CCM’s 1152 Wheel Bag is a great design, too bad it isn’t a great bag
Written: Apr 30 '04 (Updated May 01 '04)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Awesome size, plentiful pockets
Cons: Poor pulling ergonomics and it WILL BREAK
The Bottom Line: Despite the excellent features of this bag the durability is less than acceptable. It isn't recommended
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| puckmugger's Full Review: CCM 1152 Equipment Wheel Bag |
CCM’s 1152 is one of the most feature filled bags that I’ve ever seen, and let me tell you I’ve seen a lot of bags. It is also a very roomy bag, more than ample for the average player’s gear. The 1152 would be a great travel bag . . . if it was a great bag to start with.
Picking out the 1152
I was looking for a wheel bag for my goalie gear. I know wheel bags are for sissies, yeah yeah. Let me also explain that the rink I play at has ridiculously narrow single doors, the frames of which I was in real danger of becoming permanently wedged into when trying to squeeze through with 50 pounds of bulky goalie armor in my bag. Wheels seemed the only way to save little kids from having to shove my mass through the doorway.
The old Sherwood bag I was using was in serious danger of spilling its contents the next time I pulled a little too hard in that same doorway. A couple years of being forced through the doorway had left more than one seam ready to blow. With the purpose of replacing the old bag, I walked into the local shop run by an angry local couple.
The woman who the locals affectionately refer to as “The Dragon Lady” in apparent praise of her outstanding customer service skills was working that day. I knew exactly what I wanted so I wasn’t worried about her. Louisville had a great new wheel bag approximately the size of a VW minibus that I figured would have enough room for my leg pads, the rest of my gear and a roll of tape.
I walked to the spot where I had seen this bag residing a couple days earlier. To my dismay it was now occupied by this slightly smaller CCM 1152. They must have moved the bag I wanted. The Dragon Lady came to “help” me and asked, “What are you looking for?” in her usual abrupt and slightly angry manner.
I tried to smile even though I was afraid of her. “Do you have anymore of the Louisville Goalie bags?”
“No.”
“Can I order one?”
“Yes, but you have to pay for it first.”
That didn’t sound too good unless they could get it in a couple days, “How long will it take?”
“I don’t know, two weeks, a month maybe.”
Worthless! I asked. “Is this CCM a goalie bag?”
“That isn’t a goalie bag, too small!”
“Can I see if my gear fits and bring it back if not?”
“No, it will stink from your stuff and I can’t sell it! You need help with anything else?”
“Uh . . . no thanks.”
She left and I looked over the CCM. Regardless of what she said it was the biggest player bag I had ever seen. Besides, I could stick that roll of tape in my pocket if the rest of my gear fit in this bag. I checked the measurements of the CCM against a few non-wheeled goalie bags that were in the shop. The CCM was as big as some of them were with the exception of the height where it was about two inches lower. I figured a couple inches wouldn’t make much difference and proceeded towards the checkout counter with the 1152 in tow.
The Dragon Lady wasn’t happy to see me with the selection of a player bag. For a moment I thought she might not let me buy it. She eyed me angrily, apparently insulted by my ignoring her helpful advice. I explained, “I think this one will work just fine for me.” With a sigh she rang me up. Man, that’s customer service!
Features and Size
The CCM 1152 was indeed big enough to contain my leg pads, skates, gloves, helmet chest protector . . . in short everything I needed as a goalie, save my sticks. When zipping up the bag I found that the missing two inches would have helped. It was a little tight on the fit.
The 1152 has more pockets than I have ever seen in a hockey bag. There are two skate pockets. A zipper on the face of each skate pocket holds a small accessory pocket. On the other side of the bag, what appears to be two more skate pockets are indeed not. These pockets each have three dividers that would make a nice file folder. Again these pockets have smaller accessory pockets on their front side.
The entire top inside of the bag is a mesh zippered compartment. This is the perfect size and type of pocket for wet items that are going to go in the laundry. The outside top has two more pockets big enough for me to keep a towel, long underwear, tee shirt, socks and a jersey in. There is another small mesh pocket on top of one of these two pockets. So pockets are plentiful to say the least. I couldn’t remember where I put stuff sometimes there were so many pockets.
The hard bottom of the bag is pretty good. This is a weak link is some wheel bags but I never saw one of these break in the 1152. The bumpers on the wheel end of the bag imply that the 1152 will stand on end. Unfortunately this was the design department creating a little marketing type lie. The frame of the bag isn’t stiff enough to hold the bag on end.
Rather than a telescoping handle like some bags feature, the 1152 has a single nylon loop for pulling it along. I found this to be a bit awkward as my legs hit the bag when walking. Ergonomically it wasn’t all that great. However the telescoping handles on many bags are prone to breakage. Broken telescoping handles were the number one reason we sent bags back to the manufacturer when I was working in hockey. So in all the nylon loop isn’t great, isn’t horrible.
Durability and more on the Dragon Lady
Here is where we get to the issues that keep the 1152 wheel bag from being the best hockey bag on the market. In a mere ten weeks from my initial purchase the zipper seam completely came loose from the bag. I was worried that if I took the bag back the Dragon Lady would be shaking her finger at me, “I told you, too small for goalies!”
A closer inspection of the ripped seam indicated that the stitching didn’t just come out, the material completely failed and frayed right up to the zipper. I drove back to the shop, garnered my courage and stepped inside. The Dragon Lady scowled as soon as she saw me coming in with a bag. It turned out that this was more from annoyance at any return than it was at the fool who bought a player bag for his goalie gear.
She did noting to reassure me they would take back the bag, but instead grabbed one of her employees from the back to look at it. He was the antithesis of her angry, evil service and with a smile assured me that CCM would take the bag back as it was obviously a manufacturing defect to rip in such a manner.
I had hoped to change to the Louisville bag, which was now in stock again, but the Dragon Lady wouldn’t allow that. Funny, I was ready to give them another $20 and they weren’t interested. Oh well, they replaced my CCM 1152 bag with a new one. The next day a fellow player commented on what a great bag the 1152 was and how he wanted one. I sold him my barely used 1152 for $10 less than price of a new one with every intention of picking up the Louisville bag . . . but that’s another story, back to the 1152.
OK, here is the really odd, part of this story. I ended up working for the Dragon Lady and her husband a week after returning the bag. The day I returned it I inquired about the sign in the window. Yes, she was abrupt, but it turned out that she was a wonderful person in comparison to her husband who I had never had the misfortune of meeting prior to my employment there. He had earned the nickname “Assassin” for his explosive temper, although we changed it to “Elvis” long before I left the store. (He was always yelling how he was the king, so I decided if he was the king it was like an older, overweight Elvis).
They had treated me fairly on most occasions prior to my decision to work for them and while the deal with the bag wasn’t a perfect solution, I figured that it was fair enough considering that I had stuffed the bag to near bursting with goalie stuff. So when they offered me a position, I took it.
Anyway, after less than a year of working there, we had half a dozen 1152 wheel bags come back with the same issue of bursting seams. I was in charge of returning defective merchandise as one of my managerial duties in the shop. CCM was far from surprised to hear about the failure of any 1152 wheel bag. In fact on one occasion the phone rep guessed, “Ripped zipper?” when I informed them I had an 1152 bag to return.
Final Thoughts
The bottom line on the 1152 is stay away from it. This is an awesome design with fantastic, plentiful pockets and ample room for the biggest hockey players with the largest gear. It is a shame that it doesn’t stand up to normal (or abnormal) usage; the 1152 could have been the finest wheel bag on the market. Unfortunately for CCM, the beauty of this bag really is just skin-deep.
Some of my other reviews that you might find helpful:
Fitting and Selecting Hockey Protective Gear
CCM Vector Pro Skates
CCM Vector Stick
Thanks to openroad for adding this item so I could review it.
Recommended:
No
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puckmugger
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