That's definitely the first thing that comes to mind when thinking about the Chrome Metropolis. It's definitely the little things that count, even if you don't notice them, and boy... the Metropolis is packed with polished little details.
The Metropolis is the largest of Chrome's most famous line of messenger bags. You know, the kind with the seatbelt buckle upfront and the distinguishably bright red griffin logo on the back. Along with the Citizen and Mini-Metro, the Metropolis arguably sets the standard for what a high end messenger bag actually constitutes.
The shape it takes is vaguely similar to a parallelogram from the front, and an envelope in design. The flap folds over the inside front with a little bit of overlap to maintain water proof-ness. You can detach the Cordura from the truck tarp liner, allowing you to segregate your wet items from your dry ones (those little touches).
The strap pad is equally famous. As opposed to the convertible strap pad of a Timbuk2, the strap pad on the Metropolis is fixed, so you're stuck with the strap on one side. The advantage to this design is that you can design the strap to be specific to the left (or right shoulder) and maximize comfort. That is definitely the case on the Metropolis. One side of the strap pad seems to be lower than the other, anticipating the uneven distribution of heavy loads. I can think of no way to replicate this for the other shoulder without using a fixed strap.
The other advantage of the Metropolis' strap pad is that it actually quite long. The bag is definitely most comfortable with the buckle located about mid-chest, and the strap pad is long enough to achieve that even for me (I am quite thick chested). This means the lowest part of the accessory strap hovers just below the collarbone and is actually accessible on the go (again, those little touches).
Where the Metropolis struggles a little bit is in scalability and ergonomics. The design of the bag doesn't give alot of space for emptiness. That is, when the bag is only lightly loaded, it feels like something is wrong with the bag. I found myself padding the empty space with something springy, like a jacket. Gives it a little more volume and fills it out.
I also found that the Metropolis had a tendency to allow items to shift as you move around. When riding my bike, if I switched from the hoods to the drops really quickly, invariably, one of the sharper objects in my bag would tilt inwards and start poking me in the back. I was able to replicate this behavior by just fidgeting around when walking, or breaking into a slow run.
Of course, padding and larger loads will solve these problems for the most part, as will the universal precaution of smart packing. The fact remains, however, that the Metropolis truly does work best with larger , more voluminous loads. If you don't carry alot of stuff daily, or have back problems, the Metropolis is probably not your best bet. However, if you have an average to large size daily carry and bike alot, the Metropolis will definitely work well.
Not me. I would have the buckle much lower.
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