Everyone needs a storage space irrespective of whether you ride bicycle for fun, to commute to work, to do exercise or to carry your groceries, may time we ignore to buy stuff simply because there isn’t enough space on bicycle or the thing is too fragile to carry it on the cycle. Normally a cyclist have repair kit, portable air pump and water bottle and to carry stuff apart from this they have backpack or satchel.
You might need to carry laptop, phone, wallet and other valuables, in this type of situation having a bicycle bag will help reducing the load on your shoulder. This article discuss about the different types of bicycle bags available in the market and provide you with the guidelines to suit your needs.
Different Types of Bicycle Bags
1) Panniers
Panniers are the type of bag which can be attached on the rear side of rack, if your bicycle doesn’t have the rack make sure to buy one to fix Panniers. Since the Panniers comes in pairs they provide lots of space for your stuff, they stay on either side of the rack.
Pannier bags are made from several materials normally they uses leather, synthetic or canvas. If you tour too much and in every season then make sure you buy waterproof panniers which comes with nice quality material and sturdy belts with good zippers. Fixing this bags are no brainier, they are simply open and attach bags, they are easy to remove as well.
Pannier comes with no compartments, some have though but you may hardly come across to it. So to store your stuff you could use pouches else everything will be mixed up.
Before you buy panniers you should try to fit it on the bicycle, that way you’ll be able to know that if it touches the wheel or paddle. Bag shouldn’t interfere while breaking and changing gears and it should also not be very large or very wide.
2) Handlebar Bags
As you can guess from the name, Handlebar Bags stays on your bicycle’s handle. They are fixed with Velcro and straps or sometime clamps. Since they are supported by the handles it is not recommended to put heavy weighted items, it can be very useful to store light weight stuff like phone, wallet, maps and water bottle.
One should buy handlebar bags because they are easy to access, you can reach anytime to the bag even while riding the bicycle. We would recommend you to buy a bag with zipper and sturdy clamps because there are chances that stuff might fall out from the bag on rough road.
Since the Handlebar bags have compartments it is always easy to find your item. Before buying handlebar bags you should check that you can use brakes easily and it doesn’t interfere with the gear systems. Never put too much weight in the bag it may unbalance your ride.
3) Saddlebags
Saddlebags are the perfect for those who don’t like to carry any access bags with them, it is attached under the cycle seat, also known as bicycle seat bag. This bag can help you store tools, torch and other stuff like bike lock. The little items which makes your pocket heavy can be moved to this bags, depending upon what stuff you want to store there are available variation in the sizes as per your need.
Before buying Saddlebags make sure it fits perfectly and there is no loosen straps or clamps so that it doesn’t slip on bare wheel or interfere the brake brackets.
4) Rack Trunk Bag
Rack Trunk Bags are perfect for long journey or if you are going on camping, this bags stays on the rear part of the bike and are very sturdy. Normally they are larger than the seat bags and smaller then the panniers, mostly they are paired with panniers. Some of the Rack Trunk Bag have solid base which will help them to be in a shape.
Before buying make sure you have strong rear rack on the bike, because this bags can be used to store heavy stuff as well.
Which bag did you like? Do you use any kind of bags like this or do you have any suggestion to improve our suggestions? If so, feel free to leave a comment below!
