Apidura Mountain Frame Pack (Large)

The Apidura Mountain Frame Pack is designed to sit inside your bike's main triangle, maximising storage space by running the full length of the top tube while still allowing two water bottles to be used. It works well, although you might need to change to side-entry bottle cages.

Compared with the Road Frame Pack, which is tailored more towards slim-tubed frames, the Mountain has a more pointed and less square forward section which better matches the bulkier head tube junction of larger-tubed frames. Apidura helpfully includes the dimensions for each of the frame pack models and sizes on its website, and can provide advice in case you aren't sure what will fit.

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The large size pack tested sat perfectly in a 58cm Trek Crockett (with a 57cm effective top tube), barely requiring any of the straps as it fitted so snuggly. It also spent some time on a large Giant TCX, which had a 58cm (effective) top tube that was a little longer than the pack itself. For this bike, I found it best to tighten the front of the pack right up against the top and down tubes and leave a little space at the rear between it and the seat tube.

It attaches to the bike with three Velcro straps (backed by Hypalon, a synthetic rubber to prevent paint wear) that wrap around the top tube, and four ladderlock buckles, one for the head tube, one for the down tube and two for the seat tube. Each of these comes with a little elastic sleeve so you can tuck in excess webbing, keeping the whole thing neat and tidy. There's a lot of adjustability in each of these, so a wide range of tube shapes can be accommodated.

With all the straps tightened, the pack is rock solid, and even when heavily loaded doesn't negatively affect the bike's handling. At 227g it's not a huge weight penalty, which makes it something you can just leave attached to the bike all the time.

The large pack has a nominal capacity of 5.3 litres which is split into two compartments, both of which are lined with yellow material to make it easier to see in. The lower volume compartment includes three mesh pouches of differing sizes along the inside face to provide some means of organisation. I found this useful for things like tools and valuables which you don't really want rattling about every time you hit a bump in the road.

The larger compartment is useful for bulkier items such as food or clothes that are handy to have easily accessible. It includes a small zipped pocket on the inside face that can take a standard size smartphone, cards and cash. This compartment also has a port located on the top tube face, so you can run a hydration hose or battery lead up to the handlebar.

Both compartments are accessed via full-length water-resistant zips with generously sized one-finger zipper pulls.

> Beginner's guide to carrying stuff on your bike

In practice, 5.3 litres of capacity translated into being able to comfortably stash, with a little wiggle room: a waterproof jacket, extra baselayer and lunch in the larger compartment, and a pump, two spare tubes, a tyre lever and a multi-tool in the smaller compartment.

Trying to fill the bag to the max resulted in it ballooning outwards and catching on my knees when riding – the 6cm width strikes just about the perfect balance between volume and not interfering with your knees, provided you don't overpack it.

One thing careful packing won't affect is the depth of the bag, which sometimes made it a challenge to use the bottle cages on both bikes I tested it with. In each case, the seat tube bottle was the easiest to access, while the down tube bottle (both 600ml) was almost impossible to remove and replace without veering all over the road. The immediate solution was to use the seat tube bottle as the go-to and swap the bottles around when finished. For long-term use, side-entry cages would be the way to go, as this would make access a cinch and mean you could use larger bottles.

> Find reviews of bottle cages here

Despite technically not being waterproof because of the unsealed seams, the Frame Pack is still decently weather resistant on account of the waterproof VX-21 material used and the water resistant zips. Throughout winter, the Frame Pack saw daily use on my commute as well as weekend rides, and in that time I didn't experience any issues with water getting in. As always, though, if you plan to carry anything valuable and particularly allergic to water, a dedicated dry bag is a small price to pay for peace of mind.

At £75, the Mountain Frame Pack is certainly not cheap, but this price is in line with what you can expect to pay for partial frame bags from the likes of Alpkit (slightly cheaper) and Wildcat Gear (the same), among others. The lightweight touring and bikepacking market isn't the biggest, so economies of scale don't really come into it.

Overall, I think the Frame Pack would make a good investment given that it can double up for commuting duties as well as those more exciting adventures, and that the quality of construction means it's made to last.

Verdict

Well-made bag with useful storage capacity that won't negatively affect bike handling