Topeak Aero Wedge Pack DX Bicycle Seat Pack with Fixer
Buy Topeak Aero Wedge Pack DX Bicycle Seat Pack with Fixer at Amazon
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Hate getting caught without your bike tools at the worst possible moment? Turn to the Topeak Aero Wedge Pack DX bicycle seat pack, which holds such items as an MTB tube, patch kit, and mountain bike tool in an out-of-the way location. The pack fits conveniently and discreetly under your bike seat. The aerodynamic wedge shape of the Aero Wedge Pack DX fits easily under your bike seat, where it slips through the wind as you ride without making contact with your legs or backside. In addition, the pack includes internal pockets for specific tools, so you needn’t worry about puncturing your replacement tube with your pocketknife. And it’s a breeze to attach the pack to your seat thanks to the included F11 QuickClick clip, which…
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As a bag to hold my keys, spoke wrench, a pair of tire irons, a few Allen wrenches, a combo screwdriver and a spare inner-tube this just isn’t quite big enough. I may just get a door key and security gate key made and keep that to a minimum, but I will be looking for the medium.
What’s Great:
1. The attachment system. No need fishing around in your seat bag because you will never remember just how you wrapped that Velco, just take it off and use it like a tool box. Also great for walking across a busy bike trail and helping someone with everything in your hand. Also, you can easily swap your bag from a road to mtn bike so you always know you have a properly stocked stash of repair goodies on your bike. No cannibalizing from one to the other until you are stranded on a country road far from home with the sun setting. They sell the mounts by themselves for like $5.
2. The semi-hard side luggage approach. The bag holds it’s shape well, and like a camera bag, doesn’t let metal tools bang against your frame and seat.
3. The top and bottom compartments which allow delicate things like spare inner-tubes and your bike computer to be stowed away & above the sharp metal bits. Top & bottom because things like screwdrivers and tire irons are L-O-N-G and vertical partitions would just make a bag worthless for carrying such essentials.
4. The water-proof zippers that keep your greenbacks from turning into rust-sodden scraps out of the laundry. I think this bag will float too – at least for awhile. For mountain bikers that would be very nice when crossing rivers and streams – especially with the reflective bits helping you spot it as it floats away.
5. The reflective tape – but they could do so much better here by using an orange reflective coating on the whole back side above the current white reflective stripe.
6. The very thoughtful fold of heavy nylon that acts like a belt for lights with belt-clip attachments. Then you don’t have to clutter up your seat-post with drag-inducing and ugly mounts and you can stow the light in the delicate section so if you crash your light won’t go skidding into the bushes never to be seen again. It would really suck to crash on the trail and then get clocked by a car as you limp home in the dark.
What’s Not Great:
1. It’s too small IMHO, and I am a “the bigger the bag the more junk you’ll fill it with” guy – but then you have to judge that for yourself.
2. They should slather the back of this bag over with orange reflective stuff so you can ride legally without a normal reflector. Also, how about some reflective bits on the sides? Your lights have 200 degrees of coverage, so why not follow that philosophy here?
3. It should have a pump holder on the bottom with about 3-4 solid inches of Velcro. Pumps are vital and expensive, and they need to be held very securely. The handles on many large duffel bags are held together with about a 4″ swath of Velcro – something like that. Maybe even two 3″ swaths. More is better here.
UPDATE: 4/29/2008
I got home last night from a 25mi ride and the bag was missing – along with my house keys. After calling the emergency # and having my apt complex drill out the deadbolt on the front door my enthusiasm for the mounting system has diminished substantially. My new bag arrived today – a medium – and it should be the perfect size for my use. I have used a very tough cinching Velcro wire bundle tie IN ADDITION TO the supplied Velcro cinch so it’s not going anywhere now, but so much for the easy on, easy off convenience.
ATTENTION TOPEAK PRODUCT DESIGNERS: Take a look at the cammed slide release on a Berretta M9/92/96 and use this system to create a simple, bomb-proof, field strippable mounting system that works with NO tools at all and OWN the seat-bag business. The current system is NOT to be trusted with anything valuable, which is pretty much anything one puts in a seatbag.Velcro(R) Brand One-Wrap(R) Cableties 8in Blk 25pkVelcro(R) Brand One-Wrap(R) Cableties 8in Blk 25pk
(see my review of the small size)
For me, this is the right size for a seat bag. It will hold a bit-driver with every hex bit used on my bike, a T-30 for my chainrings, and a Phillips bit, a micro Leatherman, a few spare zip-ties, a small bungie chord, a tire patch kit with 3 tire irons (errr… plastics as it were) some emergency cash, a couple of pair of latex gloves to keep my hands clean of grease if I need to get into the drivetrain, a spare inner-tube and a very small 1st-Aid kit. As you can see from the pics I posted, it also has some VERY useful little loops that can be used to attach the pump in a super-streamlined fashion. I use the Fi:zik seat mount for my rear light, and the reflective stripe remains largely visible. The bungee chord pump retention system also acts like a compression strap and helps hold the bag up and back in it’s most streamlined position. Due to the size of this bag it sits at a different angle and has therefore shown no propensity to slide off its mount.
PS: The pump mount works very well with the Profile Designs AquaRack which, combined with two frame bottle cages, will allow you to carry 96 oz of Polar-protected drinks in a very streamlined position with NO weight on your back or shoulders. In the flats with strong headwinds I put two 24oz bottles on the AquaRack and one small bottle on the downtube, leaving the seat tube aerodynamically clean. IMHO putting the pump in your jersey is just asking for a spinal injury when you fall.
Bondhus 5mmx1″ 1/4″dr Balldriver Hex Power Bit
This is a very good quality under-seat pack. I read about the reviewers doubts about the fixer holding up to continued use, but it seems fine to me.
My problem with the pack is that it is small. I have a small tire pump in there, an extra tube and tube repair kit, but that’s all that will fit in there. I would like to have had room for a small tool kit, but no go.
For a small amount of stuff, this is a good pack, but I went with the large version instead for my main bike, and am using this on my second bike.