Wolf Tooth B-RAD Medium Strap and Accessory Mount

The Wolf Tooth B-RAD Medium Strap and Accessory Mount is a very good and secure means of attaching riding gear to your bike. While it's a lot like many straps that serve the same purpose, it's also very different in that it comes with its own metal base plate that bolts directly to the frame for extra security. It costs quite a bit more too, but you get peace of mind.

The B-RAD Medium Strap and Accessory Mount is a two-part system – there's the strap bit and the base plate bit. The strap is much like other strap-things-to-bikes straps but is usefully wide at 2in and just over 12in long – the extra acreage of Velcro makes it a lot more unshakeably reassuring to strap things into.

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A thick foam pad at the loop end of the strap protects your gubbins from the metal plate and really allows you to squish your stuff down into it. There's a small reflective tab at the end of the strap, too.

This strap threads through a metal base plate that's designed to mount directly to the bottle braze-ons on your frame using the included spacers and bolts, although Wolf Tooth recommends using a B-RAD Base to bolt it to.

As a strap system to carry some extra stuff on your frame it works very well; you can fit an inner tube or two in there (depending on size) and a multi-tool, and maybe even a thin mini-pump if you're crafty. Or just cinch a lightweight jacket in there and pedal on – it all depends on your specific needs, really.

There are smaller and larger versions if you need to carry less or more.

As a strap it's very secure. The side of the strap that's holding onto your cargo is made out of Toughtek Grip Fabric which has hundreds of tiny rubberised dots so it really wants to hold onto things, and you can really haul on the strap to tighten it against that metal plate. All of this combined with the strap width means nothing's going to slowly slip out over the course of a ride, no matter how bumpy.

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Being able to bolt the strap to a bike's bottle bosses via the base plate adds an extra level of security to the Wolf Tooth strap system, because it's not going to shuffle about or be knocked sideways as other straps that just loop round a frame are prone to do.

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Being securely attached to a bottle boss or the Wolf Tooth Base also means there's no chance of the strap or contained bits scratching or rubbing the paint on your precious bike. The downside is that it lacks the adaptability of a loose strap that can be attached where you want on the bike.

Value and conclusion

At twice the price of some frame straps, the B-RAD Medium Strap and Accessory Mount does seem quite a lot of money, especially when all you're getting extra is a plate of metal. The Effetto Mariposa Espresso Strap Lungo is currently around £12 (15 CHF) and the Lezyne Sendit Caddy is £21. But the B-RAD strap is a lot wider and grippier than most, and that metal plate does a great job of being very solid and immovable, and doesn't scuff your frame's paint, so that extra dent in your credit card might make it worthwhile. You do lose the adaptability of slapping the strap anywhere on the bike, though.

If you use the Strap and Mount in conjunction with the B-RAD Mounting Base this does open up your mounting options, but you'll have to put your hand deeper into your wallet.

Verdict

Very secure storage strap which, unlike others, has to be bolted to your frame