In the summer when I’m on my road bike I don’t carry much with me—just a few energy bars in my jersey pockets and a spare inner tube and CO2 pump in a small seat bag. However, when I ride off-road or in the rain I tend a carry a bit more with me and often need a place to store some of my rain gear when it is not needed. This past winter I purchased a Revelate Designs Tangle Frame Bag and it is one of the best pieces of cycling equipment I’ve ever purchased.
Revelate Designs Tangle Frame Bag
As the name suggests, the Tangle Frame Bag is a bag that fits on your bike frame—this one attaches to the top tube with reinforced Velcro straps. It also has adjustable webbing straps for the down tube and seat tube and low profile camlock buckles with strap keepers. I bought this bag for use on my winter bikes, but I think any commuter or distance cyclist would really benefit from it as well.
This bag is very well designed and thought out. It is divided into two pockets—the thinner pocket on the left hand side holds smaller items like maps, chemical hand warmers, and cell phones. The pocket on the right hand side is much larger and can easily hold vests, jackets, tools or enough energy bars for a 24-hour ride. Or, since the main compartment has an exit port at the front of the bag, you can use the larger pocket to hold a hydration pack. You could also use the larger compartment to hold the battery for your headlight and run the wire through the exit port (and still have a lot of room to spare).
The Tangle Frame Bag is made of Dimension Polyant Xpac 400 Denier Fabric (also known as sail loft). I own a lot of seat, saddle and storage bags and this is the sturdiest soft-sided bag I’ve ever seen. The zippers on this bag are water-resistant and the inside of the bag is lined with a bright yellow fabric so you can see the contents even in low-light situations.
Interior Of The Revelate Designs Tangle Frame Bag
This bag is available in three sizes. The smallest bag is 17″ long by 4″ tall and is designed for 15″–18″ mountain bikes. The medium bag is 19.5″ long by 4.5″ tall is designed for 17″–20″ MTB frames. The largest bag is 21″ long by 6″ tall and fits 20″ (or larger) MTB frames. These bags also fit road, touring and commuting bikes—just check the Revelate Designs Website for additional sizing information.
I used the medium-sized bag this past winter on my Surly Necromancer Pugsley and had to buy shorter water bottles to fit in the bottle cages. Another alternative is to buy side entering cages.
Revelate Designs is located in Anchorage, Alaska and I’ve purchased several of their products and every one of them has been of the highest quality. These bags have a product warranty that covers any defects for life. The Tangle Frame Bag retails for $68 to $70 (based on size) and is available from the Revelate Designs Website.
Diane
March 21, 2012 at 2:40 PM
Clever trick using bright colored fabric lining. I’m sick of seeing black on black products.
All Seasons Cyclist
March 21, 2012 at 2:51 PM
Diane, it also make it easier to see what is inside the bag when it dark outside.
Diane
March 21, 2012 at 10:37 PM
Yes, thats a great point too 🙂
H.W.
March 23, 2012 at 6:17 PM
You think its a better frame back than the Jandd? Why?
All Seasons Cyclist
March 23, 2012 at 10:40 PM
H.W., sorry, but I’ve never had a chance to examine the Jandd brand of frame bags. I spent a bit of time on their Web site tonight and they do look interesting.
yw
November 11, 2012 at 2:53 AM
what size frame is your pug? I got the medium tangle for my 18″ pugsley and the space below the bag is pretty much useless.. I’m thinking I should have gotten the full frame bag
All Seasons Cyclist
November 11, 2012 at 8:30 AM
I also have an 18″ Pugsley. You can still use the water bottle cages if you use a short bottle and side mount water bottle cages. My Pugs is the Necromancer and it has the same front fork as the Moonlander — that means I can also hook up two water bottle cages or Salsa Anything Cages on the front fork as well.
goanddoit
February 19, 2013 at 11:36 PM
How do you think the frame bag compares to some other kinds of bags like gas tanks or. Handlebars? I’m planning some tours to raise awareness for spinal trauma research and motivation through my site goanddoit.wordpress.com, and after looking through some of your posts I’m having trouble deciding between them. Thanks for writing such great reviews! They really are helpful.
All Seasons Cyclist
February 19, 2013 at 11:41 PM
Frame bags hold more than top tube bags, but the top tube bags are a lot easier to grab food out of as you are riding. Also, if you choose a frame bag you will probably lose at least one, or maybe two, of your water bottle cages. You might be able to use the water bottle cages is you get a side mount water bottle cage (http://wp.me/p1sFbY-WD) along with a shorter water bottle.
goanddoit
February 19, 2013 at 11:43 PM
Ah thanks. I’ve got seat tube and bottom tube mounted bottle cages, and I’m not really looking to loose either of those. I think that I’ll go with the top tube bag because of what you said about the ease of accessing food, and because I won’t have to mess with my cages.
Bob
April 3, 2013 at 12:27 AM
Have had this bag for a year. Exceptional quality. No problems with zippers.
All Seasons Cyclist
April 3, 2013 at 9:52 AM
I’ve used mine for a couple of years as well and the bag still looks and operates like new!
matthewinseattle
April 9, 2013 at 11:57 PM
With all due respect, your gear getting soaked sounds more like operator error. I did a two week tour through the Pacific Northwest in the rainy season and my gear stayed dry within several different Revelate Designs bags.
Additionally, Revelate Designs offers a pretty much “no quibble” lifetime guarantee on their equipment. I’ve sent one bag back because of a loose seam. It was fixed and shipped back without cost to me.
There’s a reason you see these bags on pretty much EVERY Tour Divide racer’s bike.
All Seasons Cyclist
April 12, 2013 at 10:37 AM
Matthew, I have removed the comments from “Alphonso” — the guy left three negative comments about the Revelate Designs bags and I have decided that either he is a total idiot who doesn’t know how to close a zipper, or he has some personal agenda against the company. I own four different RD bags and they have all held up extremely well.
Niels
January 20, 2014 at 12:49 AM
Are you still happy with this bag? Do you protect your frame on these points were the velcro straps go around your frame? I am afraid of paint coming loose after a while, escpecially on the front of the bag were the most dirt/sand/water gets catapulted from your tire. Whats youre experience with this?
All Seasons Cyclist
January 20, 2014 at 6:11 PM
I still love this bag and have used it a LOT this winter — so far I’ve not had any trouble with the paint on my frame. However, if you are concerned it would be very easy to cut an old inner tube and wrap it around the tube before you install the bag (I use old inner tubes for a lot of things like this).
Wayne
March 18, 2014 at 12:14 AM
The other choice to protect the frame paint is to overcoat the areas in question with “Top Coat Plus” — the clear hard stuff that ladies slap over their fingernail polish to prolong its life. The 15ml bottle I picked up in the beauty section of the local drugstore is labelled “Nicole by O.P.I” High Shine Top Coat+. I slathered it on the areas directly under/around the frame bag attachment points. Considering that I’m running a vintage black 1985 Miyata Terra Runner, I wasn’t worried about the uneven application in places — on black it doesn’t show as much — in fact, the shine was an improvement over some of the faded paint and brought it right back to life. I also slapped some over the old decals and they popped right out! Surprisingly, 15ml goes a long ways. Think of it as “clear coating” to the extreme. I’m not sure how it will hold up as I only recently applied it, but my guess is it’ll do the trick. A tiny bottle of it was all of $8.00.
As for the problem of the frame bag pushing the water bottles out of the bike triangle due to space shortage, on a normal MTB you could try using the Mount Skidmore water bottle cage adapters which can shift the cages in either direction, up or down, by up to 2 inches: http://mountskidmore.com.au/blog/adapter-second-to-mike-hall-in-tour-divide/ . I’m using Klean Kanteen bottles and also ordered “flat caps” off eBay to drop the overall height as well: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Klean-Kanteen-Water-Bottle-5-PP-Flat-Cap-FAST-FREE-SHIPPING-/251042627093?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a734e7e15 .
Perhaps those ideas might help?
All Seasons Cyclist
March 19, 2014 at 10:55 PM
Thanks for the tip about the “Top Coat Plus” — I’ll have to give it a try!
Wayne
March 19, 2014 at 11:58 PM
Just keep in mind that once the stuff is on, it ain’t coming off! Try it on a small area first to see how it goes on and in what thickness. YMMV. It actually improved the old faded black paint on my bike in many places but go easy until you see how it works in your particular case.
Mike Moomaw
April 19, 2014 at 7:13 AM
I have not used a frame bag. Do you have any problems with your legs rubbing against it?
All Seasons Cyclist
April 19, 2014 at 10:00 AM
No problems at all!
mmoomaw
April 21, 2014 at 8:50 AM
ASC, Thanks for the reply.
Wayne
April 28, 2014 at 1:36 PM
As a follow-up to the concern about rubbing your paint under the attachment points of the frame bag: https://www.revelatedesigns.com/index.cfm/store.catalog/Accessories/FrameSaverTape
Eric thinks of everything!
All Seasons Cyclist
April 28, 2014 at 8:18 PM
Lizard Skins also makes some wonderful tape to protect your frame — I put it on the bottom of my down tube and the back of the seat tube to protect my frame from rock damage.
Wayne
April 29, 2014 at 12:24 PM
And then there’s the copycat Crankskins on eBay that give you the same thing in different thicknesses: Weight Weenies Lite at 4mil, 8mil, 12 mil and super duper “Stoopid” 22mil!! Tough stuff!