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| The Fuel-Pack mounted using the Toptube-Bag removable base. |
In my last update on this Ortlieb bag review I asked the question, "What about cross-breeding these two bags? Maybe I could use the fact that the two bags use the two-bolt top tube bag mount standard, swap the base from the Toptube-Bag to the Fuel-Pack, and then I could have the bag I really want? "
So, that is what I did. This is only possible because the Toptube-Bag and the Fuel-Pack use the same two-bolt mount pattern for the bottom of each bag. The idea here was to use the removable base from the Toptube-Bag and swap that over to the Fuel-Pack. Then the Fuel-Pack could snap into the fixed base already mounted to my bike.
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| Here you can see the removable base plate screwed onto the Fuel-Pack using all provided hardware from Ortlieb. |
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| After the swap it was a simple click-in procedure to mount the Fuel-Pack securely onto my bike. |
Riding with the Toptube-Bag was okay until I had to stand to sprint or climb. It was then that I noticed my legs grazing the back corners of the bag at times. Of course, I already mentioned the dismount difficulties due to the size of the Toptube-Bag. The Fuel-Pack, in contrast, is tapered and smaller than the Toptube-Bag and therefore it stays out of the way on standing eforts and mostly stays out of te way on dismounts.
However; the Fuel-Pack isn't as smooth when it comes to closing the magnetic lid while riding. The bag has always had a slightly misshapen look ever since I received it, and part of this is due to how the "lid" and webbing are sewn or bonded together.
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| The front/right corner seems to want to overlap oddly and not close . |
It seems the front/right corner of the bottom part of the bag sticks out oddly and the upper right corner of the 'lid' seems to want to fold back and down slightly. This almost always ends up causing the foremost magnet to not land in its pocket. I have to tap the lid with my hand to get it to close rightly.
Besides that, the bag now is solidly attached to the bike and does not want to rotate around the top tube at all. The bag is big enough, being fairly close in size to most other top tube bags I have here, and it looks classy with its sand color on my dark blue Noble GX5.
I have the bag that works as I would expect now. Not too big that it gets in teh way, solidly attached, and removable to boot. That said, the lid closure isn't as smooth as it should be. The base looks a bit clunky with those straps and all. Plus, I'm not used to seeing a top tube bag not nestled up against the stem and steer tube. The last thing I can get over, the other two things?
Final Word: I'm not sure that you can get a Fuel-Pack with the Toptube-Bag's base plate and removable mount. But if you want a bag the size of the Fuel-Pak, its stock mounting system is pretty poor, unless you have the option to bolt the bag on. That or you'd have to have a wide, more rectangular than round carbon or aluminum top tube on your bike. Then the Fuel-Pack mounts may be okay.
The Toptube-Bag is just too rectangular. Too big. I would think that you'd maybe get along with it if you are on an XL sized bike. Smaller riders with short top tubes will find this harder to get along with than I did, I would imagine. If that bag was tapered toward the rider, maybe then it would be okay.
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| The Fuel-Pack never really ever "sat" right. |
The Fuel-Pack just never really ever seemed to sit right on my bikes. It always was misshapen in some way, unlike the Toptube-Bag which always looked "right" in terms of shape. I was constantly trying to smooth out the top of the Fuel-Pack to make it look "right" and not wrinkled or bloated up in the middle of its lid.
I loved the magnetic lid pockets! This part of the design blows all the other magnetic lid bags I've tried or seen out of the water. It is by far the best thing about either bag.
The fabrics used are great. I liked that Ortlieb thoughtfully put a Velcro strip on the inside floor liner to hold it down after you get done accessing the mounting holes. The softer, lofted fabric floor also keeps harder objects from rattling off your top tube as well. A very nice touch there.
The fabrics are waterproofed and Ortlieb's commitment to reducing the carbon footprint of their manufacturing processes is commendable. I appreciated that Ortlieb can actually ascertain this data and allow the rider to know when they have accumulated enough miles to offset that carbon footprint. Ortlieb is one of the few companies in the World providing us this type of information, and that doesn't go unnoticed.
That all said, I believe that these two products need a little fine-tuning. The removable base idea should be standard across their range of top tube bags. The two-bolt mounting option is great, but the implementation of the "stand-off" mounts on the Fuel-Pack are not effective in the real-world use of that bag. The Toptube-Bag could use refining as well. The shape of that bag is going to be difficult for many riders and I think either a tapering of the bag's shape, or shortening of it a bit, or both things, would go a long way toward making it a better bag. Perhaps making another Fuel-Pack in a bit smaller size wouldn't be a bad option either.
There are good things here, but in my estimation, the bags need refinement before I would recommend them.
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