Wildcat Tiger Wayfarer Saddle Harness

The Wildcat Tiger Wayfarer saddle harness is more compact than a lot of bikepacking bags and better suited for longer days and shorter tours. Designed to hold your stuff in a dry bag, it's super stable but can be a bit strappy.

Wildcat was one of the first companies to produce bikepacking gear in the UK, and despite the world and anyone with a shed and a sewing machine doing bikepacking gear now, its equipment still stands up well against a wealth of competition.

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The Wildcat range is based on a harness system that you slot and strap a separate dry bag into, rather than being a complete bikepacking bag you wedge stuff into.

Wildcat says it's chosen this system for three reasons. First, it makes it easy to unpack – you can simply release the straps and slip the dry bag out to sort through at your leisure (comfortably under cover if it's raining) and not have to deal with handling a bike at the same time. It also makes for easier packing, which ties in with the unpacking thing – it's easier to pack a dry bag under shelter or in a tent and then quickly stuff it into the Wildcat harness than fill a bikepacking bag and faff about strapping it back on the bike. Thirdly, it's more adaptable and you can pick the appropriate sized dry bag for your packing needs without over or underfilling a seatbag.

I've used both harness and integrated bikepacking bag systems and while they both have their pluses and minuses, the Wildcat system does work well.

Fitting the harness is a little bit more fiddly than other bikepacking bags I've used, but once it's on it's on. There's a bit of a knack to securing it to a saddle and seatpost and you'll be looking at the instructions sheet quizzically the first time you do it, but it quickly becomes second nature.

I found it best to start with roughly holding the harness to the bike with the seatpost strap just to keep it in place – this seatpost strap is made from a rubber-coated material that, combined with the way it double backs over the seatpost, holds the harness onto the post incredibly securely, and minimises rubbing too. Then feed the Tiger Wayfarer harness straps around the saddle rails and thread them back through the buckles. Insert your dry bag into the harness, wrap the rear strap around it, and tighten up all the straps to compress the dry bag tight as you like, and then cinch up the seatpost strap.

The harness body is made from ballistic nylon fabric that protects your dry bag from a certain amount of weather and wheel spray, but it's always best to use a waterproof dry bag, and then stuff the contents into something waterproof just in case.

The top and bottom panels of the harness body are also slightly padded and stiffened, which means it holds its shape, making it a lot easier to load a stuffed dry bag. The shiny nature of the fabric also makes it very easy to wipe clean.

The Tiger Wayfarer is designed for drybags from 3 to 6 litres in volume and if you don't have one already then you can buy a Wildcat bag specially designed to fit the harness; it's tapered at the closed end so it fits the harness snugly as it slims down towards the seatpost. This will add an extra £25 to the cost of the harness.

Whatever dry bag you use, there's a skill to packing it so it fits the Wildcat harness neatly; it's easy to create negative space in the thinner end by the post, so mush smaller and squishier stuff down there first if you can.

There's a bit of practice required to getting all the Wildcat straps just so, and this gets easier every time you use the Tiger Wayfarer as you learn what works best, and as with many bikepacking systems, things settle down in transit so a fiddle and tighten after half an hour or so on the bike is usually necessary. I've done a lot of bikepacking trips and anytime there's a stop, someone will be fiddling with their bag straps whatever brand or system they're using. It's definitely A Thing.

These Wildcat straps can feel a little octopussy at times and need frequent tidying and tucking away. Luckily, the side tension straps have Velcro loops attached to help keep things in order.

As an aside the Tiger Wayfarer does work a lot better with the tapered dry bag that Wildcat produce as the clips on their dry bag closure are designed to fit directly to the side clips on the body of the harness once you’ve removed the existing lateral strap, and it all becomes more integrated, neater and less strappy, although they do still need to be tucked away to avoid flappage. If you don’t have a dry bag already it’s worth investing in the Wildcat one to make their harness work as well as possible.

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A lot of bikepacking seat bags assume you're going to be carrying everything you need to survive crossing several time zones. The Wildcat harness is sized for rides where a larger seat pack isn't enough and a cross-continent bike packing bag is a bit too much. It's perfect for longer rides or briefer tours, the sort that might require a selection or change of clothing, or kit that you won't be able to fit in pockets. It's easy to cram some tubes, a small bag of tools and a choice of snacks in there as well, so everything's all out the way. If you're riding somewhere and want a change of clothes, maybe work clothes or for slipping into something more casual for the post-ride evening then this is perfect. Of course there will be comments that traditional saddlebags of the cotton duck variety have been doing this sort of thing for eternity. This is just another choice.

The big attraction of the Wildcat is that it's incredibly secure, there's virtually no sway to it, something that can plague other bikepacking bags and large seat packs. Even standing up and sprinting with a full Tiger Wayfarer prompted no swagger, so there's no need to adjust your riding style with this attached, you can mash up a climb as much as you like and then ride down anything.

The straps can work a little loose if riding with the Tiger attached to an off-road bike – the bumps and vibrations allow the saddle straps to gently wiggle undone over time, so regular tightening back up is required, but even with the straps a little loose the stability was only very mildly compromised.

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While it's a very good pack, there are two extremes where the Tiger Wayfarer doesn't work very well.

Wildcat does say there is no weight limit to what the Wayfarer can carry, but when it's loaded up heavy and with no other bags on the bike there were definite and off-putting instances of the tail wagging the dog and the bike becoming nervous on descents, especially when riding off-road. This isn't a problem unique to the Wildcat, though, and it's something that can be solved by distributing the weight more evenly across the bike with other bags.

The other issue comes at the other end of the scale when the harness isn't full enough; if the contents of your dry bag don't extend enough beyond the body of the harness then everything gets a bit loose and floppy as the straps have nothing to tighten against.

Value

The Tiger is £8 more than the similarly sized Altura Vortex 2 Waterproof Compact Seatpack, which has a passing resemblance to the Wildcat but is an all-in-one unit. The Altura scores very well on waterproofness, something the Wildcat can only compete on depending on which dry bag you choose to shove in it, but the Vortex does have flappy strap syndrome as well.

Even when you add the cost of a dry bag into the mix, the Tiger works out cheaper than the £135 Miss Grape Cluster 7 (off.road.cc reviewed the bigger and burlier 13-litre version, which is now £145).

Conclusion

Overall, the Wildcat Tiger is a handily sized harness for when you want to carry a little more than normal but less than an expedition; micro-adventure fans raise your hands. It's very good and it does become a better more integrated (and less strappy) unit if you buy the Wildcat dry bag.

Verdict

Light, rugged and stable harness for long rides or shorter adventures, but the straps need frequent disciplining