I have a question. I typically put a one man backpacking tent into a suitably sized dry bag and strap it to my bars when I venture out for an overnighter on the bike. This seems to do the trick nicely. The only downside I have seen is that the bag rubs the steerer tube a bit. Nothing too serious, just a slight scuffing of the badge and paint on the frame (which I could overcome with a home-made neoprene steerer tube sleeve or similar). This set up cost me very little and works OK. It doesn't move around and luckily doesn't foul the gear cables or brake hoses.

What are the advantages of using the various bar harness systems and specially made bar bags? I can see how the big seat packs, frame bags and top tube bags are very useful and particularly fit for purpose, as there is nothing else like them.

I just wonder if a specially made bar bag/harness is worth the cost... Any thoughts?

I have a Wildcat Tiger and think the purchase is definitely worth it. Dry bags are held away from the bars and are very secure once fitted. The clips enable quick release and refit of the dry bag.

I've done that thing with the tent strapped to the bars. I found that a length of Karrimat (am I showing my age?) inside the drybag gave it some additional stiffness and stability too - and was a handy seat.

I've now got one of the Revelate bags. The advantages are

* I can pack other stuff in it without it being too floppy and awkward
* it has sewn-on straps that don't move around on the bars
* it has additional fittings such as external elastic straps and clips for an accessory pocket
* it just looks so damn funky!

All minor issues of course and it's questionable if it's worth paying the cash for one. That's one that only you can sort out.

FWIW - it still rests against the headtube - in fact there's a stabilising strap that goes around the headtube.

I used a dry-bag strapped to my bars for ages and (other than some mild rubbing) found it worked for me perfectly.

I only changed to an actual harness so that I could use a bigger dry-bag and because I won't always have overly long (never trimmed) brake hoses which enabled me to fit the dry-bag underneath the cables (as I intentionally left the gear cables long also) without causing any problems.

If it works then it works but I think the harnesses work for more bikes more of the time and so make sense to most folks.

Thank you for the replies. It is something to think over... I will probably go for a seatpack harness first, as I don't have anything there yet. At present, it is dry bag on the bars and a backpack for everything else, except two 750ml water bottles on the frame.

Thanks again...

Si

Two of my mates used Alpkit Airlok Xtra strapped directly to the bars on a 300km bikepack through Wales - both of them rubbed holes in their bags.
I'm not saying that you need to shell out for a quality handlebar bag, but SOME kind of protection is better than none - maybe get a sheet of cordura and MYOG the sh*t out of it

A piece of old karrimat would sort that out I guess Dusza...

I am starting to like the idea of the whole MYOG side of things. Maybe time to dust off the old textiles skills from my school days... (Long time ago)!

Si