Craft Cadence Handlebar Bag
Craft Cadence is essentially one of the leading companies providing waterproof cycling bags. Though, Craft Cadence has the commuter as the key demographic, this Handlebar Bag is well suited for gravel, road, MTB, commuters, and other cycling that requires a bar bag.
There are many handlebar bags available on the market, and I have tried and reviewed many of them, and I think the biggest factor that makes a good bag great is the bag’s ability to resist water intrusion. Though this isn’t the only factor, I believe it is highly important, otherwise, it is just a fair-weather bag and depending on where you live, will greatly hamper its use.
In this review, I will be looking at the Craft Cadence Handlebar Bag’s water resistance, installation ease and versatility of installation on various bikes, ease of use on and off the bike, versatility of carrying items, carrying capacity, and overall style.
Check out some of their other products I have reviewed from Craft Cadence too: Cycling Wallet, Original Cycling Wallet, Top Tube Bag (bolt on), Top Tube Bag (straps),
Bag Design
The Craft Cadence Handlebar Bag was created for any ride, any disciple, and any level. With the intent of one bag filling the needs of different cyclists. This bag is large enough to fit DSLR cameras, or big enough to fit some gloves and a jacket for inclement weather.
On the exterior of the bag, there is a Daisy Chain webbing strap that wraps around the sides and top of the bag. This Daisy Chain strap is used to secure the bag to the handlebars via two 12 in (305 mm) Voile (pronounced “Vo-Lay”) straps. Why Voile? This is a quote from Craft Cadence on why they chose Voile.
“Why do we use Voile Straps for our Bar Bag? The answer is we’ve tested all straps: Velcro, rubber, plastic, and from all suppliers, and Voile is simply the best. The combination of strength, elasticity, workmanship and the little details make it a no brainer for us, and the extra price is worth it in our opinion.”
Additionally, on the daisy chain, at the corner edges of the bag is an additional loop of the webbing strap to allow for the attachment of a shoulder strap. This strap (made from the same webbing material) allows one to easily carry the bag when it is off the bike. The shoulder strap has two cleverly designed locking clips that will securely hold the straps on the loops.
On the rear side of the bag there is a welded patch loop, like that of the Craft Cadence XL Cycling Wallet, that is used to attach the bungee cord to the bike head tube or brake house/cable housing.
Furthermore, on the front of the bag, there is a small storage pocket that is covered by a flap of polyester material. The pocket cover is held down by two small hook-and-loop fasteners. Also, on the front of the Craft Cadence Handlebar Bag there are six loops with a bungee cord weaved through them. This bungee cord strapping allows for carrying some extra items externally.
To access the interior of the bag, unzip the YKK zipper. The zipper has two buckles. This allows for various closing configurations depending on your preferences. The zipper starts/stops on the bottom side of the bag about 2 inches (~50 mm) from the side edges, then wraps around the sides and top of the bag.
This zipper placement is what allows the front face (which I will call the door of the bag) of the bag to completely open. Once unzipped, and with the Craft Cadence Handlebar Bag opened, one will notice the thoughtfully placed pockets and a leash with a hook for keys on the bag door. At the sides of the door there are two pieces of strapping material (made from the same material that the daisy chain is made from) that attaches to the sides of the bag.
This strapping acts in a similar fashion to cables on the sides of a truck bed door. They transfer the load from the door to the sides of the bag and hold it from opening past 90 degrees. This is quite important especially when the front door is heavily loaded.
The front door has three mesh pockets. The left pocket on the door (when looking at the front of the bag) is 1.5 in (38.1 mm) wide, the middle pocket is about 5 in (127 mm) wide, and the right one is about 3.25 in (82.6 mm) wide, and each pocket will stretch 1 in (25.4 mm), 1.75 in (44.5 mm), and 1.23 in (31.75 mm) respectively. Realistically they could probably stretch open more, but any more could damage the elastic and it would start to interfere with the items in the main compartment of the bag.
Halfway down the mesh pockets on the door there is an elastic strap that spans each pocket. This strap helps hold down the contents in the pockets but can also be used independently. Pull the strap out and use it to hold down the Craft Cadence E-Minipump, tube, tire levers, and more.
Next, we move to the main compartment of the bag. When the Craft Cadence Handlebar Bag door is first opened you will find a padded camera sleeve/divider. The sleeve is removable and is held in place by two strips of hook-and-loop at the rear of the bag. On the front side of the sleeve there is a pocket that is held closed by an elastic strap with hook-and-loop. This compartment is quite sizeable and has a wedge shape design to allow quite a bit of storage room.
One will have to prioritize how these pockets and compartments are filled because the pockets on the sleeve and the pockets on the door will interfere when closed if loaded with too many things.
Inside the front compartment of the sleeve there are more pockets and a zippered compartment. This zippered compartment will be good for small loose items that could easily get lost.
Moving along to the main compartment of the sleeve you will find that the front and the back of the sleeve is lined with a soft loop fabric that allows hook tape attach to it. The sleeve comes with two dividers, each covered in the same loop fabric with hook tape sewed to its ends. These removeable divider can be used to snugly hold your DLSR camera and lens in place and with them being removeable, they are adjustable for most cameras.
Using the sleeve, I believe, will mainly depend on if you are carrying a DLSR camera or something similar. The sleeve is nice because it is like a little bucket that can hold a lot of small loose things, and when the front door is opened, they won’t spill out. But, to get the most space from the bag, you will want to remove the sleeve.
With the sleeve removed, an additional two pockets will be found on the rear of the bag.
The Craft Cadence Handlebar Bag only comes in one color. Personally, this isn’t an issue because I would choose black anyways. If you are looking for vibrant colors or something other than black this may be an issue.
Bag Construction
The Craft Cadence Handlebar Bag is made from 600D Polyester with a TPU coating and uses fully welded seamless construction.
With this seamless construction, the bag seams are watertight and because of the welding process the two pieces are like one continuous piece. This construction method gives the bag a clean look.
The bag is relatively ridged, and self supports its shape, mainly because of the way it is constructed. The bag is 10.2 in (260 mm) wide x 5.12 in (130 mm) Tall x 4.33 in (110 mm) deep.
The inside walls of the bag have a thin layer of padding to help protect your things from small impacts or bouncing around while riding.
The bag is held closed with a YKK Aguaguard zipper. This style of zipper has a polyurethane coating that covers the zipper and when closed provides a good seal to prevent water intrusion. At each end of the zipper there is a rubber housing for the zipper buckles to store into when closed. These help to make the bag waterproof at the zipper ends.
The bag weight 13.07 oz (371.4 g) and an additional 3.34 oz (95.0 g) with the sleeve. That is 4.36 oz/L (123.8 g/L) without the sleeve and 5.47 oz/L (155.5 g/L).
Initial Thoughts
I have quite a bit of experience with Craft Cadence products now and I have high expectations. Everything I have reviewed from Craft Cadence has been of high quality, so now I expect nothing less. I know they are thoughtful with their designs. They are cyclists also so they are essentially designing products to meet their demands and needs that will be beneficial for other cyclists too.
Not your typical handlebar burrito bag. The Craft Cadence Handlebar Bag is rectangular shaped which inherently is going to provide more volume than other cylindrical shaped handlebar bags. This bag also gives you full access to the interior unlike a single zipper with other bags.
How is it going to hold up during riding?
I’m a bit skeptical if it will be bouncy or not. Though, the bag is quite stiff, and Craft Cadence has provided three-point connection, it is quite possible that it can be easily held down to keep it from moving around.
The daisy chain loops at the top of the bag are nice and should provide multiple locations to attach the bag to the bars.
Installation
Installing the Craft Cadence Handlebar Bag is straight forward. It is also quite simple too, and obviously it is easier when the bag is empty, but still doable when it is loaded.
Use the two included Voile straps to attach the bag to the handlebars. Slide the pointy end of the straps through the daisy chain loop on the top of the bag. Depending on the handlebar width or style you are attaching the bag to will depend on which loop you will slide the straps though.
When attaching the straps to the handlebar I found that looping the strap around the bar but not tightening it down right away makes it easier to then secure the second loop. This way the first loop can hold the weight of the bag up while securing the second strap tightly. Then with the second strap cinched down, tighten the first strap securely.
The Voile straps are nice and stretchy and easily allow to secure the strap tightly.
The Voile straps can be a little tricky to use at first because the buckle has a strange shape compared to traditional buckles. The key to using these straps is to make sure that the Voile logo is facing outward. This will orient the buckle in the right direction so the point of the buckle will properly engage into the holes of the strap.
The Voile straps are a tension strap. Meaning, for the buckle to properly engage, the strap needs to be tightly wrapped around what is being secured. The tension in the strap is what makes the buckle function. Otherwise, if the strap is loosely wrapped it can pop off the buckle.
With the Voile straps attached the bungee cord on the rear of the bag can be attached. Depending on your bike setup, the bungee cord can be wrapped around the head tube of the bike or around the cable housing or brake hoses.
The bungee cord has a plastic cord lock on it. Loop the bungee cord around the bike then around the cord lock. Press down on the button on the cord lock and pull the bungee cord to tighten it to the bike. Theb loop around the cord lock and tightening the bungee will keep it in place.
Handlebar Bag or Shoulder Bag?
Purse, murse, shoulder bag, fanny pack, waist pack? Call it what you want. But the cool thing about the Craft Cadence Handlebar Bag is that it doubles as an easily carrying handbag. And when wrapped around your waist as a waist bag.
Pull out the supplied strap, clip it to the dedicated webbing loops and carry the bag. The strap has a buckle to adjust the length of the strap. This will allow for different types of uses and the adjustability for wearing preferences.
Style wise, this bag is designed to be practical. I wouldn’t call it a fashion bag, but for cycling purposes I think it is a good-looking bag. The rectangular shape is a bit different than other typical bar bags, but this shape does have that advantage of offering more volume.
Bag In Action
Lately, most of my riding involves taking a gravel path and a somewhat chunky off-road path/trail, so that will be the basis on how I test the Craft Cadence Handlebar Bag. Also, reviewing the bag for road riding is somewhat trivial. If the bag can stand up to bumpy gravel riding, the bag will handle road riding easily.
With the Craft Cadence Handlebar Bag strapped up to my Skream Ranger fixed gear gravel bike I headed out for the maiden spin of the bag. For this trip the bag was quite loaded up with all sorts of camera and bike gear. I have all my flat repair stuff in the pouches on the door (including the Craft Cadence E-minipump), a few things stuffed in the pouches on the back side of the bag, and the camera gear in the sleeve.
Testing various things that could fit in the bag I was also able to fit in a mini pump above the sleeve too.
Once I hit the gravel sectors, I was able to begin the testing. For this bike, the back of the bag was attached to the head tube via the bungee cord. I think this method will provide the most secure and minimal bounce, but I would recommend protecting the frame with tape or something to protect your frame from potential rubbing.
Bumpy gravel and gnarly off-road was no problem for this bag. The Voile and bungee cord hold the bag on perfectly. Not a single time did any of the straps come undone while riding. The bag performed much better than I anticipated.
I’m not going to comment much on the aerodynamics of the bag. It is possible that it is less aerodynamic than a cylindrical burrito bag, but any bag on the front of the bike is going to add some additional drag. If someone is worried about this, they probably weren’t considering a handlebar bag in the first place.
For practical purposes like commuting, leisure riding, or touring, the Craft Cadence Handlebar Bag makes perfect sense.
The bag mounts to both flat bar bikes and drop bar handlebars easily and mounting it to the frame or cables the bag is quite stable. No matter your bike, this bag works.
Final Thoughts
If you are looking for a well-made bar bag that is completely waterproof the Craft Cadence Handlebar Bag is one that you should be considering. It is made from high quality tough materials that will last for many rides to come.
This isn’t the heaviest bag I have reviewed, but for its size I would expect it to be heavier than a small burrito bag. Though, this bag is 1/3 the weight of another bag I have reviewed, they have about the same volume.
On attaching the bag, I want to note, and like most handlebar bags, it isn’t a very quick on and off process. I mention this mainly because this bag doubles as a shoulder bag too.
The ability to use the Craft Cadence Handlebar Bag as a shoulder bag is a nice feature (it can be worn around the hip too), but I don’t see myself using it in that manner very often. This is definitely a feature that is better to have, than excluding it from the design.
From my initial ride mentioned above, to many subsequent rides since, I have ridden with heavy loads and light loads, in wet and dry weather, and smooth and bumpy roads. Every ride the bag has performed perfectly. The bag doesn’t bounce around at all.
Another nice little feature of the bag is the bungee cord on the front of the bag. On some of my outings I have used it to hold a little tripod. It works well for small items like that, but it is quite limited to much else since the loops are close together.
There is a front pocket on the front door too. I haven’t really used it too much, but it would be good for storing items that are thin. A cell phone or something similar to that size would fit in there nicely.
This bag does a good job carrying the things you need and would be great for carrying extra food and snacks for long rides. One thing about this bag that is a slight downfall is accessing times in the bag while riding. Though it is possible, it isn’t very easy. Most handlebar bags have this issue though.
Since I use an out-front mount for my GPS device it sticks out right over the bag and is in the way of the zipper. To open the bag, I need to push the bag downwards a little to get the zipper around the mount. If I were to switch to the stem mounted quarter-turn mount, then that would solve this issue.
Also, using a GoPro action camera or light that attaches under the out-front mount isn’t really possible with this handlebar bag or most other handlebar bags. There are other mounting solutions to solve this, but it is something to consider.
The Craft Cadence Handlebar Bag is a solid bag with a lot of features. With its rectangular shape, it offers more storage volume than other handlebar bag. The front door design gives access into the entire bag. This is a great bounce-free solution for your handlebar storage needs.
Author Conflicts
The Craft Cadence Handlebar Bag was provided to me by Craft Cadence. I did not receive any compensation from to review this product. Craft Cadence was not involved in reviewing this article (before or after), but was available to answer any of my questions. This product was reviewed in an unbiassed manner to provide information about the product and hopefully give readers useful information to help guide their decision in purchasing this product.
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