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I virtually by no means depart dwelling with out bicycle instruments, as a result of after sufficient miles and sufficient household rides, you be taught quick that someone all the time finally ends up needing one thing. The larger challenge for me is having a setup that may transfer from bike to bike with out turning right into a problem each time I journey or check one thing new. That’s what put me on the hunt for a trunk bag that might carry the journey necessities, deal with errands, and make sense throughout a couple of bike.
Most of my using additionally isn’t the type the place you possibly can shrug and head dwelling if one thing goes sideways. My spouse and I do lengthy date rides that may stretch twenty, thirty, generally fifty miles, and when the entire household rolls out, that variety of riders brings its personal sort of chaos. Extra folks means extra possibilities for a flat, a free bolt, or somebody’s derailleur deciding it’s completed cooperating. Anyone within the group must be carrying the fixes, and for years now, that’s been my position (aka Dad).
That’s the reason a trunk bag makes a lot sense for the way in which I take advantage of bikes. On my mountain bike, gravel bike, and street bike, I don’t want that sort of bulk hanging off the again, I am going smaller with beneath the seat wedge luggage. However for household rides, errand runs, and the fixed bike swapping that comes with testing new ebikes, I would like one setup that may carry instruments, deal with on a regular basis cargo (library books, small grocery runs, and so forth.), and preserve the necessities shut at hand. That could be a large ask for any bag. However the Topeak MTX Trunkbag DXP 2.0 will get nearer than anything I’ve used.
The Drawback I Was Making an attempt to Remedy
I check quite a lot of ebikes. That’s a part of the job. Which implies along with my every day driver, I’ve a rotation of bikes, and no matter bag I take advantage of wants to maneuver with me as a substitute of dwelling bolted to a single body. For this spherical of testing I ran the Topeak MTX Trunkbag DXP 2.0 throughout two fully totally different bikes, the Batch eFT.3 and my every day driver, the Mokwheel Obsidian, utilizing two of Topeak’s many mounting choices alongside the way in which. I need to be clear about one thing although: don’t learn this as “this bag solely works on these two bikes.” That’s the other of the purpose. One mount clamps to a seatpost and wishes no rack in any respect. The opposite bolts onto a rack you have already got. So, between these two mounts, this technique covers virtually something with two wheels and a spot to sit down.
Two bikes that want a Trunkbag
Over a month, this bag rode with me on grocery runs, library drop offs, financial institution errands, and simply cruising round city with no actual vacation spot, plus sufficient distance using to know the way it holds up when it’s not simply sitting fairly on a driveway picture shoot.
Mount One: The Topeak MTX BeamRack II (V-Sort)
That is the seatpost possibility, and it’s the one I put in on the Mokwheel Obsidian, which didn’t have a rear rack setup I may construct round. The BeamRack II clamps on to the seatpost and features a shim package so it might probably seat correctly throughout a spread of publish diameters, as much as 31.8mm. Set up took one Allen bolt and about three minutes from begin to end. It actually couldn’t have been a lot simpler.
What struck me right here is how sturdy this feels for one thing that isn’t tied into the rear triangle in any respect. I’ve used a seatpost rack from Rac Pac earlier than, and this one has a noticeably stiffer really feel underway, much less aspect to aspect wag while you’re loaded up and hitting a tough patch of pavement or a root crossing on a rail path. Rated for 20 kilos, and that tracks with what I loaded onto it, a mixture of instruments, water, and no matter I picked up on the retailer that day.
One of the best a part of this mount is what it represents fairly than what it does. It means a rack-less bike, or a motorcycle with a rack that isn’t suitable with something, instantly has a house for this complete system. I consider it like a common distant. You don’t want the unique distant from the field, you simply want the factor that talks to the whole lot.
The Topeak Twin Aspect Body for the the Topeak MTX BeamRack II: The place the Groceries Stay
The MTX Twin Aspect Body mounts to the BeamRack II and provides the panniers the decrease construction they should work the way in which they’re alleged to. As soon as opened, the panniers have one thing stable to relaxation in opposition to and tie into, which retains heavier hundreds from sagging or swinging round as you journey. That provides the entire setup a cleaner form beneath load and makes the panniers really feel way more usable when they’re full of cargo. Set up was simple too, simply 4 screws and it was on.
That added decrease assist is particularly noticeable on small grocery hauls and heavier on a regular basis hundreds. As an alternative of the panniers feeling like further material hanging off the edges, they keep extra managed, higher balanced, and extra predictable over tough pavement or when the bag is packed erratically. It’s a easy add-on, however on the BeamRack setup it does rather a lot to make the panniers really feel like an actual cargo resolution as a substitute of simply further storage.
Mount Two: The Topeak Omni QuickTrack Adapter
That is the one I used on the Batch eFT.3, which already had a rear rack from the manufacturing facility. As an alternative of changing that rack, the Omni Adapter attaches onto the present rack deck and provides it the QuickTrack interface the Topeak luggage want. Set up itself was simple, however tightening the whole lot down took just a little further endurance as a result of there was not a lot house between the rear fender and the underside of the rack. Not laborious, just a bit difficult to get the Allen wrench in the place it wanted to go. It is available in two sizes relying in your rack tube diameter and width, and as soon as it’s on, it mainly disappears. You neglect it’s even there till you’re popping the bag on or off.
That is the place the comparability to Rac Pac’s model comes up once more, as a result of I’ve mounted each. Topeak’s adapter locks down extra confidently and doesn’t creak or flex beneath load the way in which I’ve felt with the competitor’s piece. It’s a small distinction, however it’s the sort of distinction you discover on a bumpy gravel stretch when the whole lot else on the bike is rattling and also you’re listening for the one sound that shouldn’t be there.
What this adapter actually does is take a rack you already personal and make it fluent in Topeak. You’re not shopping for an entire new rack system, you’re educating your present setup a brand new language.
Residing With the Topeak MTX Trunkbag DXP 2.0 for a Month
Capability for the Topeak MTX Trunkbag DXP 2.0 sits at 19.4 liters, however that quantity lands rather a lot higher when you begin loading the bag and seeing what it might probably truly carry. In my setup, the bag swallowed a full software package with out challenge, plus a water bottle within the devoted holder (received’t fairly match bigger Yeti types) and nonetheless had sufficient room left over for the on a regular basis objects I have a tendency to hold as soon as a journey turns into extra than simply using. The 600 denier materials has shrugged off the whole lot West Michigan has thrown at it, damp mornings, dusty gravel, and loads of on a regular basis use. At 1185 grams it’s not a featherweight bag, however weight in the proper place beats weight in your again each time.
What impressed me extra is that it does a pleasant job in that center floor between bike bag and grocery helper. A gallon of milk suits in a single pannier cleanly, which tells you a large number in regards to the sort of on a regular basis hauling this factor can deal with. Two cereal containers will go in, however not in a means that lets the pannier zip shut, so there’s nonetheless a ceiling right here. That seems like the proper expectation for this bag. It’s nice for small grocery runs, library stops, and selecting up just a few issues on the way in which dwelling, not an alternative to loading up a full cart on the retailer.
The lightning-fast MTX QuickTrack system system is the element that earns its preserve everyday. I ended at a farmers market with a pal lately, and as a substitute of leaving my instruments and telephone sitting on the again of the bike hoping no one wandered off with them, I simply popped the entire bag free and carried it with me as a shoulder bag (it comes with a shoulder strap). When you’ve got ever had one thing stolen off a motorcycle rack, with the ability to take the entire bag with you is a pleasant characteristic to have.
But when I’m being choosy, and I’m, as a result of that’s the job, I do want there was a separate safe zippered pocket on high particularly for a telephone and pockets. Proper now these reside in the identical expandable high part as the whole lot else, which implies digging previous a multitool to seek out your pockets at checkout. The Rac Pac model I’ve used prior to now has that devoted pocket, and it’s the one characteristic I’d steal if Topeak let me construct my very own model of this bag.
Remaining Ideas on the Topeak MTX Trunkbag DXP 2.0
In case you’re working errands on a motorcycle, doing longer rides the place “what if one thing breaks” is an actual query and never a hypothetical, otherwise you simply need one bag that may bounce between bikes with out shopping for a second setup, that is a straightforward advice. The mounting flexibility alone means it doesn’t matter what you’re using. Seatpost, present rack, doesn’t matter, there’s a path in.
It’s virtually good…a high zippered pocket would push it there. However between the BeamRack II, the Omni Adapter, and the Twin Aspect Body, Topeak constructed a system that adapts to the bike as a substitute of asking the bike to adapt to it. And after a month of grocery runs, errands, and lengthy rides with the household, that’s precisely the sort of gear that earns a everlasting spot on no matter I’m using subsequent. For more information or to choose one up for your self, go to rei.com or amazon.com.
