Review
Trek Adventure Bags
Trek Adventure Bags
As I strapped the first of the four Trek triangle bags to my bike, visions of sweet freedom and unbounded adventure, reminiscent of Lachlan Morton, played in my head. To my dismay, I did not set the Tour Divide FKT. I didn't even complete the Tour divide. My grandiose plans were cut short when I pulled into the bike room at work 25 minutes later, unzipped the bag, grabbed my provisions for the day, and started my shift.
Frame bags, even for those not setting off to spend a long weekend camping on Saltspring via bicycle, offer benefits for everyday riding for performance cyclists and commuters alike. I've thoroughly enjoyed being able to ditch my backpack or purge my short pockets of keys, phone, and wallet while moving around the city by bicycle. This past year, Trek has been rebranding a large portion of their accessories previously under the 'Bontrager' name, and with that has released an array of new products with a fresh spin. These bags have been glued to my bikes the past few months - making a strong case with durable materials, multiple sizes, and affordability. For me to recommend them unreservedly, especially considering the plethora of frame bag options on the market, there are some changes I'd like to see.
Nearly a perfect fit.
Build Quality and Size Options
The build quality and care put into the design of the bags was evident right out of the box, and a noticeable improvement from some of the cheaper Bontrager bags of the past. All four bags were constructed using an UltraGrid recycled nylon Ripstop fabric and can withstand the inevitable beating that frame rub and gravel (essentially sandpaper) will dole out. The zippers were durable and glided easily, never getting stuck, even when I had the bags overloaded with something unwieldy, like a cable lock. Mesh pockets on the side of the bags enabled quick access to snacks (turkey jerkey exclusively), while keeping valuables safely stashed in the main compartment. Despite the durable build quality, and thoughtful features, I was left rather disappointed after attaching the bag to my bike. The bags are designed to easily direct mount to the frames of Trek Bikes, notably the gravel bikes like the Checkpoint that come with under-top tube mounts, using the provided thumb screws. If you have a Trek Gravel bike, buying these bags is an obvious choice, especially with how aesthetically clean they are when direct mounted. With that said, I was left to attached them with four pieces of pre-cut velcro, which proved to be quite finicky to thread through the bag loops, and solidified the fact that the bag should have been advertised as direct mount only.
The Adventure Frame bag comes in four sizes, with the Adventure Triangle Bag offered in 3 volumes, which Trek says will fit most sizes of bikes from XS to XL. On their website, Trek offers a fit guide, which will instruct you to print out a template of the frame bag and then compare it with your bike to ensure you buy the correct size. If your bike is between sizes, they recommend to go for the smaller of the two. A word of caution to ensure that the paper size is accurate and zoom settings on your printer are set to 100% or a 1:1 ratio. Mine was set to enlarge the image on paper, which resulted in me getting sent a frame bag that was too small.
Mesh side pockets and secure, high quality zippers.
The aftermath of my printer size guide template faux-pas.
Thumbscrews facilitate tool-free direct mounting of the frame bag.
In Use
The bags were primarily used on an e-bike (essentially my car) and gravel bike, although the smaller 1 and 1.3 liter triangle bags fit nicely in the front triangle behind the headtube of a mountain bike, as long as your frame is big enough to clear your water bottle. Running it on my Trek Slash would've entailed removing the water bottle, which wasn't a favorable trade-off. The triangle bags were large enough for essentials: phone, wallet, keys, snacks, and knife, while the frame bag was amply sized to accommodate a jacket, tent poles, or even a full change of clothes when riding to work. I've yet to lose anything out of the mesh side pockets, but still wouldn't trust them with my valuables.
Thanks so an internal compression strap, the frame bag didn't bow out when packed full - unlike my Apidura frame pack that would expand and hit my knees when loaded. The bags handled light rain, but on the few occasions that it turned to a deluge, I was forced to put on soggy clothes in the cramped stall's of UBC's Macmillan Building. This bike commuter life really is a dream! All four bags had two pockets accessible from each side, with a divider in between. The separator was cut too big in contrast to the side of the bag, and would crumple up inside the bag, taking up valuable space. Velcro straps, as opposed to gear or loop style straps, left me disappointed. For a big company with as much R&D bandwidth as Trek, I was expecting more.
Compression strap in the middle of the bag prevented the dreaded frame bag bloat.
1.0L Triangle Bag - great for smaller frames.
1.3L Triangle Bag - fit perfectly above my Abus Bordo lock.
1.6L Triangle Bag - I would only recommend for larger frames.
Waving goodbye to all the analog commuters after crushing a 5% gradient climb at 30km/h.
Parting Thoughts
This new line of Trek Adventure bags offered some noticeable improvements in quality over those of past years, like peace of mind with Trek's 30 day unconditional guarantee and 2 year warranty, and the durable UltraGrid Ripstop material. However, poor straps and holes left in the bag for direct mounting suggests that these were really designed to cater to folks with Trek bikes, and they do so admirably. If you're not in this camp I would suggest being open to bags from other manufacturers.
Trek Adventure Frame Bag 2 Liter // 175 CAD
Trek Adventure Triangle Frame Bag 1, 1.3, and 1.6Liter // 115 CAD
Height - 6'/183cm (mostly legs)
Weight - 155lbs/77kg
Inseam - 34"/86cm
Ape Index - The Original Slinky™
Age - 22
Bar Width - 780mm
Preferred Reach - 485-500mm
Comments
Jose Espinal
3 weeks, 1 day ago
I made an account just to comment on this post, in what world is an $90USD(+tax) half frame bag affordable? Get an AGU one which come in fancy colours and minimal branding for for $40USD (tax included) and call it a day. I used those bags on an 800km self sustained bike packing trip and I still rock them to this day...the audacity to call that affordable, dear god
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Matt Cusanelli
3 weeks, 1 day ago
Affordable will always be a relative term, dependent on prior experience - and can be used so long as context is given. In this vein, you're right, I could've done a better job at explaining my personal experience with other frame bags that led me to use such a word. I validate your feelings, with your previous experience being with a bag half the price. However, before these, I've used half frame bags from Apidura (200+ CAD) and a few local bagmakers (~250 CAD), so in this light 175 CAD, especially considering Trek is using the same premium materials and build quality is excellent, is affordable. In any case, thanks for making an account ;)
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finbarr
3 weeks, 1 day ago
It's all relative- I think it's fair to call these affordable given how much bags cost.
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Heinous
3 weeks, 1 day ago
I’ve found the trek bags pretty good. The ability to flip the top tube feed bags upside down and mount on tool / utility mounts under mtb top tubes to keep things dry and clean is under rated.
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Matt Cusanelli
3 weeks, 1 day ago
Definitely, if I still had a steel hardtail (with lots of space in the frame) I'd for sure have one mounted in the front triangle. As mentioned, they fit on my Slash, but sacrificed water bottle space. Someone at Trek mentioned they fit one on their full sus frame though!
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Heinous
3 weeks ago
I ran one in a Druid. Was tight but worked well.
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Jotegir
3 weeks ago
The triangle bag fits well in the head tube-toptube-downtube pocket of Rocky Mountain full suspension bikes in front of the shock as a bonus! YMMV on smaller sizes and the Blackburn equivalent, although smaller, fits as though it was made for the pocket mediums and up!
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Squint
3 weeks, 1 day ago
As the owner of one of the mentioned Trek Checkpoint bikes, I have looked into these but apparently the hole spacing isn't necessarily correct even with the intended frame.
But I just don't see them for commuting/urban practical use as they aren't at all secure. If I need to take everything out when I lock up in public or risk theft, I'll just keep stuff in my pannier which I'm carrying inside anyway.
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Cooper Quinn
3 weeks, 1 day ago
As someone who uses panniers and frame bags, you just put different things in each. And, it depends on the general security of where you live. Some tools, a hat, a jacket, snacks, bag of coffee, plenty of other random sh*t... sure. Leave it on the bike.
Wallet/cell phone/gold bars? Well, obviously bring those inside.
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Jotegir
3 weeks, 1 day ago
"apparently the hole spacing isn't necessarily correct even with the intended frame. "
Embarassing if true.
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Matt Cusanelli
3 weeks, 1 day ago
I test fit one to a checkpoint at work last week and the spacing was correct, with that said, be sure to get the right size of frame bag or the holes may not line up. The spacing on the triangle bags is the same across sizes.
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Squint
3 weeks, 1 day ago
OK good to know, I had read numerous online accounts of buyers having to add holes to make them work. May have been a version mismatch.
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XXX_er
3 weeks, 1 day ago
I have a frame bag I bought back in the day of skinny frame tubes which i havent tried in years but are the straps on these bags big enough to fit around bloated frames ?
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Matt Cusanelli
3 weeks, 1 day ago
They were plenty big enough, so much so that I had to cut the velcro, or it would've been able to wrap around twice. Worst case, you can always get longer pieces of velcro.
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Alwayslivingthedream
3 weeks ago
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