In these days of tubeless tyres for bicycles and how efficient they are at stopping puncures it’s easy to forget that you you might at some point on a ride need to put an inner tube into the tyre. When it happens to me it’s usually because I’ve forgotten to check that there is still enough sealant in the tyre. Tubeless systems are so good that I tend to take them for granted. So you’ll need a minimum of one inner tube, a tyre lever to get the tyre bead off one side of the rim, might as well combine that with a multi-tool to save weight and space and a tubeless repair kit to try and plug the hole in the tyre before hand when you go out on a regular ride.
Most of us will have strapped a bag of some sort to the bike or utilised one of the many mounts that come on gravel and mountain bikes these days. but my bag is usually full of sandwhiches, a waterproof jacket, this is the UK after all, a cafe lock and most rides a GoPro because of the UK Gravel Collective YouTube channel so there’s not much room to stuff in the afore mentioned tube etc.
Along comes 76 projects with a solution. I tested their strapless top tube bag way back and found this to be a very convienient system for stopping floppy bag syndrome and portability but now they’ve transfered this technology to what most dyed in the wool cyclists would refer to as a saddle bag. However, your little pouch with stuff in it that you don’t want covered in spray from the rear wheel now has the versatility to fit to any bottle cage mount spaced bolts anywhere on your bike.
This frees up space in your bag or keeps the contents out of harms way. The kit comes with discs that bolt into your mounts and then the base plate of the bag just twists and clicks into place.
The mount is very secure. I’ve tried to put it in unconventional places to test it’s robustness and to see if it would rattle off but everywhere i’ve mounted it to it has stayed exactly where placed. So that’s on the top tube, under the down tube, on the fork leg and even in the traditional bottle position. I trust it so much now i’ve stopped looking to see if it’s still there at the bottom of every bumpy downhill.
The zip is easy to use with gloved or cold hands. it has a small inner pocket for tyre patches or similar and comes with a stabilising strap for extra security, i’ve never used it but you’d might want to if mounting to a downhill/enduro bike maybe? the zip and bag is made of hard wearing and waterproof material and despite many soakings, mud and jet washes it’s remained dry inside.
If you need somewhere to stash small essential items it is perfect, if you have multiple bikes, get two sets of mounts and just swap the bag between bikes.
The 76 projects Quick release Piggy Zip case is a genuine fit and forget item but when you do need it it’ll still be there for you……..but given the efficiency of tubeless systems I’d check that the spare inner tube hasn’t perished before you go on a long wilderness ride!
for more info on this 76 procts piggy case click here (non affiliated link)
UK GRAVEL COLLECTIVE 