Lomo Bike Frame Dry Bag

The Lomo Bike Frame Dry Bag is impressively waterproof, a useful size and extremely reasonably priced.

If you are after new bikepacking luggage, check out our best bikepacking bags buyer's guide.

> Buy now: Lomo Bike Frame Dry Bag for £26 from Lomo

Whether you want a frame bag as part of a bikepacking ensemble or just as a lone place to carry your stuff, the Lomo Bike Frame Dry Bag's features, low price, and serious water-resistance make it one you must consider.

Frame bags are aimed at mountain bikers and bikepackers, but I've begun to use them more and more over the last couple of years for all sorts of riding. They're convenient, carry more than a typical saddle bag, and use a space on your bike that's usually doing nothing. And they have the extra bonus of breaking those silly 'Rules' about making your bike look as 'Euro pro' as possible.

> How to pack bikepacking bags – carry everything you need and more

The Lomo Frame Bag is easy to fit. The numerous loop slots mean you can fit it against your seat tube or snug it against the top tube to make room for a pump on the seat tube. Or you could carry a pump inside the main compartment, as it has room for a decent length model such as a size 1 Zefal HPX, a Large Lezyne Road Drive, or a Topeak Road Morph.

There's plenty of room inside for a jacket, tools and spares too, and for bike packing you can just stuff it full of clothes or stuff like that. Lomo doesn't give a number for the frame bag's capacity, but it's about three litres.

The zip opens from back to front; some folks prefer front to back, but this way gets you into the deepest part of the bag first. The interior is black, which can make finding things harder.

Water-resistance is impressive. No water got in while I was riding, so I put it under a running shower for ten minutes, simulating a serious deluge, and the contents were still bone dry.

Speaking of water, the Lomo Frame Bag is deep enough that it gets in the way of water bottles even on some large frames. You'll need side-entry cages or to move your cages down with something like Topeak's Alt-Position Cage Mounts.

If I have a significant gripe it's the single size on offer. The reigning monarch of budget frame bags, the £17.99 LifeLine Adventure Frame Bag from Wiggle comes in three sizes so you can fill as much or as little of the under-top-tube space as you like.

Construction and details

The Lomo Bike Frame Dry Bag is made from waterproof PVC with radio-frequency welded seams. There's a single long waterproof zip on the right-hand side to access the main compartment, and a small, flat extra pocket on the left for, well, small flat stuff. It's not big enough for my iPhone 11 Pro (144 x 71.4 x 8.1mm), but my partner's iPhone 12 Mini (131.5 x 64.2 x 7.4mm) went in – just – without a case.

I used it for keys and cash, because you never know when you're going to need a five-pound note.

Lomo supplies five Velcro straps to mount this to your bike, via ten pairs of loop slots. The straps are long enough for fat frame sections, but not silly on skinny tubes. You can tuck the free end into the slot on the bag for a tidy look.

Rivals and value

The best thing about the Lomo is its extremely reasonable price. You can pay the best part of £100 for a frame bag, and many that we've tested land in the £75-£90 range. That makes this bag an absolute bargain at just £26. Add in Lomo's £36 saddle bag and £19.50 handlebar bag and you're ready for adventure for well under £100 – less than the price of some single bags.

The £17.99 LifeLine Adventure Frame Bag is its biggest rival in this price range, but it lacks the Lomo's handy side pocket, and has fewer mounting options.

The only other frame bag under £50 that we've tested is the BBB Middle Mate that Patrick liked. The small version is about the same size as the Lomo and costs £33.99. It has a blue liner to swerve that black-cat-coal-cellar situation of finding things in bags like this one.

While it has a couple of small drawbacks, this is a very good frame bag at a very, very good price.

Who should buy the Lomo Bike Frame Dry Bag?

This could be the right bag for you as part of getting started in bikepacking on a budget, or simply as a convenient bag that'll hold more than a typical seat pack.

Verdict

Great value and very waterproof bag for bikepacking and general use