Handlebar bags

Bulk up front, with useful small pouches

Two very different products sit side by side here. The 6–17 L handlebar bag, which balances the load at the rear and holds your sleeping kit. Then there are the 1–1.5 L pouches attached to the stem or handlebars — food pouches, bottle pouches and phone pouches — that you can reach without taking your hands off the bars. They’re the best sellers in this category, and often the most useful day to day.

Strapped-on bag or harness with a removable bag

The roll bag strapped directly strapped directly to the handlebars is light, simple and compact. The harness stays on the bike and holds a waterproof bag you can remove in one go: heavier and more expensive, but you don’t have to undo three straps every evening to get your sleeping bag, and you can swap bags according to how much you’re carrying. On a multi-day trip, you’ll appreciate the difference every evening.

Three fitting constraints

• Usable width. On road handlebars, the available space is between the brake hoods, not across the full width. A 14 L bag designed for mountain bike handlebars won’t fit between the hoods on 40 cm road bars.
• Cable and hose routing. A bag pressed against the handlebars crushes the cable housings and makes the steering stiff. The spacers supplied with most models do exactly that: hold the bag a few centimetres away from the handlebars.
• Clearance above the front wheel. On a short frame or with a wide tyre, a large bag mounted low can touch the wheel when steering or when the bike compresses.

Weight matters twice as much up front

Anything attached to the handlebars adds weight to the steering, and not just when lifting the bike: the more heavily loaded the bag, the slower the steering feels and the more it starts to wobble at speed. Hence the usual rule — bulky, lightweight items up front, dense items on the frame. The aero, flatter and more tightly packed, are available for riders who want to stay fast with a bag up front.

To find out more: How to plan your cycling route

See also: Bikepacking bags · Frame bags · Fork bags