Apidura Racing Long Top Tube Pack

The Apidura Racing Long Top Tube Pack squeezes two litres of flexible storage into a slim form factor with rock-solid fixings. Featuring a charging cable port and a two-way waterproof zip, it's hard to beat if you need to max out your storage for going fast, far or in between.

At 45cm, this is one of the longest top tube bags around. I ride an XL frame and most of the top tube gets taken up with its quick-access goodness. A potential downside of this is hitting your knees when full, but at 4.5cm wide it's in the Goldilocks zone for storage vs knee clearance.

> Find your nearest dealer here

> Buy this online here

Apidura has reinforced the sides by lining the removable inner with a flexible, strong plastic sheet. The inner is a soft material that's stitched to the plastic, then the liner is held to the outer with Velcro. It's not advertised as removable in the specs, but I found it a real bonus when an oat bar exploded and got mashed into the liner over the course of a long rocky ride. Being able to wrestle the liner out and scrub it down got everything back to clean and tidy.

Other internal features include a removable Velcro-and-elastic divider, which lets you separate kit while also holding the sides in when full. At the front there's a covered cable port so you can pass charging and light cables through. The bottom of the inside is slightly padded to help protect items like battery packs from repeated impact with the top tube.

The outer is made from a custom-developed lightweight laminate, and all panels are welded together, making it 100 per cent waterproof. Zips will always give a slight risk of ingress, but the one Apidura has chosen is as good as any I've seen on bike luggage. There are two pull-tags, so you can open the bag from the top or bottom – a very handy feature when on the bike and wanting to access a particular bit of kit. For example, I kept my food at one end, and stashed gloves/tools at the other.

Branding is kept pretty minimal, with reflective logos either side.

Fixings

The fixings are rock solid. At the front there's a 20mm cut-out through which the 24cm Velcro strap passes before wrapping around the stem. Underneath there are two fixed 25mm Hypalon-reinforced Velcro straps, centred 12.5 and 25cm back from the front of the bag. I make them long enough to go around a 60mm-diameter top tube, so plenty generous, but as they are fixed, if they interfere with your frame bag's fixings you're out of luck.

At the rear of the bag base there's another movable Velcro strap, sliding through one of two slots in the underneath of the bag.

Finally, the bag is pulled tight with a thin 15mm webbing strap that loops around your seatpost and holds fast with a buckle and elastic tidy loop. To be honest, this is a belt and braces approach from Apidura; it's easily removed and if you don't like it I doubt you'll miss its presence.

Weight is a racing-svelte 200g. For a rigid 2-litre bag with five fixing points and a waterproof zip, that's pretty darn light. For comparison, Restrap's Race Top Tube Bag is only 10g lighter at 190g, but misses half a litre of capacity, has no cable port and isn't as waterproof.

For an ostensibly simple item Apidura has packed in a number of tasty features to aid stability and usability. Out on the bike it doesn't disappoint, staying firmly put even when knocked by a wayward knee. The zip is stiff when new, and does loosen a bit, but remains firm and in place no matter the load or terrain.

With a full load over the roughest of terrain at the fastest of speeds, there was nothing to distract me from rattling eyeballs and puckering trousers of impending doom. When excessive body language was required to keep things upright, on occasion a leg would contact the pack, but the secure fastening and stiff sides meant things returned to where they should be without issue.

Speaking of load, how much can you fit into two litres? For me it's a decent mini-pump, four energy bars, a Garmin inReach GPS tracker, a huge Topeak Alien X multi-tool, inner tube, a Dynaplug tool, patch kit and tyre levers, with room to spare.

> Emergency essentials: 10 things to take with you on every ride

If you're headed out on a really long ride, chances are you'll be dealing with changing weather, in which case it's nice to be saving those jersey pockets for soft, light clothing you want to lose as the day warms up. Not having the heavy, hard stuff on your back at the start of a day is a great feeling, and the Racing Long pack makes it easy to access everything as needed on the go.

Value

At £72 the Long pack isn't cheap – I'd call it an investment. Yes, you can buy top tube bags for as little as £15, but they are almost certainly not waterproof, or have the well-thought-out features on show here. As mentioned above, the Restrap Race is another 'large' bag, and pound-per-litre the Apidura offering wins out. Even more so against the Miss Grape Node Road, the Apidura bag shows good value.

> Buyer’s Guide: 26 of the best bikepacking bags

The most obvious competition is from Apidura's own Backcountry Long Top Tube Bag – slightly smaller at 1.8 litres, 7cm shorter but sloping less at the rear, with the same 4.5cm width and £2 less. If you wanted a more upright pack or needed it to fit a shorter frame, that would be your bet.

Adding value, Apidura offers a warranty 'for the reasonable lifetime and intended usage of its products'. And if it deems the product outside of that it offers what seems a fairly-priced repair service. Its website lists a good number of repair tips too, including how to fix a broken zip, which isn't covered under warranty.

Conclusion

Apidura has a great reputation in the ultra-distance racing and riding community, so if you want to give your money to a company interested in keeping you riding fast, far or in between in return for some great on-bike storage, the Racing Long Top Tube Pack should be at the top of your list.

Verdict

Both waterproof and solid, an excellent way to store a lot of things on your top tube