We’re pleased to announce a special Limited Edition Collection of bags and accessories made especially for the Japanese market, now on sale exclusively through www.messengerbag.jp.

This Limited collection is a small run of modified Zenit, 2Hip4U, Cushy and Cache UTW bags and accessories.

This collection is made from remnant pieces of the high quality PVC we once used as the liners on all of our bags. These remnants were mostly assembled into fabric randomly and then made into bags and accessories. However, one or two of these bags follow a theme and have matching Cushy top tube pads. The bags feature interior liners of the same remnant PVC.

Each Zenit bag and 2Hip4U hip pouch is signed, numbered and dated. All pieces of this collection are unique. We no longer use this material and we won’t ever repeat this special collection!

Check out the whole collection at www.messengerbag.jp.

We’re thrilled to announce that you can now find UTW bags at the messengerbag.jp concept store in Tokyo!

Messengerbag.jp has been a great resource for quality messenger bags and other cycling accessories for years, and their physical shop has bags as well as t-shirts, shoes and other cool stuff.

So if you’re in Tokyo, swing by and check it out!

Lots of Hallowe’en fun in Toronto this year! Here are a couple of scary, spooky bicycle related amusements to amuse you on the 31st!

Start your party outright with some Bike Polo! Beginning at 11AM and rolling until 7PM join the West Side Maniacs for some polo ballin’ on the polo courts at Scadding! That’s at Dundas West and Bathurst. Come to play or to watch and hang out, wear your costume if you dare, you won’t be alone! The best teams around will be competing for bragging rights and a bunch of cool prizes.

More Info ++Halloween Polo Massacre Facebook Event Page.

Then get yourself to the First Annual Hallowheelin’, a new “Urban Cycling Challenge”! This isn’t a race, it’s a challenge apparently, so you roll how you want to. I’m picturing a bunch of people in costume on bikes doing a group ride. There are 2 courses, easy and hard so pick your poison muhwahahaha! This starts at 7PM just a bit north up the street from the Scadding courts at Manic Coffee near College and Bathurst. I hear that Lights and A BAG of some kind are necessary. The lights are so people can see your cool costume while you ride around town, I think the bag is probably for the same thing all bags are for at Halloween, candy and stuff. Really, wear your costume, it’s fun riding around town in costume we did it last year going from party to party, it’s a blast.

After challenging around town on the Easy or the Hard challenge you will end up at CineCycle for a great big Hallowheelin’ blowout bash with lots of fun people, bikes and costumes. Come in costume or just come by to laugh and point at people in costume, either way you will have a blast.

Proceeds from Hallowheelin’ are being donated to FoodShare and there will be some great pieces of art on the walls there from local and not so local artists! You can buy it and every penny goes to good causes specified by the artists!! Make an offer, all offers considered, get some nice bike art for that bare wall at home.

More Info ++Hallowheelin’ Facebook Event page.

If you’re going to be anywhere near Minneapolis this weekend, be sure to check out Queer Bike Gang’s Cirque du SoGay:

Check out their myspace for details.

Things should wrap up in time to enjoy Zombie Pub Crawl night, so zombie outfits are strongly encouraged for the ride. Just don’t get your bandages caught in your chainring unless you want real the blood to be real…

If you are in Toronto Saturday, September 26th at 9pm we hope you will attend the memorial fundraiser being presented by the TOBMA for Darcy Allan Sheppard and his family.

Al Sheppard was a local courier and TOBMA member taken from this world too soon in a horrible manner on our city streets. Our couriers in Toronto are severely underpaid and at times like this it becomes a necessity for us to band together to do what we can for one another and our families. The TOBMA is presenting a fundraiser for this purpose on Saturday, September 26th at Sneaky Dee’s, 431 College (College & Bathurst). Doors open at 9pm, a suggested donation of $10.00 or what you can afford is requested at the door. The evening will feature lots of fun including entertainment from Kick Ass Karaoke by Carson T. Foster, door prizes, a silent auction and lots of interesting people.

100% of donated funds will be used to pay for Mr. Sheppard’s funeral arrangements and to give support to his children.

Donations for this purpose are being accepted at this time via the donate button at TOBMA.com or at any branch of TD Canada Trust. Please provide the name Darcy Allan Sheppard and/or the account# 06906676860 & transit# 10202 to donate in person at a TD location.

The fundraiser will mark a solemn occasion with a celebration of his memory and a celebration of life. Come prepared to have fun while doing a good thing.

We’re aware that the current recession has made a challenging year for a lot of people, and as much as we’re proud of making bags that have lots of great features and details we also realize that there’s a need for something simpler, more affordable.

So today we’re happy to introduce the Zenit!

This commuter/student size bag is made to our usual high standards of construction, with the same quality materials as our other bags, but we’ve stripped features down to the essentials to keep the price low for you. Perfect for carrying your laptop and a few books, or a change of clothes, or even a few groceries on the way home, this comfortable, tough and convenient bag has already become our favourite for everyday use.

Check it out!

Only 3 months to a historical event, the 17th annual Cycle Messenger World Championships (CMWC) and the first CMWC to be hosted in beautiful Japan!

The TKBMA presents what will certainly be an unforgettable week of adventure for every messenger racing and riding around the incredibly large and complex city they call home.

Already hundreds of messengers both local to Tokyo and from abroad have registered to compete in the Main race. It’s exciting, especially to recall that this is the city that produced the reigning World Champion, the fastest Hiroyuki (Sino) Shinozuka who decisively conquered the CMWC 2008 that was hosted right here in our own Toronto. Sino’s performance in Toronto earned him victory by such a wide margin over such a large field of skilled competitors that his win will be talked about for years to come!

According to the TKBMA much of the events and racing will take place on a large and densely developed island in Tokyo Bay referred to as “ODAIBA”. We get excited just looking at this area, many landmarks including the impressive headquarters of Fuji Television, many different entertainment outlets that from Google Earth look like amazing fun and such roads and parks with pavement that makes the imagination run wild at the wealth of race opportunity. It is going to be the best yet!

Visit the official website for frequent updates CMWC 2009 TOKYO and checkout the CMWC 2009 Facebook Group too

We are planning to go and see the fun ourselves and have learned that a group of dedicated Toronto messengers will be there to compete with the best messengers in the world…TOKYO!!!!!

This weekend come to Scadding Courts on Bathurst St. just south of Dundas West and check out all the Bike polo action! Saturday there are pick-up games and general funnery from noon onward, then on Sunday the real tourney takes place to find the winner of the first annual Summer Jam!

Get all the info HERE or from the Facebook event page!

It’s supposed to be a beautiful weekend weather-wise, a great weekend to hang outdoors in the summertime. We made some extra special prizes for the tournament winners, but we didn’t take any pictures of them and they are kind of hard to describe, made just for bike polo thingies. See you there!

There is Global Gutz in 2009! It will manifest in Toronto as it will in many, many cities all over the world! The world winner will fly to TOKYO! to compete in the CMWC 2009!

I suppose if you know what to do that you know what to do! Surefire fun!