I’ve got a confession to make……I’m a bag hoarder. My wife has shoes, lots of them, I have rucksacks, dry bags, messenger bags, little travel organiser bags and did I mention rucksacks. But after nearly 18 months with a ‘adventure’ style bike I was yet to find a set of crash bar bags I was happy with, that is till once again Lomo stepped in with their take on the humble crash bar bag.
Some of you may have seen my review of the brilliant 15l Lomo tail pack earlier this year. I also spent the summer blasting around to different youth festivals fully loaded with Lomo’s throw over panniers which I plan to review soon. Much like both of these products the crash bar bags are extremely high quality, solid bags with well thought out touches and a price that tickles my Yorkshire genes.
Each bag is made from a thick tarp material with a roll top to ensure the contents is dry at all times. Although I haven’t had these out in the wet yet their sister product the 30l panniers were bone dry following a 8 hour ride in torrential rain and these will be no different I’m sure. The backs of each bag are toughened with an extra layer of hard grippy material giving some shape and protection to the bags (and engine bars).
Each bag has 3 straps, 2 horizontally that attach at the front on either side with standard loop buckles. The third strap is vertical compressing the roll top and or bracing some of bags weight at the top on the bars attaching with a clip. Obviously every bike will be different but this combination of strap provides loads of options for getting the bags strapped up to the bike nice and tight. For my CB500X I had the horizontal straps looped through in 3 places (2 on the top strap, 1 on the bottom) then the vertical strap over the top. Each strap has a number of loop holes on the bag (back and sides) which is a nice touch and shows the well thought out design that’s gone into them. After 6 hours of mixed riding yesterday on everything from motorway to bumpy and twisty single track roads the bags were solid, no movement or flapping around, I forgot they were even there!
Each bag is 6.5l and honestly I’m not sure I’d want anything bigger. I’ve previously tried 2x12l engine bar bags and they were cumbersome, bulky and I simply couldn’t get them to sit right (maybe a factor of a lightweight/smallish bike). Packed up yesterday with a couple of extra layers, snacks, water, flask, tool and puncture kits there was tonnes of room left. For bigger trips these are going to serve well as the home for easy access bits out on the road giving me just a bit more space to organise my gear.
All in all these are the perfect answer to my engine bar needs and they are highly recommended. When you factor in the £39 price tag you just can’t beat them.
Available direct from Lomo – Click Here
Check out my review of their 15l tail bag Here
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