During our recent expedition I had the opportunity to use some of these bags to haul my gear.
The setup comprises of : Frame bag, this can be custom made to fit your frame size/shape also custom widths incase you’ve got wonky knees.
Handlebar harness , this bit is really cool as it carries the big bulky(but light) stuff. An extra option is a top pocket which sits on top of the harness, I found this really usefull for snacks, spare gloves head torch and all the other little things you want to hand.
Saddle Bag, this amazed me you can fit so much gear in there, I had pack towel, spare trousers (not lycra but full on trousers) spare base layer, spare mid layer, spare waterproof socks, woolly hat and my down jacket! The other great thing i discovered was it did get in the way while riding and I could still drop my seat a couple of inches for decending chunk.
Here’s what i thought about them,
Pros: The bags i’m sure would survive some kind of explosion or maybe a bear attack, very well thought out design
They force you to consider what your taking as they are not the T.A.R.D.I.S this is great because how many times have you returned from an adventure not having used the 27 pairs of pants you packed?
Because of the design you have to play the jigsaw game when packing, but in turn this means you know exactly where you have pack your hip flask.
The bags themselves weigh the same as air so your not lugging extra weight like with a BOB trailer (9kg on its own)
The bags have a custom option so at the time off building you can choose to have this there or that here, and the frame bag will fit your frame perfectly which really helps to keep it safe and secure
You can use all of them or one or any combo depending on what your doing.
Riding your bike is still good fun.
Cons: They force you to consider what your taking as they are not the T.A.R.D.I.S
You spend a little more time breaking camp and repacking (opposed to a BoB)
You can’t just unhook them and go riding like the BoB but they will come off easy..ish
you would struggle to carry lots of food and your gear
If you choose the custom option it will only fit that bike (frame bag) nb the bags i borrowed were designed for a surly karate monkey but they just so happened to fit bike like a glove.
Overall
I really liked using the bags and will be e-mithering Eric at Revelate designs for a set of my own soon. I think and would there reasonably priced and would last and with all the custom options you can really tailor them to your adventures.
The shear flexibility has to be mentioned too ,multi day fun or overnight bivvi the bags have an answer.
Check them out on his website clicky