Edited to move the TL;DR to the top 😉

TL;DR: I’m after a bar bag that’s stable, expandable/compressible, fairly quick to fit and remove, and weatherproof. (Oh, and still lets me use all the hand positions on drop bars.)

And now back to the original, verbose post…

I often have a luggage requirement for something that carries enough stuff for a big road ride: either all day, or an overnighter. Depending on which bike I’m using, I can normally cover this with either a rack-top bag or a post pack (I have several sizes).

Now, rack/post packs are great because they’re out of the way, they’re expandable for clothing changes or stashing sausage rolls or pains aux raisins, the contents are easily accessible via a zip, and they can be removed quickly and easily for when you need to sit in a restaurant or sleep on a ferry. The one disadvantage, with my current ones at least, is that they’re not waterproof; although a couple of them have broadly adequate rain covers.

However, one of my bikes is built for more mixed-surface use, so I’ve rigged up the dynamo lights with the wires routed internally, and the rear light mounted just under the saddle. So a post pack would obscure the light and there’s no rack. (Big saddle bags are out for obvious reasons, plus other non-obvious ones.)

Clearly one option is to stick a rack on it but I’d rather not, and I’m bar-bag curious.

I’ve used a couple of types before: the quick-release bracket style and the three-strap style.

The former is great in many respects but the bags tend to be a fixed size, which sucks, especially as they also tend to be stiffened so that any empty space just makes for stuff constantly rattling around. The latter I’ve never found terribly successful: the bags always end up pointing downwards, meaning stuff tends to fall out when you open the flap and it’s just a pain getting anything out. They’re also a pain in the arse for attaching to and detaching from the bike.

But then I’ve only used a few bags and maybe some are better.

I guess an additional option is perhaps to buy a Klickfix bracket and hack it onto a bikepacking bar bag, but I tend to think that if that was such a great idea then someone would be selling it already. It’s kind of tempting to get a cheap bag from Planet X and give it a go. Maybe.

Any pearls of wisdom or specific recommendations?

salsa anything cradle + dry bag of choice/size/colour.

the bags always end up pointing downwards, meaning stuff tends to fall out when you open the flap and it’s just a pain getting anything out.

Both the Ortlieb and Altura bar bags (boxes) have fittings to prevent this. Once the bracket is attached the bag removes in one click. I agree about the rattly thing though – and they tend to sit so high that fitting a bar light is a problem. This will be a problem with almost anything using one of the Klickfix brackets.

A softer bag sitting in a harness will tend to sit below the bars.

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5587/14870568590_8702ca0483_b.jpg

That’s an Alpkit 13l bag in a Revelate Harness. You could, of course, use a smaller bag.

salsa anything cradle + dry bag of choice/size/colour.

The thing is that I like to have a handful of things easily accessible (eg camera, phone, multitool). Dry bags are fine for carrying stuff you don’t need access to but suck for ease of access—and as far as I can see that seems to be an issue (perhaps the main one) with the bikepacking approach.

Ah – I have an extra pocket attached to the front of my Harness. It’s fully waterproof (with a TiZip) and top loading. Great for camera/wallet/phone etc. Or I use a frame-top bag.

Oh – and the wee waterproof bag can be fitted straight to the bars if that’s all I need, though it’s then some small straps.

Both the Ortlieb and Altura bar bags (boxes) have fittings to prevent this. Once the bracket is attached the bag removes in one click. I agree about the rattly thing though – and they tend to sit so high that fitting a bar light is a problem.

Yeah, the bracket-style bags don’t flop but they do rattle and bounce; I’ve not yet found one which is compressible.

Bar lights not a problem (except as backup): I use crown-mounted lights, and the Garmin lives on the stem. If I’m desperate to mount something on the bars I have a selection of bar extender widgets.

Ah – I have an extra pocket attached to the front of my Harness. It’s fully waterproof (with a TiZip) and top loading. Great for camera/wallet/phone etc. Or I use a frame-top bag.

Ah, that sounds promising. Got a link to a specific recommendation?

Sadly I can’t get on with frame-top bags, personally.

Revelate Designs YAKATAGA Dry pocket

Revelate Designs 2017 Egress Pocket

Revelate Designs Periphery Pocket

£125!

*falls off chair*

LOL – I didn’t see Cost listed in your Requirements Specification.

(And I’ve now added a couple of cheaper options).

The Yakataga was developed for folk packrafting etc, where the chances of full immersion are higher.

😀

Yeah, I can understand a submersible zipped pocket is quite a manufacturing challenge.

It just needs to be rainproof, so something with a simple flap would be ideal. I have a Rickshaw Pipsqueak which I love, and that’s my normal camera-and-phone stash, but a bar bag would occupy its space.

I’ve got a traditional Orleib 8.5 litre bar bag.

Good points:
Big.
Ultra convenient. Seconds to attach or remove.
Stable.
Well built.

Bad:
Rattles like hell.
Not great off road.
Lack of flexibility.

Would love to have a go at one of the new expandable types, watching with interest. 🙂

I got one of these bar bags last September, and am in the process of ordering a saddlebag.
https://helmutequipement.com/product-category/sacoches/

And only €175. Bez will be in meltdown.

Mm. I’m assuming that the phrase “in the process of ordering a saddlebag” means “waiting for my remortgaging application to be approved”.

To be fair, at least it’s more substantial than a little zippy pocket 😉

Oh. Well, now I’ve had a lunchtime browse, these look like the sort of thing I was after…

https://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/BAVINB011BP/vincita-bikepacking-handlebar-bag-b011bp
https://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/CCXTHDB/x-touring-handlebar-dry-bag
https://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/CCXTAPHDB/x-touring-accessory-pack-for-handlebar-dry-bag

That said, they both seem to be 48cm wide and therefore don’t seem to leave space for hands on bars. (I guess you can roll them down a bit more.)

Can’t seem to find any reviews or additional details for either of them online.

Had good use from my Ortlieb Accessory Pocket with 2 DIY straps+’hooks’ added to work with/over/on the harness. I have an old Revelate harness and the Wildcat, both work well with a small drybag and drop bars. The Revelate Pocket is also good but not WP.

Sadly I can’t get on with frame-top bags, personally.

Is there a reason why? I use mine for the purpose you describe (phone, money etc) with other stuff I need less access to going into a seat pack and Alpkit dry bag. I find that the Alpkit bag fits ok between the drops with the harness and an extra turn on each end to make it slightly smaller. I can get a three-man tent in there, just.

Is there a reason why?

Not 100% sure but, as far as I recall, it was either because my knees ended up there when climbing out of the saddle or because it needed a taller spacer stack than I had in order to fit properly. Whatever it was, I know I bought one and then sold it again fairly promptly. Maybe better ones exist.

I like a trad bar bag. Used one on TNR1. Wodged a drybag behind it (in the gap between back of bag and downtube, with velcro loops to bars) so it was all nice and stable.

Good thread, I’m on the lookout for a traditional style bar bar with a qr bracket – ideally around 8l and with space to use drops and shifters and well spaced out from cables and hoses. Will be on my CDF for gravel touring, with a Revelate Pika on the saddle and a small fuel pod on the top tube. I do have a Revelate frame bag but it won’t fit along with water bottles so either a traditional bar bag or I’ll use my 12l backpack and keep it light stuff only.

Is the Bridge Street saddlebag still available? It is kind of like a rolltop bag, with a Klickfix mount. Even though it is a saddlebag, you could mount it on your bars if you want.
But their website seems to have disappeared, don’t know if you can buy it anywhere.

So, after sniffing round this for a bit, I’m still a little unsure of the best option.

I think the favourite might be the combination of one of these
https://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/CCPDHB/podsacs-waterproof-handlebar-bag
and one of these
https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/luggage/rixen-kaul-basket-fixing-plate/

In other words, a double-ended and slightly reinforced dry bag with a Klickfix plate hacked onto it.

What this lacks is an easy-access compartment of some sort, but I’m wondering if I can point the bag downwards and perch my Rickshaw Pipsqueak at the front of it. Or get an Alpkit stem cell, or something.

I was briefly drawn to the Restrap bag
https://restrap.co.uk/collections/bar-bags/products/carryeverything-bar-bag-dry-bag
but it seems quite large. I only have 15cm below the bars before a bag will hit my crown-mounted light, so a Klickfix (or similar) bracket seems fairly essential not just for ease of use but to keep the bag clear of the light.

The Vincita bag is quite tempting
Bikepacking Handlebar Bag
but it’s 1.2kg, and at £70 it’s £30 more than the hacked Podsacs option.

Any thoughts? Anyone tried fitting their own QR bracket to a non-QR bag and have any useful experience?

http://bearbonesbikepacking.co.uk/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=5380

http://bearbonesbikepacking.co.uk/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=836&p=7472

Not mine

Thanks. Found these as well:

https://yacf.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=81400.0

Turn A Camera Bag Into a Handlebar Bag

Top tube bag mounted at the seat post end for the readily accessibles?

My wife uses an Alpkit Gnaro for commuting on her Pinnacle Arkose, three litres in size so you aren’t going to be encouraged to take the kitchen sink. I use one under the bars of my Spearfish, i.e. rotated 90degs, and it holds the “wet bits” of my bivy gear so tarp, pole, bivy bag. I don’t have a good picture to hand of it in place.

Hi,

Sorry for the thread hijack but that is about similar way.

Remember, some time ago, somebody posted link to site/FB page of small business making bikepacking gear from recycled inner tubes and fertilizers liner sacks…

Anybody? Somebody?

Cheers!
I.

Beerbabe?

https://www.beerbabe.co.uk/

Yes, Beerbabe. In the shot of the Solaris you can just see the top of one of her downtube bags. This was a pre-production one and is a little bit shorter than what’s now available but still big enough to be able to get a mountain morph pump in there. Very useful for tools and spares though being so low you do need to make sure they are wrapped up.

Cheers!

That is the one 😀

I.

So I go to order the bag and in classic Planet X style this morning the pricing roulette wheel has spun. Looks like every single bag I’d contemplated has been reduced… apart from the one I’d decided on, which has gone up. Doh.

YOU’RE READING THIS AREN’T YOU BRANT

Clear your cookies (well the planet-x ones), the dynamic pricing of systems like planet-x’s uses them to note whether you are interested in something. If you are then the price goes up a little. RyanAir do similar. Alternatively use a different browser to check.

So I go to order the bag and in classic Planet X style this morning the pricing roulette wheel has spun. Looks like every single bag I’d contemplated has been reduced… apart from the one I’d decided on, which has gone up. Doh.

What one are you after? Maybe if we all go searching for it we can get the price even higher…