I’m slowly rolling in to a new a new area of the great outdoors. Bikepacking combines the beauty of nature with the speed and exploration capabilities of biking. As i’m sure you can imagine this wasn’t a big step for me, it just took some time to make it. I’m a beginner in the realm of bikepacking so bear that in mind, if you got any feedback leave it in the much appreciated comment section.

We start small with the Toptube Bag (F23237).

At first glance I was thinking that nothing fits in it, what can I possibly put in here that would be of any use?

There was my first lesson, turns out that I could fit my phone, headphones, sunglasses, multitool, keys, wallet and lights. In short, things that you’d want to have access to fast when needed.

inside you’ll find the main compartment with two mesh pockets on either side, enough to keep things organized. The three velcro loops allow you to attach the Toptube bag in a number of ways, right under the seat, behind the handlebars and between your legs in the frame. There’s also small holes if you'd like to attach it with screws in the standard measure.

The loop holes in the “front” (B) allows you to run cables through it that can be connected to your phone or bike computer with a juicepack or similar.

You got waterproof zippers to keep everything dry, the outer fabric will withstand rain in long rides, we had rainy days and I didn’t have a problem with water inside the bag.

Next up we got the Handlebar Rolltop (F23246).

To use this on your bike you’ll need the Handlebar Rack (F23235).

The Handlebar Rolltop comes with a waterproof outer shell, a big main compartment with a plastic loop in the back and a reflective logo in the front. The bag can be closed in two ways with the buckles, you can also remove it from the rack. and use it as a stand alone shoulder bag.

I used this as my main camera bag and I kept my drone, the camera and GoPro accessories in this bag. It worked but it wasn’t optimal for it since there’s no soft dividers or anything inside the bag. You are able to fit 13 liters worth of gear in it with a potential of overpacking it due to the rolltop in case you need to. Abbe used the Handlebar Bag, its a hardshell bag with mesh pockets on the outside for quick and easy storage, he mentioned though that the side pockets are slightly harder to use since there’s not much space between them and the handlebars. however THIS is a much better camera bag due to it’s easy access, hardshell outer and soft inner with mesh pockets on the inside as well. This one also doubles as a shoulder bag.

-Is it waterproof? well, we where on the same trip and we didn’t have any problems with it during our adventure, if you want to be extra sure there’s a rain cover available as an accessory. Also worth mentioning is that there’s a smaller Handlebar Pocket bag if you want a Toptube size bag but on the handlebars instead.

Let’s head over to the rear! Here we find the essential: Seatbag Harness (F23242). This thing is just a true blessing if you want to maintain speed and flexibility whilst still being able to pack. I think having the Harness, one of the three bags in the handlebars along with the Toptube and potentially a frame bag would really set you up for a perfect bike packing adventure in all kinds of terrains. For the harness itself you can use it just as is or you can add a compressible waterproof bag, they come in either 10 or 16 liter version for the Seatbag Harness. The harness is pretty straight forward in its use cases, it is a bit fiddly to attach the first time you do it but once you get the hang of it there’s no problem. The hands down best feature is that you don’t know its there, it not in the way, it doesn’t block you in any way and you’re still able to fill it up for a day + adventure.

Let’s finish with the BULK. Here we got the Cool Cave (F23234).

As you can tell from the image above they come in a variety of color, they’re made of hardshell plastic, you got a hole in the bottom for rainy days. The come with the Klick fix mounting system that allow the side bags to be attached to most bikes. Included you find a cargo net, this thing is so underrated, such a versatile piece of gear that allows you to pack in almost any way possible! The Cool Caves hold 20 liters, you can ad a waterproof compression sack here as well. If you take a closer look at the yellow Cool Cave on my bike you can tell that it has a lid, this is the Cave Lid Pack (F23230). As with most of the other bigger bags on the bikes this one also doubles as a sling or shoulderbag. It. sports a sturdy handle on top if you want to carry the entire Cool Cave with you. there’s also a big pocket in the lid, we used it for spare parts and the pump.

There you have it folks, next up we’ll be taking a closer look at the clothes and garments we used. Last but not least we’ll deep dive in to our bikes and let you know what we liked and what we’d want to improve!

As always if you don’t like to read you can stop here and just watch the video instead: