Tom Bihn’s Le Petit Derrière

I have appreciated Tom Bihn’s company philosophy, its smaller stature in the larger bag world, and its design aesthetic for many years now. Because of this I’ve invested a lot of my resources buying their bags because I know they will last for years. Well, that, and their o-rings make me happy. I haven’t left my wallet behind at a store ever since I began attaching it to the bag I’m carrying. So you can definitely say I’m a fan girl. 

Recently I received an advance Le Petit Derrière that was sent to me by the Tom Bihn Company for free in exchange for sharing for my thoughts about the bag. As a happy owner of their larger bag, Le Grand Derrière, I was delighted to be able to see how each bag works and in what capacities. To that end, I’ve tried to be as objective as possible. As of right now, I’ve only had the bag approximately a week, and sometimes it takes me a while to be able to make a full assessment, but these are my initial thoughts.

The bag’s dimensions, at 11” wide, 6.9” tall, and 4.7” deep offers a slimmer although not much smaller appearing bag compared with its larger sibling, the Grand, which is listed at 12.6” wide, 8.2” tall, and 6.2” deep. According to the website, this results in the smaller bag having a carry capacity of about 60% of the larger.

Pictures, though, are worth a thousand words, so here are some photos to help illustrate the difference.

In this photo, you will note that the larger bag has the contrasting striping. I really prefer the subtlety of the black in the Petit version. From the top view, however, they don’t look much different in size.

This shows what I put in this particular bag for its maiden voyage. I was not hiking. I was simply heading to a knit shop about an hour’s drive away for a day of knitting and spinning. In the bag I carried my Nik’s wallet (version 4), a Nock paper and pen case (the brown thing), a Cubelet (in Alphabviolet), a P-style in the black case (I consider this a must own travel device), a Super Mini Ghost Whale in Aubergine, a hand sewn Tom Bihn pattern mask (version 2), hand sanitizer, and lip balm. In the Cubelet I have a hankie, gloves, a buff, and a glasses cleaning cloth stowed. I consider this my bare minimum EDC. Needless to say, the Petit handled it all quite nicely.

I put the lip balm and wallet in the zipper side, and in the buckle side I stowed my phone, which fits just fine and is easily accessed.

I think this top down view shows the bags’ sizing differences much better. The Petit is definitely a slimmer profile, which you may or may not appreciate. Because it is slimmer, it definitely cuts down on all that you can stow in the main compartment.

Sigh. So here I am. I live in Florida, but it’s been cold, so I’m still in my thermals. It’s a weekend; what can I say? I know that this might help a few of you as to what the bag looks like when carried as a fanny pack. By contrast, here is an image of me carrying the Grand a few weeks ago on a family hike.

I don’t think that upon first glance the two bags look all that different. I haven’t grabbed a photo from the side, but again, that is where you would spy the largest differential.

Just as you can carry the Grand a number of ways (hip bag, shoulder bag, and crossbody), you can carry the Petit. Neither bag works well for me in crossbody carry, but I did carry the Petit as a shoulder bag when I went to the yarn store. Overall it looks quite spiffy: it’s compact, stylish (at least in my opinion), and narrow enough that it doesn’t jut out awkwardly like the Grand does.

So in the end, which bag do I prefer? 

Pros of the Petit:

It has the more subtle black trim.

It will carry A5 stuff. I checked. It easily hauled my Kindle Paperwhite and my Hobonichi Cousin.

It looks like a purse when I carry it as a shoulder bag.

I believe as a crossbody it would likely be more comfortable and less obtrusive, but again, I don’t carry that way.

Cons of  the Petit:

It just doesn’t hold nearly as much in my view.

It is more difficult to access the contents because of how narrow the bag is. I think this would be mitigated somewhat if I were to have gotten a Halcyon version.

The rain flap frustrates me, but attaching longer pulls helps this a lot. Truth be told, I still need to do that.

If I could only have one of the bags, ultimately I would go with the Grand. This is because for me the bag serves as a nearly perfect hiking bag. It keeps my back cool (no backpack sweat), provides excellent lumbar support, and carries plenty for me to go on a longer hike. If I were to use the bag as a shoulder bag, however, I would stick with the Petit. So really it all comes down to the job the bag needs to perform in my life. For the present I am enjoying my Side Kick, so I will keep using that in the shoulder bag department although I will continue to pull in the Petit for general carry and perhaps even a short neighborhood hike, when the Grand would be overkill.

I hope this helps you gain a better understand of the bag along with its pros and cons. Let me know if you have any questions about it, and I’ll do my best to answer them.