Tag Archive for "saddle bag"

Spurcycle doesn’t make a whole lot of things. Five, to be exact and that’s not counting the trio of brilliant condiment-inspired water bottles.

But as the saying less is more goes, it’s obvious that Spurcycle is very good at crafting minimalistic accessories that are as beautiful as they are functional. The newest addition to the Spurcycle family, the saddle bag, is no different.

Aptly named “Saddle Bag,” the San Francisco firm didn’t slap no novel French name or a cool oh wow marketing copy to go along with it. Instead, what we have here is a no-BS bag for $45 that is simple yet practical and makes me wonder why this didn’t happen sooner.

At first glance, the Saddle Bag resembles a fold up, top-loading lunch bag sewn on with a Velcro strap. Simple, right? What’s not so obvious is that the choice of material used, X-Pac VX42, is anything but simple. It is a rugged multi-ply lamination consisting of a layer of 420 denier Cordura nylon, a tell-tale diamond-pattern monofilm reinforcement, weatherproof film and finally, a 50 denier polyester backing. There’s much more going on than what meets the eye.

Spurcycle employs a removable and noticeably long hook and loop strap with a reinforced section to put over the saddle rail. The low profile hook and loops mean the strap won’t put up a huge fight whenever you take it on and off but remains strong enough to keep its contents secure. For further peace of mind, Spurcycle also placed two security tabs running perpendicularly across the strap to prevent any unintended undoings. And to be honest, there was plenty of interlocking hook and loop to go around that it would take a herculean effort or a severely overfilled bag to lose it. Nevertheless, the extra security tabs don’t add much, if any, bulk so why not. If you are one of those people who insists on reading instructions, the black-on-black instruction card was difficult to read. Thankfully, instructions are also available on the Spurcycle website and the company is planning to remedy that in the next batch.

Compared to many compartmentalized roll-styled bags, the solo compartment design of the Spurcycle bag immediately jumped out, as there was still plenty of space left after I transferred all the contents over from the excellent Silca Roll Premio. Don’t get me wrong, I love the idea of slots for individual items to channel my inner OCD, but I can now have the option to add or remove accessories depending on the ride and not be limited by the size of pre-determined organizer slots. In keeping a small footprint, I also found that I could easily place bulky items such as CO2 canisters in specific spots within the bag so that they would fit between the saddle rails.

Inevitably, the single compartment also means that all the contents will be bunched together so any pointy objects such as multi-tools should be shielded from sensitive objects like spare inner tubes (a paper towel works great, plus it’s handy to have around at times). But to be fair, that’s not the fault of the bag and it’s a small tradeoff for having a flexible, shape-shifting storage system.

If you’ve been riding a long time, you probably have a fine collection of saddle bags. It’s just one of those things that we keep buying. Like the next one is going to be the one, the bag that fits all you want to fit, that doesn’t bounce around, or weigh a ton, or rub off your inner thighs when you’re high up on the saddle, or, worst of all, look like a Fred accessory on your hot new race machine.

Aesthetically, I’m been a fan of the classic pre-glued tubular neatly wrapped and tucked under the saddle, but that means having a couple of CO2 cartridges and a multi-tool bouncing around in your rear jersey pockets, which can be annoying. A storage bottle that slots right into your second cage is great too, right until you want to go on a long ride mid-summer and find yourself scrambling around for the old saddle bag so that you can carry more water.

I loved Scicon’s Roller 2.1 system where the bag clicked onto a quick release bracket … right until I hit a pothole and my pack went flying. In the middle of a fast descent in a granfondo. And so I gravitated back to the simplest of them all, a beat-up old rectangular pouch that’s secured to the seat posts with a long, wraparound piece of velcro. Hardly bling, but it worked.

Then along came Silca’s Grande Americano seat roll. Same idea – something wraps around it to secure it to the saddle rails – but instead of velcro, it’s a fancy BOA system, that most of you are probably familiar with from your shoes.

It’s exactly what you’d expect from Silca these days: Carefully considered, well-made, and at $58, not exactly cheap. There’s a lot of storage potential and it’s all kept tidy by three interior compartments that fold over onto one another. I had to pack and unpack a couple of times to get it to fold up the way I wanted – ie, as compact as possible – but now it’s a pleasure to use, with easy access to everything I could need on a ride. I carry some CO2, some tyre levers, a spare tube (Silca’s Latex offering is awesome if you swing that way), a mini-tool and a patch kit, but there’s room in there for more if you don’t mind it looking a bit bulkier.

So is it worth it? Well, in a sport where it’s OK to spend $30 on a fancy cream to rub on your crotch, I’d have to say yes. You could pick another saddle bag out of a bargain bin somewhere, and for a fraction of the price, it will do the same job. It just won’t do it as well. And it’s not like tyres or bar-tape that you’ll be replacing once or twice a season. Treat yourself, it will last for years, and if you’re a nerd like me, every time you open it you’ll get a little kick of smug satisfaction looking at how tidy all your stuff is.

Spurcycle Saddle Bag: Much More Than Meets The Eye

Spurcycle Introduces Titanium Tool

Silca seat rolls – a tidy new take on a cycling staple

Silca’s New Rigid Saddle Bag