helpful for longer train journeys where luggage sapce can be an issue, so increasingly helpful for non-cyclists too.
What I like most about this bag is the style – it looks like a messenger bag so wouldn’t look out of place on the commute!
I work in central London at a variety of offices where I so far have been unable to ride to unless I’m based there for a few days in a row.
Congrats Alex – you’ve won our competition to win a Wingman bag. I’ve sent you an email!
This looks amazing! It’s practical and it looks cool – very rare these days… I love the fact that it’s comfortable to ride with (unlike my current backpack when packed with work fodder!) and that if you can clip additional bags to it for your shoes, shower gel etc
I’ve been browsing to find something like this to lug a suit about for some time. Always been a pain to lug around a suit in a bag. I’m glad I don’t have to do it often…. But enough for it to be annoying.
Miner issue I’d have is I’ve never been comfortable with across the shoulder type bags as opposed to rucksacks. But I’m certainly keen to give this one a go!
What i really love about this suit bag is that the designers have clearly done their research in to what is needed to make a suit storage bag really work.
I’d say there are specific bases a suit bag needs to cover: Waterproofing, to keep the suit crease free, and that is must be comfortable to ride with. A failure on any of these three points and the bag would be rendered useless. That’s why it’s great to see that the Wingman passes with flying colours, and not only that, but the bag has a well thought out design and even includes reflective features to help keep any wearer that extra bit safer on the roads.
Kudos to Wingman for this exceptional product!
Curious to know how well it might go on a rear rack either lengthways or accross over panniers? Looking at the dimensions, it ought to just about fit on my Brompton rear rack with a bit of rear hangover and not be so wide as to catch my heels when pedalling.
Combined with one of the Brompton front bags, which will take my laptop and things, it could be a winning combination for days out from the office.
I’ve just ran a tape measure Adam and when packed with a suit and shoes in the additional bag the Wingman bag measures:
54 cm length by 29cm across.
That looks pretty good. I am kinda in the market for a new commuter bag since moving work buildings. Need to be more formal now so jeans and t-shirt are not cutting it.
I like the crease free rolling as I was struggling to come up with something to solve this.
Looks like a really stylish and functional bag. For me the rolling design is key as it’s so easy to crease a suit if the mechanism isn’t properly thought through.
It’s great to see more and more suit bag designs coming through for cyclists, it isn’t fair to make us choose between our work wear and cycling!
It would be great for keeping my cape crease free between crime fighting capers, I love to look sharp. I also like that it is water proof. There is nothing worse than soggy tights.
The cylindrical design is great – keeping suits crease-free is the eternal struggle for anyone who works in a formal environment and has to cycle in with a suit in their bag. Love the fact that everything else is separate too – no dirty marks on your suit from your shoes!
Just talking on the clubrun yesterday about the need for a carrier like this…..
Exactly what I need!
At the moment if I have to wear a suit I have to take the tube.
I did try riding with my suit on once and caught my trouser leg in the chain, looks very ragged now…
Much better to dress for cycling and then change into crease free smart clothing
Crease free 🙂 …….
Looks great, certainly something that would come in handy for the commute and weddings! Especially love the roll up (crease free) design.
Great bag and review, would love to carry this around for my daily bike commute. I especially like the rolling design (I try to apply the rolling technic for my clothes in my bagpack with limited success) and the waterproof feature for London.
Especially like the separate bag compartment for shoes to avoid getting dirt and polish on my suit or shirts.
Great idea – I have a 10 mile bike commute then a 70 minute train ride into Central London – anything which keeps my suit crease free would be fantastic.
Having moved to an office in the city where there’s nowhere to store shirt, suit & shoes for cycling in, this looks like it would fit the bill. I knew about rolling shirts to minimise creasing, but doing the whole suit, and fitting it into a waterproof, bike-portable bag = genius!
In one word: COOL. The bag looks Cool, carrying it is Cool, riding into work with a suit is Cool, showing it off to your colleagues is Cool, defying common perception is Cool, casually dressed after work is Cool, promotion because of the suit would be Cool.
The bag looks great and if it keeps suits crease free that’s a real bonus. I am tired of having to take the Tube when I need to bring suits to and from work.
By coincidence I came across this bag earlier in the week as it’s one of the new product lines at the London Cycle Workshop in Wandsworth: http://www.thelondoncycleworkshop.co.uk. Don’t know what price they have them at or if it’s in stock, but worth a look if you’re near Clapham Junction.
I have been looking for just this type of thing! the new office we moved to doesn’t have the facilities for storing clothes and it wouldn’t be acceptable to hang them in a corner. I have been looking at shirt folder boxes to put in the rucksack but that doesn’t help with the rest of the clothing, this looks like the ideal solution!
Crease free is the biggest thing- too expensive to get them pressed every time they travel!
I really need one of these!!!
Unfortunately my workplace provides showers, but no lockers so there is nowhere to put shirts, suits, towels, etc. Pretty ridiculous I know, but there you go.
$175 +pp is a bit steep though so hope I win 😉
Thanks for the review!
Not too shabby at all. I have often wondered how I would bring my suits and shirts into work and it usually results in me having to jump on the dreaded underground (oh no you didn’t)!
Yes I do have to resort to the dirty U word to get my work attire into the office crease free and clean and wearable for the week.
With a bag like this I can easily bring in my weeks gear and transport it around with no fear of ever having to squash my face under a sweaty armpit again. Brilliant.
Looks pretty good too, and I can also fit my lunch in there, BONUS!
Seriosuly thinking about something like this! I’m lucky enough to have a small office where I can hang up my work clothes on a hook on the wall but am soon to be moved to an open plan area where leaving clothese in the office will be impractical. This could be the solution that avoids me claiming it’s ‘dress down anyday’
I like the look above all else, elegant informal design and much better than the Slicks Suit 25 reviewed by Andreas. Trhat looked a bit liker a briefcase on your back!
This looks really good and would save me having to find somewhere in the office to hang a suit; particulary if it means being able to carry a suit without it getting creased. This would be the most importnat feature (along with it being water proof, of course)!
Crease-free + reasonably compact size sounds good to me. I’d be looking to carry it on my pannier rack rather than over the shoulder though – hate having a bag on my back when riding.
Great kit, but I never wear a suit….
I’ve been close to shelling out for this bit of kit a couple of times now but each time fell at last hurdle – this review will probably help me make that final leap. Looks good and seems like a decent price but most importantly looks brilliantly useful. I commute 15 miles each way 3 times a week and this will form central part of my kit.
I guess the best feature is it’s key feature, transporting a suit without getting it horribly creased.
No space for a laptop, no problem, mine goes in my C Bag clipped to the front of Brompton!
That said though, having a locker and showers at work means you don’t need to transport suits by bike at all.
As transporting a suit crease-free is pretty much a basic requirement I think my favourite feature is the separate bag for other items that clips to the main bag.
What a great idea, especially good for those off-site meetings that I currently go to in sweaty cycle gear. And nice to see a shoe slot too.
For anyone who does wear a suit into work, getting it to the office without any creases (and dry if it’s been raining), is the most important feature.
Also helps that the bag looks suitable to be worn on and off the bike.
this bag isnot for me becouse I do not wear a suit
Brilliant design – rolled suit rather than folded should reduce the number of crumples. Very clever to include internal ribs into the material to ensure that the rolled bag retains some shape when rolled. Not only is the overall design innovative but the attention to detail shows that the designers are aware of a cyclist’s needs: reflective rain cover, integral padded pocket for notebook; different straps to ensure minimal movement whilst travelling; and lastly a slot on which to hang your light!
Now all I need to find is a cubicle to change in! (But that’s a different challenge).
Given the positive responses from everyone, we’d like to offer you a second chance to win a Wingman. We’ll put all those who “like” our Facebook page (from January 7 – January 25) in the running to win their own Wingman, which we will dispatch at the end of January.
Thanks to all for the feedback.
http://www.facebook.com/hentydesigns
PS – we don’t spam our friends!
Suits me!!
Wooops! hit the submit comment too quick and did not leave my favourite feature!
I think it is it’s key feature, transporting a suit without getting it horribly creased, fantastic!
I bet Superman does not have one of these bags!!
This looks like a useful bit of kit. Would work better at keeping the suit neat and tidy for work, than trying to fold it up and put it in my messenger bag or panniers.
Now if I get a job at the Natural History Museum then I would have a real use for it…
Best feature would have to be a crease free suit in a compact bag but…
– Does it have pannier mounts anywhere on it? (no room for a bag on my regular ride)
– Does it fit within airline carry on guidelines?
If so, it would solve a lot of problems for me.
Hi Andy, here is the solution to your problems. Pannier and meets standard airline carry-on requirements. I think you’ll love the Classic Commuter Garment Pannier by Two Wheel Gear.
Wow. Zombie thread revival. Will check that out, cheers!
Thank you for all the supportive threads on this bag. Looking for something to carry suit on my new bromton. Work in some pretty high power places where I have to wear a suit that looks good. Needed a bag to carry suit to change into at end of commute from train to office. This seems to fit the bill with an o bag solution for laptop. Thanks to wingman for designing a product that actually seems to work and look good.