large seat bags, or racks for road bikes w/o mounting eyelets

[whittierider]

I had forgotten I was on this forum, so I hadn't visited in many years!  What reminded me is that my wife and I just drove up the California coast for our 35th wedding anniversary, and seeing all that road and the beautiful coastline, and feeling the ocean air, made me want to try again to ride down the coast.  Ten years ago, I was all set to ride from Monterey to L.A., had my train ticket to get up there to start the ride, and the night before I was to leave, the weather forecast suddenly changed to significant chance of rain every day of the window I had planned; so I canceled.  Every year that I tried, something came up that kept me from doing it.   

I have a 2005 Trek 5000 (made back when the 5000 was made of OCLV carbon and was closely related to the Madones and still made in Wisconsin, before Trek cheapened it and took its manufacturing to China).  I'm totally happy with the bike the way I have it set up, except that it does not have eyelets to mount a rack.  (It's a road-racing bike, after all.)  I have a Jandd Mountaineering Mountain Wedge III large seat bag which, with the expansion open, provides nearly two gallons' space to put a few clothes and toiletries in to go hotel-hopping on a multi-day light tour.  The idea is to travel light, with low wind resistance, and be able to go fast and burn up the road and have fun, rather than carrying camping equipment.  The Mountain Wedge III was still almost not big enough though.

I have a rack pack on our tandem; and that might be better, if there were a normal-size rack that clamps on the seat post and has rods that go down to something that the rear skewer clamps onto.  (I do have a seat-clamp rack for a single bike, but it's smaller than full size, and standard rack packs won't mount on it.)  My Trek has a monostay, further preventing any of the common methods to mount a rack to a frame without eyelets.

I did find this one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Mq5ZR4R2WY about the Seatpacker Bikepacking seat bags From Arkel which is not only huge but would also give minimum wind resistance if positioned more or less horizontally (as opposed to being like the tail pipes we see sticking up from certain motorcycles).  I think that ideally it would need to go a lot lower to handle well at speed, and the way my saddle is mounted, the angle will probably get worse than shown, not better.  Revelate Designs' Terrapin System 14L seems to be similar.

Although I have been actively riding, I have not paid much attention to the market in many years.  I have a gazillion old bookmarks, but many of the web pages they go to are now gone.  I can do a web search like anyone else; but it does take a lot of time, and I could still miss some of the best products out there.  Does anyone have a list of favorite bike-luggage suppliers?  I'm mainly looking for large but aerodynamic seat bags now, not panniers, handlebar bags, frame bags, etc..

[John Nelson]

Look at Apidura.

[danny dea]

Check out Universal Cycles website out of Portland, Or.  They have a large selection of bags including Apidura and Revelate.  Very good shop to deal with.

[TCS]

I use an 'old school' / 'well-proven technology' Carradice saddlebag on a Carradice Bagman mount with the optional support struts.  The bag sits entirely within my aero profile (or lack of same).

[TCS]

Other traditional cycletouring saddlebag manufacturers/suppliers include Cardiff, Dill Pickle, Ellum Bag Works, Frost River, Helmute, Ostrich, Sackville, Shore, Swift and Zimbale.

Frost & Seekers also offers a saddle rail mount for saddlebags.

[RonK]

This might be a useful page.

https://bikepacking.com/gear/bikepacking-bags/

[Bclayden]

I’ve toured for years on a stock Trek Madone. 35,000+ miles including a US Coast-to-coast, Euro trips, and many others. An Apidura saddle bag and Camelback backpack is all I carry. Traveling this light of course requires overnight hotels and laundry day is every 3rd day but it makes for lightweight travel and 80-120 mile days are the norm.  No prob. 

The Trek has been reliable with the usual rotable replacement components and new wheel set every 10,000 miles but all in all it’s a solid touring bike. I’ve used the same Apidura saddle bag for many years and it’s as good as ever. My bag is much like the Apidura Expedition Saddle bag but in 2012 when I bought it had a different name that I don’t recall. The Camelback, primarily used for its 2 liter water bladder, wears down and look grungy after a 2-3 years so that gets replaced regularly. That’s all I carry and it works well...for me.

[whittierider]

Thanks everyone for the replies.  I guess the ride down the CA coast is not going to happen this year, but I keep looking.  I did talk to a rider I met up with a couple of weeks ago who had one of the huge Arkel seat bags.  Nice.

For a 117-mile one-day ride to San Diego next week, I wanted to re-mount my Jandd Mountaineering Mountain Wedge III large seat bag, but I found the the main compartment's zippers frozen shut, as if glued, probably from the salt in water that leaked from my two extra water bottles above it behind the seat, and maybe aided by sweat.  (Our younger son, drafting me, has joked, "Um, Dad, can you please quit raining on me?")  I haven't used the bag in a few years.  It would be nice to be able to use it for this ride to be able to carry some clothes to change into for the train ride home late in the afternoon.  I was going to ask if anyone had any suggestions on how to free up the zippers without damaging the cloth or inner structural materials; but just now I tried them again after having them soaking in 409 for a while, and I managed to get the bag open.  Still, I could probably use some suggestions for how to make sure they keep working, and maybe to prevent the problem on other bags.  Thanks.

The Trek has been reliable with the usual rotable replacement components and new wheel set every 10,000 miles

After a few years of going through the stock and boutique wheels like Kojack went through lollipops, I and my family had Peter White of Peter White Cycles build us wheels for a few different bikes, and they have been super.  I have over 35,000 miles on mine, with lots and lots of out-of-the-saddle climbing and sprints.  I got turned on to him by people on the T@H tandem forum who had ten or twenty thousand miles or more on his wheels on tandems, wheels with 24 to 32 spokes, and they're not even really any heavier than the boutique wheels!  That's pretty much unheard of from any other wheel builder, meaning this man understands something about wheel-building that almost nobody else does!  See https://www.peterwhitecycles.com/wheels.php .  One of our sons commuted for work and was always carrying power tools and other supplies, up to 90 pounds on his rack (which means there's no "give"), on bad roads, and his Peter White rear wheel had no problems at all.  Amazing.

[Pat Lamb]

I wanted to re-mount my Jandd Mountaineering Mountain Wedge III large seat bag, but I found the the main compartment's zippers frozen shut, as if glued, probably from the salt in water that leaked from my two extra water bottles above it behind the seat, and maybe aided by sweat. ...

Still, I could probably use some suggestions for how to make sure they keep working, and maybe to prevent the problem on other bags.  Thanks.

Chapstick (or similar lip balm).  Lubricates, is thick enough to stick to the zipper teeth, and conveniently packaged for application to zippers.  Or lips.  You'll probably want to wipe the stick off after applying it to the zipper before using it on body parts.

[whittierider]

Chapstick (or similar lip balm).  Lubricates, is thick enough to stick to the zipper teeth, and conveniently packaged for application to zippers.

That sounds like an excellent suggestion!!

[whittierider]

This looks good too (although they tried too hard in the videography):  Tailfin AeroPack | The fastest way to carry gear on almost any bike

[gottobike]

TERRAPIN® SYSTEM 8L
https://www.revelatedesigns.com/index.cfm/store.catalog/seat-bags/Terrapin8L

By far my favorite touring/bike packing/commuting seat bag. This a very versatile rackless bag for all your epic rides that can be easily transferred from bike to bike. Dry bag is removable so you can take it with you (doubles as a pillow!) or replace with mesh bag (for laundry or wet gear) or other bag of similar volume. For commuting, just replace the 8 Litre dry bag with a small disposable shopping/trash bag (I call this specialized trash bag hack the Burra Basura).

[froze]

I don't like the waxed canvas stuff, while it is very durable they weigh more than other materials, plus you have to re-wax them to maintain their water resistance, and they're really never waterproof.

Also a lot of seat bags sway back and forth as you pedal causing some odd sensations while riding.

The Arkel Rollpacker actually comes with a small rack to stabilize the load so it doesn't do that swaying motion every time you crank, this rack attaches to the seat post so you don't need eyelets on the stays. The Rollpacker comes in two sizes, 15 and 25 liter capacity.  Arkel's are expensive but they hold up extremely well.

[canalligators]

...
Also a lot of seat bags sway back and forth as you pedal causing some odd sensations while riding.
...

That can be so.  But I made large seat bags years ago for commuting.  I mean big enough to put a 17" wide computer print-out in, along with my change of clothes, spare tubes and lunch.  Swaying was minimized by making a mount that spanned the rails of the Brooks saddle, and adding a firm tie-down to the seat post.