Frame bags - Are they worth it?

[DanDax1990]

Having a debate with my brother and we're trying to work out if a frame bag is actually worth it?

How much can you fit inside a frame bag? What do you guys personally put in your frame bags if you use one?

[Bearbonesnorm]

How much can you fit inside a frame bag?

How big's your frame is the simple answer

I run small frames so my frame bags don't have a massive capacity but still find they're worthwhile ... more so as distance / nights out increase.

[DanDax1990]

Both frames are 18 inch hardtails.

My brothers argument was along the lines of, the frame bags would have to be narrow, maybe a little bit wider than the frame, otherwise you'd be catching your knees/feet on the bag whilst peddaling?

[Chew]

Think I calculated mine being about 4/5itres

You'd be surprised how much stuff you can fit in there though. I can get all my cooking stuff, tools and a couple of meals as well (All the heavy stuff)
Pro's - the weight is held low down and between the wheels so it doesnt interfere with the bikes handling.
Con's - if your a fan of bottles you'll have to find somewhere else to put them

[firedfromthecircus]

They are a handy use of an otherwise wasted space IMHO, and not just on bikepacking rides.

Whether they are worth it is another matter. I reckon the lower priced, but still well made bags are worth it. The higher priced ones don't seem to offer a big enough step up in quality to be worth it. Totaly overpriced, but then import duty is not cheap.

[DanDax1990]

Cheers guys, I like the idea of them anyway. Mainly for the cooking gear and because it won't effect the handling too much.

Recommend me some then guys? :D

Also, saddle bags and bar mounts for dry bags etc?

I'm all new to this and want to try keep the budget as low as possible but don't want to scrimp and scrape on the quality too much, so as long as it's worth it, don't mind paying more than cheaper products.

[FLV]

My wildcat gear one is superb. I like it a lot. for bikepacking I generally put my tubes, tools, pump, tarp or jacket and a load of grub in it.

I hear alpkit ones are good too but cant speak from experience.
Its notable (to me) that wildcat has slowly replaced all other brands on my bike for all carrying except gas tank.

[DanDax1990]

At £110 the Wildcat Leopard's are expensive? Or am I just being a tight ar*e?

I like the look of the Revelate Designs products but they don't do bags to fit the full frame?

Does anyone have a medium sized 'Tangle' bag from Revelate? If so, what do you fit in there?

[FLV]

At £110 the Wildcat Leopard's are expensive? Or am I just being a tight ar*e?

I like the look of the Revelate Designs products but they don't do bags to fit the full frame?

Does anyone have a medium sized 'Tangle' bag from Revelate? If so, what do you fit in there?

Got one of those too. Had it for a fair while and it is very good. The tangle is wider than the wildcat and touched my knees / legs on my road bike. I can fit a fair bit in it though. I does fit a laser comp tent in it. I probably fit the same as a wildcat but with the exception of the tools and tubes. They're good

[Zoglug]

I currently have a full frame bag which i purchased second hand from here, think i paid £30 or so for it, and for my first trip it was very useful indeed. However, i will admit that because i had the space available, i packed more stuff than i actually needed.

I did a pre-pack earlier for my upcoming mid-week bivi, and got pretty much everything i needed into a 13l and an 8l airlok extra bag. The only thing i couldnt get in were my tarp poles, but i have an idea for those. If you have the money, definitely worth it, but not something i would rush out and buy at first. Being able to mount bags to the handlebars/saddle is the first things i would look at.

[DanDax1990]

At £110 the Wildcat Leopard's are expensive? Or am I just being a tight ar*e?

I like the look of the Revelate Designs products but they don't do bags to fit the full frame?

Does anyone have a medium sized 'Tangle' bag from Revelate? If so, what do you fit in there?

Got one of those too. Had it for a fair while and it is very good. The tangle is wider than the wildcat and touched my knees / legs on my road bike. I can fit a fair bit in it though. I does fit a laser comp tent in it. I probably fit the same as a wildcat but with the exception of the tools and tubes. They're good

Is it a medium you have?

Do you have any of their other products? I like the look of their bar harness and the Viscacha saddle bag too.

[FLV]

Is it a medium you have?

Do you have any of their other products? I like the look of their bar harness and the Viscacha saddle bag too.

Yup. Medium.

I have an old bar harness, and one of their old seat packs before the current naming.

They have lasted a long time.
The seat pack is great for efficient packing when its mounted loosly or not on the bike but a nightmare to fit to to the bike, especially when full and with cold fingers. The biggest issue with this is taking it off the bike to keep under your tarp or in the tent, then packing it under shelter and re fitting it I. The morning, in the rain or snow.
The wild cat drybag harness is far better due to this.

My old bar harness was pretty good too, especially the pocket added to the front for longer tours. For off road it was always fine, though rubs the head tube a lot. Again, I like the wildcat better, harder to fit initially but much more stable off road.

Remember that my revelate gear is from when it was still epic (not the tangle) so it's old and may well have been changed

[johnnystorm]

Bikepack.eu make some great kit. I have their frame bag, seat pack and bar bag, oh and a fuel tank. If you can get your head around the slightly confusing web page it's worth persevering! Another thing to consider is when do you need it? If its custom there's going to be a delay.....

[DanDax1990]

Bikepack.eu make some great kit. I have their frame bag, seat pack and bar bag, oh and a fuel tank. If you can get your head around the slightly confusing web page it's worth persevering! Another thing to consider is when do you need it? If its custom there's going to be a delay.....

They seem very well priced and worth getting and don't need them for a while, currently off the saddle due to a broken collarbone.

[jameso]

It's the best place to put dense/heavier kit, so they are worth it if you're not changing frames often. Saddle bags aren't an ideal spot for weighty bags, fine for bullky/light kit tho. A tanglebag or multi-fit part-frame bag from wildcat or alpkit is a good bet - and easy to sell on later if needed.

[JohnClimber]

Personally I don't like riding with back packs so I need bottle bottle cages and bottles in the frame.

But I've found that with a frame bag rather than 2 x 750ml bottles I can carry the following in the medium sized frame bag (if packed well)

From yesterdays bivi ride.
Micro cooking gear
Meths
Head torch
Hand warmer (if too cold)
Evening food
Breakfast porridge
5 breakfast bars
Inflatable pillow
Mossy head net
Spare tube
Full spares and repair kit
Map
Car keys
Cash and credit card
Jelly Baby's
Spork
Battery phone charger
Loo paper
and most importantly
I full 2 litre camelback with the mouth piece fixed to the top tube.

The only problem I have with it, is that the bag I use tapers out wide at the front leading to a bow legged out of the saddle climbing style needs to be adopted on steep stuff, a narrow bag here would avoid this.
And it's better to take drinks when you stop, rather than look like a spanner trying to get a drink from your top tube at speed.


On the back (or a saddle pack) I have the rest of the gear, leaving my back free of a back pack, the water in my frame and the centre of gravity much lower than most.

[ianfitz]

John

How wide is it? And how do you attach the camel back to it? I've not found a way to carry water that I'm totally happy with.

[JohnClimber]

It's a large framed Salsa bag for my Mukluk but it fits this Singular perfectly as well. http://salsacycles.com/components/mukluk_frame_bag

The main part is no wider than 70mm and the wide front end goes out to 135mm.

I've tried the bladder in the rear at the bottom just above the BB, which is ok until you need to re fill it then it's a pain to get everything out and pack it all in again.
There's a divider 170mm from the seat post and the bladder just drops in front of this in the front triangle without any problems at all.