Po Campo Pilsen Bungee - a Purse with Purposeful Utility?

Last summer while I was online, ordering bike parts, other items for sale appeared on-screen, one of which was a deeply discounted Po Campo Pilsen Bungee handbag. I admit, I'm a sucker for a bargain. Seeking a new purse anyway, and enamored with Po Campo's style and utility - and yes, I presume it was targeted advertising because I've browsed the Po Campo website a number of times - I easily pressed the "add to my shopping cart" button and a packaged arrived a few days later.

This is not a review per se, but more an overview because as it turns out Po Campo has dropped this style from their offerings and I think I understand why. But firstly, I am impressed with the bag's quality. The fabric is heavy cotton. The strap is versatile and can be extended to use the purse cross-body style if desired. The purse sits flat - probably its best feature - and the zipper is well made and easily accessed. The interior has a few small organizer pouches and zippered compartment - perfect place to hold my cell phone. As a purse, this is a good replacement for this bag which I have retired.

Po Campo's bags often come with stylish-looking attachments to secure the bag to handle bar or rack, to make it simple for quick trips around town for stylish women on the go. For the Pilsen Bungee style, silver colored buckles connected to strong elastic cord are easily unhooked and wrapped around rack tubing, then re-attached to provided D-rings. In general the system works well, but the stretchy cord and the manner of securing is not fool-proof. The bag shifts around on rough terrain; once sliding off my front rack. The bag is clearly meant for short trips, and for use only on top of a platform rack. Because of these proprietary set ups, I believe this is why Po Campo no longer carries this model. It is not as versatile as their other styles, which hook to handlebars - a safer solution for any cyclist with or without a rack.

For my purposes, the Pilsen Bungee is primarily my purse, so I mostly stuff it inside my Blackburn Central Shoppers pannier. But on occasion, when I run errands on the way home from work and stow additional items inside my pannier, also strapping a paper shopping bag beneath my spare bungee cord on the rear rack, I shift the purse to my front rack. This is when the Pilsen Bungee shines. To have the flexibility to mount the bag in another location, even though it may not be totally secure, is a wonderful feature. At any rate, I can keep my eye on my purse to make sure it stays in place for the short ride home.

After several uses, I replaced the bungee attachment with strong ribbon, because I felt the elastic cord was the bag's primary weakness. It does seem to improve the bag's security. At any rate, I can alter this feature, should I want a different coordinating ribbon color or switch back to elastic in the future.

After not planning on buying a new purse, then stumbling on a bargain, I'm satisfied with Po Campo's Pilsen Bungee. After all, every woman should treat herself to a new handbag every now and then.