Top tube bag suggestions for Tri

[ashman07]

I invested in a tri bike last year and I’m scheduled to do an Ironman next summer. I’m trying to work out my best options for food storage on the bike. When I’ve done previous IM races I used a cheap top tube bag which could hold up to 3 Clif bars. Now that I’ve got the tri bike (previously just used a road bike with clip-on bars) I was going to get a more aero top tube bag that can attach using bolts, but the only ones I can see appear to have very limited capacity (perhaps only a few gels). Does anyone have any suggestions or recommendations for what they use to store sufficient fuel for an IM?

My fallback is to wear a cycling jersey and store most of my food in the jersey pockets.

[Scheherazade]

Have you seen the dark speed works ones? You can fit quite a lot in and they have a larger version too.

Dark Speed Works - Products

[ashman07]

Thanks for the tip, they look great. Just the kind of thing I’m after.

[wyku]

Xlab has basically the same options as well. https://www.xlab-usa.com/products/bags-and-pods.html

I use an older version of the Stealth Pocket 400, since I don’t have top-tube mounts on my bike. It certainly doesn’t hold multiple Clif bars, but I don’t need that much nutrition on board while racing and can keep larger/more nutrition in my cycling jersey I’d be wearing during non-racing rides. I’ve done up to a 3K/120K/30K ITU Long Course Worlds with that setup, but haven’t done a full Ironman yet (first one next August at Ironman Canada ) and it’s worked well enough. I think I’d top up nutrition/gels either with on-course or special needs for the longer Ironman race.

[ashman07]

Cheers. I’ve actually gone and ordered a DSW 483 as it looked a bit bigger than the Xlab bags.

Good luck in Canada! It looks like a stunning area to race in.