Restrap Bar Pack

The Restrap Bar Pack is a very good choice for carrying and quickly accessing a decent amount of gear on your handlebar, if you don't want to go the dry bag route. As it straps directly to your bar and head tube, cable management or frame rub could be an issue so some additional bits might be needed to make it work for you.

One adage in cycling holds true 99 per cent of the time: there's nothing new under the sun. In this case, decent-capacity handlebar bags, and the issues they face being attached to your bike without interfering with cables.

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As ever, the solutions likely lie back in the actual Golden Age of cycling – which is not now, sorry to disappoint. I mean the early 1900s, when millions of people across Europe innovated the bejesus out of metal, leather and canvas to create functional, beautiful, and functionally-beautiful cycling kit that still works today.

One of these items was the decaleur (deck-ah-lure). The idea of a decaleur was to hold a luggage bag solidly and quietly on the front of your bike, disentangling it from the cables at the front and keeping space free for your hands. You still needed a rack underneath for the bag's weight, the decaleur keeping it upright.

I take this small diversion down memory lane as a reminder that often the problems and their answers are behind us, and we only need look back to find them. It's the challenge of managing cable fouling that besets the Restrap Bar Pack; there are answers, but you need to know they're there.

Design

The Restrap Bar Pack in itself is a good idea, well executed. It's a 10L open bag with a roll-top closure, meaning no matter how little or how much you put in it, you can get a nice, compacted fit.

The roll-top closure is much the same as you'd find on a drybag – except to secure it you don't buckle the top back on itself, you buckle it to cinch straps on either side of the bag, further aiding compression. Each cinch strap passes through two rings, meaning it's free to slide smoothly. The bag is reinforced by a stiff plastic liner its whole circumference, so the 'U' shape is always maintained.

The exterior is available in black or the reviewed orange, and both interiors are bright orange, making finding small things a breeze.

On the front of the Bar Pack there's a bellow-sided pocket (meaning it can squash flat or expand) for minor items, with a roll closure held fast by a Velcro strap. Cunningly, this strap is attached over an open space formed by the back of the pocket, into which can be slid a mini D-lock. This speaks to one use case for the Bar Pack – that of permanently fixed on-bike storage for the urban rider. Yes, you can very quickly remove or store a mini D-Lock here – whether you want to leave a £105 Bar Pack out in the street for miscreants to ponder is another story.

On top, there's a bungee cord criss-cross generous enough to hold the bulkiest of jackets, gloves or whatever. I also used the front pocket D-lock slot to quickly stuff gloves or arm warmers into.

Attaching

So, back to the fixing... The Bar Pack attaches to your handlebar with 25mm nylon webbing straps, feeding through two strong, spring-loaded friction buckles. These work very well and didn't budge.

There's a slotted 10mm foam spacer block on each strap to help the bag stand out slightly from your bar – but not enough to get your fingers under. As the body of the bag is only 220mm wide this isn't likely to be too much of an issue. There's 80mm between the inner edges of the straps to clear your stem, but not really much space for any accessories bar the thinnest of mounts to be fitted between straps and stem.

The lower fixing of the Bar Pack is where there's the rub – literally. Restrap recommends you feed the provided double-sided Velcro strip around your headset and through the multi-position molle ladder stitched to the back of the pack. Restrap also recommends you fit frame protection tape around the headset to prevent rubbing – this is essential, as even a short ride will see marks on your paintwork as the inevitable grit is introduced between Velcro and paint, grinding away with each twitch of the bar.

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I have an 80mm stem and a pretty tall head tube and short spacer stack on my gravel bike, and with that setup the Bar Pack was angled downwards at about 30 degrees. A longer stem with more spacers would see that angle increase significantly, rendering the little slots cut into the front pocket flap for a light of no use unless you want to illuminate your front wheel.

Whether the setup leaves room betwixt pack and head tube for your cables to exit gracefully will depend on your aforementioned geometry and, critically, where the cables then enter cable stops or frame entry ports. If they attach reasonably far down the down tube you should be fine; if they enter much closer to the front of the head tube you might find the acute angles don't work when the cables are compressed rearwards. Check out the video on Restrap's site to get an idea.

The solution I came up with to all these woes was to install a Minoura CS-500 Headset Spacer Mount Accessory Holder. Originally designed for lights or GPS units, this bit of wizardry costs £15, weighs just 62g, replaces 10mm of under-stem headset spacer, and does a great job of holding the bottom of the Bar Pack out from your head tube. It relies on your fixing the Velcro at such a height and attaching at such an angle of the holder that it 'preloads' the system, so when you load the Bar Pack it pushes in against the mount and doesn't sag further down.

A few minutes' trial and error gives a solid result that stays put no matter how bumpy or loaded the terrain. The spacer isn't bearing the weight of the bag, just pushing it out from the headset. Some Loctite on the fixing bolts helps to keep everything in place.

I reckon Restrap should sell these as an option for people wanting to keep the Bar Pack vertical and away from the head tube. Other possible answers include racks that attach to the front of your stem, or systems involving a much stronger clamp interface on the handlebar – both of which will increase weight and cost. So if the Bar Pack fastening works for you as described, with or without the Minoura spacer, fine.

Build quality

Mounting considerations aside, it's the usual serious Restrap quality build from quality materials. Everything is stitched and reinforced within an inch of its life, and you should have no concerns that it will last a very, very long time. Restrap offers a fair 'lifetime warranty' on manufacturing defects and materials, alongside a repairs service. Being made in Yorkshire, and coming with a little tag signed by the machinist who built your bag, there's a nice local connection and you can be sure the company has your back should something unfortunate befall your kit.

You get a lot of space – not quite a sleeping bag's worth, but certainly an entire day's multi-seasonal-weather clothing, food, accessories and so on. The smaller front pocket is good for phones, compact cameras, snacks and the like. I got into the habit of stashing a water bottle, insulated mug, gas cooker setup and coffee inside, along with jackets, gloves and snacks.

Saving money on Covid-closed cafes was one bonus of being able to stop for my own trailside brewups, but I also admit to a smug feeling of self-sufficiency and slow-travel awareness of surroundings that I'd not experienced previously on local rides.

As mentioned, the strap fixings didn't budge, and were easily removed when the pack was not needed. You're unlikely to be putting more than a few kilos of kit inside, but even fully loaded the Bar Pack stays solidly put, with no sway to give odd steering feel.

Value and conclusion

Restrap seems to have configured the Bar Pack to hit a pretty sweet spot in terms of weight, capacity and features.

The Topeak Barloader bag, which Lara really liked, is about half the price and two-thirds the capacity, but has no front pocket or bungee stash area, while the Arkel Big Bar Bag is now £144, and is a lot heavier too.

The Bar Pack also comes in a little under another Restrap option, the Bar Bag Small setup, at £109.99 for a drybag, harness and food pouch.

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As with many things cycling, there's no right or wrong answer, just what works for you and your use case. If the design, attachment method, capacity, quality and cost of the Restrap Bar Pack fit your requirement envelope, you won't be disappointed.

Verdict

A very good way to carry lots of gear up front, lightweight, tough and practical