Fjällräven X Specialized Bikepacking Kit review
Bikepacking has exploded onto the cycling scene over the past few years; formerly consigned to the margins of coolness in the form of cycle touring, folks are now loading up their bikes with camping kit and heading out into the countryside to get their fix of adventure.
The meteoric rise of bikepacking can be traced back to the advent of the gravel bike; wide tyres and a go anywhere attitude means there is hardly a better machine to explore gravel tracks, bridleways, and quiet country lanes. Before bikepacking became cool and the availability of specific luggage became rife, you’d have to almost fashion your own luggage from other bags and then bodge them to fit your steed. Nowadays it’s possible to buy off the peg bags packed with clever design touches to make life on the road a little easier.
When we first heard that cycling behemoths Specialized and the uber cool Scandi outdoors brand Fjällräven were teaming up to produce a range Bikepacking we were excited. The promise of hugely innovative and impeccably designed luggage was on the horizon, but does it live up to expectations?
We headed up to the Peak District to test out a selection of the new range on an overnight bikepacking adventure; we’d be rattling over gravel tracks and bombing down mountain bike worthy descents so we hoped everything stayed attached otherwise it could be a cold night if our sleeping bag breaks free!
Our steed for the ride was a Specialized Diverge kitted out with a top tube bag, snack bag, handlebar bag and frame bag. First impressions are very good; the bags feel very sturdy without being unduly heavy; all the bags use recycled materials to reduce their carbon footprint. The colours are also suitably scandi; ochre, black, green and ox red ed make for a muted but classy palette.
Starting up front with the bar bag which is a bit of a departure from the traditional soft side bag style; this is almost a picnic box mounted to your bars. It mounts to the Handlebar Rack (sold separately) with a pair of chunky buckles, and we found it was sturdy enough for even the roughest terrain and didn’t budge at all. The rack deserves a mention here; the aluminium construction is lightweight, and a guy line prevents the rack from drooping forward. Even if you don’t use the handlebar bag, it makes a great spot to lash all manner of things to from tents to packages on those urban errands.
The party piece of the Handlebar Bag is that once removed, it can be used as a shoulder bag with the included strap. We loved this feature as it meant we could load up our valuables and throw it over a shoulder when stopping for a coffee with the bikes out of sight. There’s plenty of space in there too, offering a generous nine litres of storage.
Getting in and out of the Handlebar Bag is a cinch too, the lid opens to reveal a generous amount of storage. The lid isn’t sealed from the elements but the lining is waterproof so should keep things dry in all but the heaviest of downpours. The elasticated tab hooks over the rack which made accessing things in the bag on the move straightforward. Two large mesh pockets on either end made ideal spots to stash snacks too.
The Handlebar Bag and rack both retail for £90 and is available in the four colours mentioned previously.
Next up is the self-explanatory Snack Bag; mounted to the handlebar this little bag is a great place to stash snacks or a water bottle for easy access. Made from the same sturdy recycled fabric, it feels like it will withstand the rigours of rummaging inside and bottles being pushed in and out. We did find that the bottles we used were a touch on the large side which made getting them in and out a bit of an art as the drawcord had to be moved out of the way, but this could be remedied with a different bottle.
Intelligent design touches are the hallmark of the whole collection; a drainage hole on the bottom of the bag meant that even with a tight fitting bottle, the suction to pull it out was minimised thanks to the venting.
There’s not really much more to say about the Snack Bag; we can’t see ourselves opting have one on our personal bikes but some folk might really appreciate the extra space.
The Snack Bag retails for £40 and is available in the four colours mentioned previously.
Something we could see ourselves using on personal bikes is the Toptube Bag, nestled in behind the stem it provides 0.8l of storage and a perfect place to keep a handful of energy bars, phone and keys. The dual zippers, one at each end, means that it can be opened either way which adds more flexibility. A divider runs down the middle to provide two sections and there is a mesh pocket on either wall which we found was a perfect place to keep our phone, safe from harm.
The overall construction is semi rigid so it’s quite tricky to really cram a lot inside as the bag will start to bulge but packed sparingly, the foam walls offer ample protection to the contents. As with the Handlebar Bag, the seams are not taped but the lining is waterproof. The zipper also appeared to have some weather sealing, so we’d be confident riding in inclement conditions without the contents getting soggy.
Mounting the bag to the bike was a cinch thanks to the generously sized Velcro straps that wrapped around the top tube. If your bike is equipped with mounts on the top tube, they can be used for a much cleaner looking install.
The Toptube Bag retails for £50 and is available in the four colours mentioned previously.
The final component of our bikepacking setup was the Frame Bag. There are different sized bags on offer for different sized bikes which is a nice touch; no more cramming a generic frame bag onto a tiny bike or vice versa. The three litre capacity might seem small, but it’s perfect to stuff clothes into and similarly to the Top Tube bag, it has a semi rigid construction so the bag wont bulge when filled to the brim which is especially important given your legs need to pass the bag without brushing it.
Twin zippers mean that the contents can be accessed from either end but only from one side which in our eyes doesn’t seem like a deal breaker; we’d much prefer a sturdier bag than being access stuff from both sides. Like the other bags in the range, the zipper looks to be weather sealed and the lining is waterproof.
The inside is festooned with mesh pockets to maintain some organisation and the Velcro straps mean than even when the bag is groaning, it doesn’t swing around or throw you off balance.
The Frame Bag is available in small, medium, and large and retails for between £70 and £90 depending on size and is available in either green or black.
There’s a couple of other carrying solutions in the range and other riders on our adventure were using them. The more traditional of the two is a large seat pack style bag; however, the unique thing about this one is that it’s actually a harness type thing designed to carry a drybag.
An articulating aluminium frame means that it can accept a range of items from larger tents to smaller bags of clothing, all stuffed in dry bags. There’s a 10l of 16l option to accommodate all manner of equipment. The bag attaches to the bike via a Velcro strap on the seat post and onto the saddle rails to provide a secure fit. Our only gripe with the Seatbag setup is the cost; the harness is £125 and drybags range from £45 to £55 so it’s not a budget setup but the innovative design might just outweigh the cost.
The final piece of the bikepacking luggage puzzle are the Cool Cave panniers. Eschewing the traditional beefy fabric in favour of polypropylene, the Cool Cave panniers certainly looked unique and we really digged it. Fjällräven also offer a drop in tote bag and rucksack so the transition between bike and foot is as seamless as possible.
Included with the panniers are adjustable KilckFix mountings to enable them to be mounted to most bike racks. We found they needed quite a bit of fettling to be secure over rough terrain as they only mounted in one spot; a second lower fixing wouldn’t go amiss to make them as sturdy as the rest of the collection.
The Cool Cave panniers retail for £70 with fixing kit.
All the luggage in the collection is highly functional but also great to look at; the colour palette offers a refreshing change from the sea of black but the thing we loved most about all the pieces was the functionality. Everything has been painstakingly developed and iterated upon, the multifunctional use cases for the Handlebar Bag and Cool Cave panniers really impressed us and we’d be happy to have our bikes decked out in this luggage. It’s certainly not a budget entry into the world of Bikepacking but were confident that all the pieces will likely outlast the bike they’ll live on.