iceBike* 2017: Madison Bike Luggage

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With the growing popularity of bikepacking/’modern touring’/accessorised homelessness there is a growing world of manufacturers ready to kit you up with frame bags, bar bags and seat sausages. While some of it is hand-sewn in Alaska by bearded adventurers in chunky knitwear, not all of us can afford the cost or the lead times while we wait for the manufacturer to return from a floatplane trip across the Arctic.

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The prototypes just carry a subtle caribou-head logo to identify the brand

Luckily Madison has been working on some pretty affordable gear that still offers taped seams, rugged strappage and enough cargo space for your gossamer sleeping bag and hammock. Coming out ‘by the summer’ there’ll be two seat sausages, two sizes of frame bag and a handlebar bag. The bar bag and the seat bag are fully taped and waterproof with roll-top closure. (The frame bag has too many sideways zips to be economically waterproofed, so it’s listed as ‘showerproof’)

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Velcro handlebar mounting, with room for a supporting strap on the front of the bag
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Insides of the bags are all fluoro yellow for good visibility when fishing around inside

The bags have been in development for a while (as has more conventional commuting luggage sets of panniers) but the bikepacking gear should be available from early summer. You weren’t planning on sleeping rough before then, were you? Prices are still in flux, but look something like this:

  • Small, waterproof, roll-top seat sausage: £59.99
  • Large, waterproof, roll-top seat sausage: £69.99
  • Handlebar roll: £49.99
  • Small frame bag: £40
  • Small frame bag: £50

And if they go down well, expect to see fuel tanks, feed bags and other luggage in the works.

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Clipped roll-top on the seat sausage
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Subtle logo and brightly visible zip pull for when you need a gel in a hurry
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This is the smaller of the two frame bags
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And this is the larger, shown on a medium Genesis Longitude. Perhaps they’d do a ‘bike and bags’ package?
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Long bar bag is ideal for bulky, lighter items like your sleeping bag or down jacket.
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It’s great to see additional storage on top for things like flipflops or that lunchtime baguette
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The all-up package looks pretty smart
Chipps Chippendale

Singletrackworld's Editor At Large

With 22 years as Editor of Singletrack World Magazine, Chipps is the longest-running mountain bike magazine editor in the world. He started in the bike trade in 1990 and became a full time mountain bike journalist at the start of 1994. Over the last 30 years as a bike writer and photographer, he has seen mountain bike culture flourish, strengthen and diversify and bike technology go from rigid steel frames to fully suspended carbon fibre (and sometimes back to rigid steel as well.)

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