First Look: Revelate Bags

At Mikey's request I thought I'd pen a few first impressions of my Revelate bags and gear list from my first trip (which, bare in mind wasn't really my first run - that's coming up in afew weeks - it was more of a pre-first run).

The bags

I bought 2 bags from Revelate Designs a Tangle frame bag and a Pika seat bag. The Tangle bag is the medium size and fits near-on perfectly within my 56cm Spot Mod frame. I wanted the straps to fit under the cables (as they'd then aid in protecting the frame from cable scratch, and not impede on braking/shifting etc), so to do this I had to modify the largest Velcro strap slightly to accommodate a cable guide. I found that loosening the cables/housing also meant I could snug the Velcro in nice and tight. The bag has 2 YKK zippered full-length compartments - a thin one on the left hand side and a thicker one on the right hand side. The divider between these 2 pockets is a bright yellow fabric which certainly helped locating the right gear on the move. My primary fear with this bag was that when loaded it would bulge too much for my liking (or for my knobby knees). To my relief it held everything comfortably and only had a very slight bulge to it. Granted, it wasn't as loaded as i'll have it on future rides, but I'm pretty sure that the extra gear it will eventually hold on bigger trips won't mean it'll grow a muffin top. The extra gear should even help to hold everything in place as at times it was a little 'rattly'. Last weekend it held my camera, my tools, first aid kit and my riding food.

The Pika is Revelate's smaller seat bag, with a stated capacity of 6-12L. It attaches to the seat rails with a thick PVC(?) strap with dual buckles, and a hefty velcro strap around the seat post. The roll-top closure (at the moment I'm unsure about the waterproofness of the material) secures with a further 2 buckles and snugs back in on itself to create a tight and secure bag against the underside of the saddle. I had all my compressible stuff in here - boardies, tshirt, Arc'teryx Atom LT hoody and thongs - plus on the first day, 1kg of cheese and 2 extra tubes. This was about the least I could carry as the roll-top straps were cinched in as much as they could be. Riding with both of these bags really illustrated their main advantages over traditional panniers - they barely changed the handling of the bike and they were so secure over rough (corrugated) roads (although there's no doubt some of this is due to the fact that you're forced to carry much less gear!).

The gear

This pre-first run helped me to mentally compile a comprehensive gear list for the real first run, a mid-autumn 2-3 day ride. It's about as minimal as I can imagine it at the moment, whilst still allowing for contingency. I've tried to get everything to work together to work as a system, eg sleeping in my Atom+bag+pad+bivy will get me through a cold night. Plus there's obviously some scope for refining it according to the trip (eg add iPhone charger & cable for Lezyne if I'll be riding past a plug; leave out the bivy bag if I'll be staying in huts). Here's how I think it'll go:

Tangle bag:
tools (pump, multitool, tube, patches+glue, 2x brake shoes, 2x tyre boots, Stein Mini Cassette tool, 2x spare bolts, 2x quicklinks, lube, gear/brake cable), first aid kit (pills, tweezers, mediswabs, bandaids, bandage, Iodine tabs), camera, iPhone/cash/ID/VISA, lighter, bogroll, ride food (2x GU's, 2x oat slices per day, 2x muesli bars per day, 2x mineral tabs per day), head/neck warmer, suncream, headphones, knee warmers;
Pika bag:
boardies, tshirt, Atom hoody, 100-weight sleeping bag, pad, bivy bag, Jetboil+spoon (I might have to get a little creative packing this bag;)
HydraPak:
daily consumables (lunch/dinner and water bladder), rain jacket
On bike:
1 large bidon, 1 small bidon, front light (Lezyne MiniDrive), rear flasher
Wearing:
helmet, glasses, jersey, arm warmers, gloves, bib knicks, socks, MTB shoes


I'll add some pics in a bit...