Restrap Dry Bag Double Roll

The Restrap Dry Bag Double Roll 14L is a lightweight, convenient way to pack for cycling adventures. Just be aware there's a reason it's that light.

The Double Roll weighs in at 175g on the road.cc Scales Of Truth, for a double-ended bag with twice the buckles and webbing of a normal drybag. This is on par with similar lightweight double-ended offerings such as the Alpkit Airlok Dual 13L, which although a litre smaller does include compression straps.

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Inside, the construction is tape-sealed along the bag but there's no sealing around the stitching at the top of the bag. If you roll the top of the bag over a full two turns the top will be effectively isolated from the contents, so this isn't an issue.

The fabric is rated as 100% waterproof, and under my garden-hose-shower-for-an-hour test regime the bag withstood moisture ingress – a test far tougher than even the worst British weather could muster. Testing by filling the bag itself with water did show some leaking around the rolltop closures (folded over fully twice), but that's a different kettle of high pressure wet fish to the intended purpose, paired with Restrap's other products for bikepacking.

The raison d'être of the double-endedness is to allow access from... well, it's implicit in the name. When matched with the Restrap Bar Bag Holster (review to come) you can access contents without unstrapping the whole bag, which would require additional faff to then repack and redistribute contents, to then get the whole setup nicely balanced out once more.

On changeable cooler days I used one end to store gloves and headgear/arm warmers, the other end for a rainshell and thicker top. It was perfectly do-able to unclip a bag end, unroll, fetch or stash kit, then re-roll closed.

The bikepacking market is evolving, though, with UK brand Wildcat now offering a double-ended drybag with separate internal liners to keep wet gear apart from dry, for example – but you're paying nearly three times as much for the extra layer of protection there.

> Beginner's guide to carrying stuff on your bike

The construction of the Double Roll drybag is a tube of thin, waterproof material, with the nylon webbing stitched to it at each end. The nature of construction means you should take due care when packing, not using excessive force to cram as much in as possible lest you find the sheer strength limit of the material/stitching interface. I have a military-grade PVC drybag (think fisherman's trousers material) where the fold strap is welded to the outside of the continuous tube, but it weighs nearly four times the Restrap, is single-ended, and is far less compressible.

Given the Restrap product is a lightweight bag most likely to pair with the Restrap handlebar holder, using it for holding lighter, easily compressed items such as down sleeping bags, jackets and the aforementioned extremity clothing is probably the way to go. There's nothing stopping you pairing this bag with the Restrap Saddle Bag Holster if you like, but you are losing a small amount of capacity over the single-ended 145g 14L bag due to the need to roll the second end over twice to afford a properly good seal.

All in all, the Double Roll drybag is a useful, lightweight choice for bikepacking, or indeed general travel use, pairing nicely with Restrap's other products.

Verdict

A good choice for bikepacking, particularly as a bar bag, with easy access from both ends