[ziberzaba]

Hey, can anyone recommend a good way to carry my laptop around while I’m ridding once I get a bike. I was originally thinking just putting it in my backpack; which is padded, but I doubt that it will protect it enough for when I fall, especially if I land on my back. Then I thought a big tank bag, but then I thought “oh yeah, magnets + computer = bad”. I am thinking about saddle bags, but I just don’t know how well they will hold up in a fall. Are they padded well enough to absorb the impact and protect the computer?

[Sean_D]

… both for protection from a fall and for protection from rain etc. But no matter what you decide to carry it in adding something along the lines of the STM Turtle Hard Shell Laptop Sleeve from RadTech would probably help increase the odds of the laptop surviving. If you have a 17″ though, they won’t work for you.

[eon]

First thing to worry about is yourself. Personally I try to minimize the hard objects I have in my pockets. In a fall they are going to be pushed into you which could hurt like hell. I certainly would not carry a laptop on me. Even forgetting about a fall I wouldn’t think that would be very comfortable. I do carry my 15″ laptop in it’s bag in my Givi V46 top case all the time. It fits in nice and snug so it’s not sliding around. I honestly think the laptop would survive a pretty hard hit in there. Hope that helps.

[Gary856]

I just put my laptop in my backpack. I think a lot of people do. In a crash there’s no way to predict how the bike would bounce and hit so I’m not sure if the laptop would be any safer on the bike instead of on you. Some people even feel in a crash the lap top worn in the backpack might help protect your back, but again that’s hard to predict in an uncontrolled event like a crash.

I will say this – I wear a backpack because I have no luggage case on my bikes. If I had luggage cases on my bikes, then I’d be happy not to have the weight of the backpack on me. Still, not a big deal, unless the backpack is really full then it feels kind of bulky on the back.

[SantaCruzRider]

I carry my laptop everyday (commuting) and simply slip it into a textile briefcase and strap it onto the passenger seat. That position cuts down on vibration and moves it out of the way of any traffic light drop.

I have hard cases for my bike, but prefer the seat mount as it lets me leave the cases at home and facilitates legal lane sharing.

If I ever were in a crash bad enough to crush an object on the passenger seat, I will feel extremely lucky if my primary loss is a $2,000 computer. And if you’re worried about the loss of data — get one of those $100 external harddrives and back it all up.

[bigguybbr]

If you are worried about your laptop, consider the damage caused by vibration, bumps etc. to the hard drive platters. Excessive amount of that kind of stress can lead to reduced life of the drive and ultimately data loss. Consider replacing your drive with a solid state drive (aka flash memory drive). Because they have no moving parts, they aren’t subject to problems from vibrations and shock the way your standard spinning platter magnetic drive is.

And more importantly, if you fall, worry about being able to walk, talk, and ride again, not about the laptop.

[BouncingRadical]

I use a Kriega Tailbag to keep it water proof and just put a protection sleeve around the laptop to help alleviate banging around damage. Mine is 100% waterproof, I’ve tested it in the rain myself.

[Author]

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