Crivit Handlebar Roll Bag
A handlebar roll bag for a tenner? That has to be too good to be true. LIDL were recently selling these as well as a frame bag and a seat post bag, all at the tidy sum of £9.99 each. Great if you are on a budget or just want to give something new a try. I already have the a seat post bag and frame bags, but didn’t have a handlebar bag so at only a tenner I thought I’d give it a bash.
The straps are installed through a locking buckle which makes them difficult to adjust. The left hand buckle is as supplied, the right hand one has been left free for better adjustment.
The bag comes in two parts, a waterproof compression stuff sackand the compression roll which attaches to the handlebars. Both are fitted with a velcro patch so that the bag cannot slide out of the compression roll and this works very well. The compression roll has a fitting to allow lights to be attached.
The weak point of the bag- stitching.
The compression sack attaches on to the handlebars using two basic velcro straps and another which attaches to the head tube. Some people dispense with such attachments and just bungee the whole bag to the handlebars directly, but I found that the straps did the job they were supposed to with no fuss; but what was immediately apparent was the poor quality load bearing stitching on the bag itself. The straps pass through loops on the bag and on being put under pressure with a light load I could clearly see the blue thread of the stitching pulling away and it did not inspire me with confidence.
DIY strengthening.
I hand stitched all the load bearing points on the compression bag using dental floss before colouring them with black permanent marker for an invisible finish.
After strengthening.
Once stitched, the bag was a lot more secure. The next issue was the compression straps themselves which were each locked through a buckle. This greatly restricted the ability to compress the bag. The ends of the straps had been doubled over and stitched which was a bit of a pain, but with the help of a pair of pliers I was able to squeeze them through, allowing a greater range of adjustment. Even on rough ground the straps now remain tight so there’s no chance of the bag coming loose.
Like any bag fitted to the handlebars, this will interfere with other fittings and you may need to rearrange lights/bell/GPS mounts to accomodate. In the picture above the bag sits quite high, meaning the light mount faces upwards. Clearly this might cause problems and you will need to spend some time setting up the bike to ensure everything fits correctly.
If you are willing to spend an hour or so reinforcing the stitching on this then it is £10 well spent. For occasional use, for a limited load this is more than capable.
Weight: 260g
Capacity: 9l
Weight Limit: 4.5kg
The Airdrie Rambler 