Bolt on Gravel top tube bags

Any recommendations for a bolt on top tube bag for my gravel bike?

must be bolt on, 700ml to 1 litre in size, must be slim and a nice design as it’s going on a high end very nice gravel bike so want something stylish and in keeping with the frame, also preferably have a divider inside to keep certain items apart

Tailfin
/thread

100% tailfin

Tailfin Top Tube Pack Review

I’ve got an Apidura one that bolts on. It’s really my commuter / road bike but technically it’s a gravel frame built up for road.

I think these things are more expensive than they should be – all the decent top tube bags seem overly expensive. But this one bolts on cleanly and is nice and easy to open with just a magnetic catch / closure – so for me it’s great to quickly get my work pass out etc to scan on the way into the bike park.

When I came off the bike a few weeks ago (which was fun) everything fell out of said bag though. Which wouldn’t happen if it was a zipped bag. But I had a zipped one before and I found it was awkward to open / close.

The Apidura does the job.

One zip opening, and one flip open.

The magnetic opening one can flip open,  sometimes in strong cross wind or if not shut properly off road .

So becareful what you put in it ,it could bounce out unnoticed!

I lost a Joystick from it!

Valuables do not go in it off road now!

If i bought again i would buy tailfin.

They were not on sale at the time.

But still happy with them and use them all the time. Look good after many years use, permanently on the bike.

Tailfin

and a nice design

They all, let’s face it, look totally shit on every bike they ever appear on.

As above, Tailfin. I’ve got many top tube bags from Alpkit, Revelate and others, the flip top Tailfin model I bought last year is more stable (not bolted on), more waterproof and easier to access than any of the others. Slightly more expensive than other brands but absolutely worth it.

Another vote for tailfin

I got camelchops to make me one. It’s very good for the money. You can customise the colours to match your scheme.

must be bolt on

While I can see the appeal for security, especially off-road, the counter point is it makes it a total faff to remove – like if you want to take the bag containing your phone, charger, all your food and other assorted bits with you rather than emptying out all items individually and leaving the pack attached to the frame…

I’ve just bought a Tailfin Half Wedge Frame pack. Swaps in seconds between bikes and it can pair with a top tube bag as well using the same mounting straps which opens up far more storage possibilities than having a bolt on one. Super secure mounting too, no frame rub at all.

So yeah – however many people up there ^^ have said Tailfin, that.

i bought and returned a couple of Tailfin ones as the bolt holes were slight too close together, and I gave up trying to fit incase i stripped the threads on the top tube bolt holes  (Giant Revolt X).

i bought and returned a couple of Tailfin ones as the bolt holes were slight too close together, and I gave up trying to fit incase i stripped the threads on the top tube bolt holes  (Giant Revolt X).

The actual bolts on my Boardman were too close to the stem, so I bought an adaptor – as seen in this thread here

Tailfin fitting

^^ that’s a clever solution, think I will try one, thanks

@TheArtistFormerlyKnownAsSTR did you post a while back about the bolt-hole spacing with the Tailfin bag? What became of that?

i bought and returned a couple of Tailfin ones as the bolt holes were slight too close together, and I gave up trying to fit incase i stripped the threads on the top tube bolt holes  (Giant Revolt X).

as above, is this a Tailfin manufacturing issue, or an issue with the bike frames themselves? Obviously bottle cages etc normally have a slot so you can have a bit of play with the spacing, but the Tailfin bolt holes need to be exact!

While I can see the appeal for security, especially off-road, the counter point is it makes it a total faff to remove – like if you want to take the bag containing your phone, charger, all your food and other assorted bits with you rather than emptying out all items individually and leaving the pack attached to the frame

security honestly never occurred to be! The bolt-on option is just better, and cleaner looking. Maybe you need to move to/ride in nicer areas if people rifling through your bike bags is a genuine issue!! ;)

bolt on ones means switching between bikes is another faff!   Hence end up buying another one!   Is so cheap commuting to work by bike!  lol!

Obviously bottle cages etc normally have a slot so you can have a bit of play with the spacing, but the Tailfin bolt holes need to be exact!

I found this with the 2 sizes of tailfin ones I bought, in each case I got first bolt in and then found the second one slightly off, and the bolt started going a little off centre and i could feel the thread tightening, in a bad way.  I gave up after a few tries of stretching the bag base it as didn’t want to wreck the threads on the frame.  A mass produced top end Giant carbon frame so doubt it’d be the tolerances out on the bolt spacings.

Was kinda annoying as the Tailfin top tube bag was an alternative to  using a Revelate Shrew seatpost one, as this bike has a Reverb AXS which doesn’t play well with the Revelate.

My current solution is a small Evoc Stage 3 backpack for essentials – tools, tube,phone etc.

What became of that?

@zilog6128 – see my previous reply, link in post ;-)

ah, didn’t see that when I replied! glad you found a solution!!

That Tailfin bag looks excellent, I’m another knee scraper on my current Wee Cog bag which sadly also shifts about a bit so tends to hang a bit lopsided.

I love the use of a shoe insole for cushioning the bottom of the bag, two or three times I’ve thought my frame was broken when it was actually just my multitool dunting off the top-tube from within the top-tube bag.

Shame the tailfin looks so tall though, prefer the looks of a smaller bag ‘hidden’ behind the stem (probably unconsciously thinking about aero watts for my 15km/h gravel rides lol!).

I got camelchops to make me one. It’s very good for the money. You can customise the colours to match your scheme.

Hmm, wish I hadn’t looked at that page, I’d love a matching set of Hump and Rump in the Prairie material!

Is there anything to stop the Hump from rotating on the top tube (a la the Tailfin sticky rubber mounts?)

While I can see the appeal for security, especially off-road, the counter point is it makes it a total faff to remove – like if you want to take the bag containing your phone, charger, all your food and other assorted bits with you rather than emptying out all items individually and leaving the pack attached to the frame…

I use one of these, which allows quick installation and removal of a bolt on bag…

https://76projects.com/products/ass-anti-strap-system?variant=43982267515096

Is there anything to stop the Hump from rotating on the top tube (a la the Tailfin sticky rubber mounts?)

Just some wide washers under the bolts. To be fair they work fine, and it’s not annoyed me really, but as my only gripe I will be asking 76projects for a custom base for a slide mount to make the whole thing solid and easily removable….

Watch out for mount holes that are not standard spacing! I’ve seen that on some gravel bikes for whatever insane reason they choose to do it. Camelchops will custom set the hole spacing and distance to stem for you for a really nice fit.

No top tube bolts unfortunately so am reliant on sticky straps or similar.

Maybe need to try applying some sort of silicone bead along the bottom to improve adhesion..

Cheers for all the replies

Ive been looking at the Tailfin one (0.8L & 1.1 L)

They all, let’s face it, look totally shit on every bike they ever appear on.

This is the biggest problem so far, they all look really big and unsightly on the bike

Its going on one of these so id rather it look nice and sleek and not protrude above the handlebars

While I can see the appeal for security, especially off-road, the counter point is it makes it a total faff to remove – like if you want to take the bag containing your phone, charger, all your food and other assorted bits with you rather than emptying out all items individually and leaving the pack attached to the frame…

Not fussed by this, bag will live on the frame and not be removed as the bike wont be left anywhere, im only carrying the bare essentials like tubeless repair kit, TPU tubes just in case tubeless completely fails, chain tool with spare links, Co2 cannsiter and a Topeak micro rocket pump (just in case there is an issue with the C02 or double puncture!) along with one or two other minor things, phone and bank/credit card will be in jersey pocket, i like to be self sufficent on the bike esp when i can be 25 miles from a train station at times if something breaks, i tend not eat on the bike unless its a 4+ hour ride and then ill find somewhere i can take the bike in with me, im very much a carry as little as i really need kinda person, im not an all day kind of rider (7 hours max in the saddle is enough) hence wanting something slim and nice looking

Anyway as i said im struggling to find something that looks good on the bike, may have to resort to a tool bottle and then try and not carry two bottle on longer rides and try and find somewhere to refill the one bottle ill be carrying

I’m just waiting for these to come back into stock

PIGGY ON BIKE STORAGE

Didn’t love the tool bottle, mine was akward to get in and out of (top access) so maybe try and get one with side access.

My Wee Cog top tube bag is relatively sleek, shame they’ve closed down…

Craft Cadence Bolt-on / Strap-on Top Tube Bag | 1.2 Litres

Waterproof, there’s a zip inside for valuable stuff, magnetic and velcro opening, little waterproof hole for a charging cable if needed.  UK company.

Cheers but that’s too big for me, sits over the top of the bars

This looks to meet all my needs, there’s a few pics of it on aero gravel bikes and it sits below the bars and looks nice

Bolt-On Waterproof Top Tube bag

Cheers but that’s too big for me, sits over the top of the bars

This looks to meet all my needs, there’s a few pics of it on aero gravel bikes and it sits below the bars and looks nice

Bolt-On Waterproof Top Tube bag

That comes up on Amazon if you search it.

Reviews ok.

Cheers thats where i found it, im ordering one today, easy to return if it turns out its not what i want

So doing a bit of research before I order and I came across the following

RhinoWalk are a Chinese company and they mainly make bags for motorbikes and mtb/road bikes

There is a video review of one of their bags which is a copy of a Kruga motorcycle bag (Kruga is a UK company)

Both bags are put through the same tests at the same time

A Fraction of the Price… But is it Any Good?! I RhinoWalk Luggage! (youtube.com)

Its going on one of these so id rather it look nice and sleek and not protrude above the handlebars

Hell of a run up for the stealth boast! That looks stunning. Maybe a small Tailfin frame bag?

As an owner of a Colnago World Cup CX bike, enjoy.

Being a race bike, mine has no mounts. I’m bodging some P clips to fit a rack when we’re bike backing next month – don’t fancy anything strapped to the frame due to grit and straps damaging the paint work.

Do these bolt on bags prevent that ?

I’m just waiting for these to come back into stock

PIGGY ON BIKE STORAGE

@13fllormonk They should be back in stock tomorrow. We had a load of blank straps (left from when we used to supply Guerilla Gravity before the went pop) we had to get printed with our logo and the printers took forever.

Hell of a run up for the stealth boast! That looks stunning. Maybe a small Tailfin frame bag?

lol that wasn’t the plan but wanted to get across the type of bike it will be going on

mine isn’t as high spec as the pic, got the frame 2nd hand and will be built up using parts I’ve laying around or have bought 2nd hand for this build so really a budget build but with a very nice budget!

@cheers_drive nice one, thanks!

I’ve already convinced myself it will transform the handling of the bike by lowering the centre of gravity AND the aerodynamic gains, I’ll be unstoppable haha

So the RhinoWalk K34 arrived yesterday evening (good old Amazon same day) paid under £27 for it as there was a 5% off voucher

First impressions are that it looks well built, very sturdy, comes with bolts for fixing to a top tube along with 4 straps if you dont have bolt holes, 2 straps are the same size and the others are one extra long and a normal length strap, zip is a bit stiff but guess this will loosen over time, when closed the zip pushes up into a little sheaf to stop it rattling around which is good

Obviously as you can see from the pics its small (no Banana for scale but its 22cm long, 5cm wide and 8cm high) but it should be just big enough for what i want to fit in it

2 TPU tubes, Co2 cannister and pump head, tubeless repair kit and a chain tool

Be interested  to know how you get on with it.

Anyway as i said im struggling to find something that looks good on the bike, may have to resort to a tool bottle and then try and not carry two bottle on longer rides and try and find somewhere to refill the one bottle ill be carrying

Only two bottle cages?

Just use a half frame bag and put your tools, tubes etc in there just keeping the top tube bag for sweets etc.

[escrs]

escrs

So the RhinoWalk K34

stupid me for browsing the forum on a Friday afternoon, with a new frame half built which has bolt holes for a bag like this… Now it’s arriving on Monday!

Will fit in with my random jumble of wildcat/alpkit/polaris/seesense bags nicely (to offend my credit card touring companion with the full matching Restrap set)

(just to point out its 5cm wide x 5.8cm high on the specs, not 8cm high, so nice and low pro for jelly beans, but not enough to take an iPhone SE)

So the RhinoWalk K34