Bikepacking bags for a road bike

[Sgood24]

Hi all,

New to the forum and also bikepacking! So apologies of this has already been discussed, tried looking to no result.

I'm doing a 4 day trip on my road bike along the English coast and wanted some advice or user experience on bag systems. Specifically seat packs and handle bar bags.

I am looking into the Ortlieb M seat bag and 9L handlebar bag, as well as the apidura expedition equivalents, as well as the blackburn outpost seat pack, as these are the only available bags due to stock issues just now!

My query is how have others found these on road bikes? Do they sway a lot? Are the harness system bags like the revelate designs terrapin worth the extra money? And are the previous mention bags a hassle getting on and off at the end of each days ride?

Any advice or other recommendations available in the UK would be much appreciated. Thanks

[Iowagriz]

I can't speak to those bags specifically.  For the handlebar bag, just make sure you can fit what you need between the drops or hoods.  I think that would be the challenge of using them on a road bike. I use mine on a MTB and found that aero bars or BayYak are nice to get that handlebar bag away from my brakes. Using aero bars on a road bike to help mount further out might be helpful on a road bike.

I use the original Revelate seatbag, some people have problems with swaying buy I do not. You need to really work on the packing. For me, I make sure something soft is in the front/cone shaped part of the bag. Then I have my sleeping bag in a compression sack that is the same diameter of the Revelate. Then, use the interior compression strap (Revelate) to really make a solid package.  Lastly, make sure you really (no, really) snug up the straps for the bag to the bike. It might sound like a lot of work, but it's not and once you figure it out, you shouldn't have swaying either.

Good luck on the search

[Iowagriz]

I should have added, that if you can find a seatbag with the solid attachments, those certainly look like they are worth the money. They would be my next upgrade. Having the ability to pull a drybag off the seat to pack would be helpful

[Sgood24]

Thanks for your time in replying and your points raised! I will look into them.

The ortlieb handlebar bag comes with foam blocks that you insert between the straps and the handlebars to extend the bag away from the bars and also brake/gear cables so sounds like the handlebar bag is ok to go with then as with it being dual ended openings i can roll each side down enough to fit into my drop down bars!

As for saddle/seat bag i do want a harness bag system that i can take out the dry bag out for ease of packing/use in the tent or B&B but cant really warrant the extra ?60 for simply a couple of mins disconnecting and reconnecting the bag on and off the bike each day. Which was why i was looking at the Blackburn outpost bag as this is a similar price to the ortlieb and apidura! and then throw in stock issues too! annoying lol

but thanks again for your time!