What's the ultimate small saddle bag?

I’m in San Diego, where we pay a premium in taxes to reduce the rain and clouds. I imagine over the next months I’ll test your scenario more conclusively. But recently I rode a full workout on an (artificially, due to an event) mildly wet loop of road and while the bike needed a clean, the gear under the strap seemed fine to me. I imagine a quick rinse of the whole thing when cleaning the bike would work fine for most wet rides.

I really want this to be a lightweight strap with the minimal kit that covers me for flats on my weekly workout rides (all outdoors from my doorstep so far). The chain breaker and tool roll that are in there I’ll carry only on long rides far from home. Someone else above posted a strap (“Outvi Possm”) that also looks to be in this direction, just velcro instead of the BOA closure.

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So I bought an XS (“0.3L”) and a S (“0.4L”) Topeak Elementa to try out.

Rail attachment is very good and very stable. The XS is 39.5g, the S 43.2g on my coffee scales (about 5-10g below quoted).

The XS fits 2 Tubolito 30c or 1 Aerothan 29" MTB Tube, 2 tyre levers and a multitool. I can just about squish a single co2 in there with the road tubolitos, certainly if you only packed one. Two CO2’s on the outside for races tho.

Now I just need a lighter multitool. PB Swiss? Daysaver? Down the rabbit hole we go…

Just carry the hex wrench sizes you need. They are easier to use and lighter.

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I have the Silca bag, I’m able to squeeze two tpu innertubes, a small multitool, 2 co2, inflator, etap battery, tire levers, and some innertube patches. its maxed out though. its very water resistant, though not completely waterproof in my opinion. I’ve been very impressed overall!

Is that a large or small? I have the large on my diverge and just picked up a small for my mosaic, but haven’t packed it yet. I have a paint matched silca frame pump, so I likely won’t have any c02’s in the bag. Maybe if I take the pump off for races.

The one up EDC Pump is superb for storing multitool, CO2 inflator, chain tool etc. The smaller version fits in rear pocket, letting you minimise your saddle bag. (Says MTB pump but ideal for road use too, but not overly light)

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I’m not sure I’d say it’s excessive but it’s definitely not the bare minimum. He’s carrying doubles of things so right there you could drop items. 1 tube, 1 CO2, 1 lever would better fit the description bare minimum.

This is what I’m running and I love it. I’m waiting for a restock to pick up another one for the gravel bike. I carry 1 TPU tube, 1 lever, 1 CO2 with head, Daysaver w/ chain breaker, Dynaplug micro. What I consider the bare minimum.

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I think a 5mm and adapter to 3,4,5,6,8 T25 would be heavier than taking them individually - you’d be into 200g easy.

The pb swiss setup is nice but no chain breaker and the carrier is heavy - you’re at 91g without a chain tool, although you get 2 levers so saving maybe 26g (2*schwalbe blue) but + a chain breaker of your choice, maybe 125g total if you get a light one.

There are some ‘socket and bit’ sets that come with a chain breaker for circa 90gish, +2 levers 116g.

toolleftwhiteM

86g currently but wish it had a T25 over the Phillips, +2 levers 112g.

The daysaver + chain tool is 68g with one lever, so +1 schwalbe is 81g.

Any better solutions seen?

Wolf tooth pliers?

Wera 15 set bit holding tyre levers?

Some might disagree with 2 levers being mandatory but with inserts and well fitted tubeless MTB tyres…

I have and use and love the Silca Mattone. Not cheap, but smallish and looks great. Only holds one regular tube, tire levers and a multitool (and an AirTag) though. Carry a pump in my jersey pocket. With a TPU Tube you might be able to fit a CO2-Cartridge as well. Cheers!

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A bit late and not that you need any more options… but I own several of the bags in this thread and wanted to share my feedback- for context these are for a road bike and I wanted as small as possible to hold a tube, 2 co2, multi tool and levers.

I use the Silca Premio seat roll and love it. Not sure if they still make that model but if I ever get another bag I will start at Silca or some other roll type bag. Boa is much better than a zipper or velcro strap. It’s 5 years old and still going strong. But! Definitely not for a fast stop… but I practically never need it and am ok with a bit slower stop when I do in exchange for convenience on the other 95% of rides.

Elementa is also good. Velcro is ok and works. Nice and compact but able to store a tube and 2 CO2.

I have the Arundel Uno and Duo. I lost one Uno when the velcro failed. Duo was bigger than I needed. I used the Uno for awhile before switching to the Silca. Good bags but prefer the secure attachment of the Silca.

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oh boy…

I thought about starting a new topic on that 2 days ago, but slapped myself on the wrist. Who else would want to overthink it that deep, right? Anyways…

I always carry Lezyne Super V 23 in my saddle bag. Because it has pretty much everything in it. But two days ago on a long ride I dropped my chain despite having a chain catcher. And sure thing - it was a pain to put it back onto the chainring. I had to take the multitool out to loosen the chainguide. And the tool I have is quite bulky. It took a bit of an effort (and time!) to get things done. Now I’m thinking that if this would happen it the race, it would be quite a bummer. So, I’m considering carrying an extra-small tool basically for such occasion and nothing else. My options so far:

  1. Keep it simple, stupid. In other words - just carry the smallest 4mm hex wrench in my pocket.
  2. CrankBrothers M5. Pros: small and cheap. Cons: It’s not #3.
  3. PNW PebbleTool. Cons: double the price of M5. Pros: Looks slick, and has a dynaplug in it. So, it almost replaces the DynaPlug Racer.

I have the Mattone and just got the Mottone Grande and the size difference is surprising, the Grande can hold much more stuff and is basically not a lot larger on the bike. It is now my favorite, I had the original seat roll but after it ejecting my stuff a couple of times regardless of how I pack it the only solution was to add a strap to keep it closed… it is now in my tool drawer.

This thread made me realize how much I hate my Orucase voile strap, so I took my own advice and bought a velcro strap on Amazon. It was part of a pack with multiple lengths and came out to a whopping 50 cents or so per strap. One of the lengths fit perfectly. As I struggled for about 90 seconds to remove the voile strap for the last time, my anger turned to joy as I realized it was the last time I’d ever have to fiddle with that mess again. I had the new velcro strap on in about 10 seconds, and it looks way better to boot.

To chime in on the multitool discussion, I have an honest question: how often do most of you need a chain tool while out on a ride? I’ve been riding over 15 years and have tens of thousands of miles of road, gravel, and MTB riding, and I’ve never once broken a chain on a ride, nor been riding with someone who has. It seems like it’s always been a must-have in most people’s repair kits, even the weight weenies. I keep a quick link in a set of Wolf Tooth pack pliers in my MTB repair kit just in case, but I don’t even take anything chain-related in my road kit. I have no problem calling someone to pick me up in the rare case I’d be stranded by a broken chain on the road, but don’t feel like potentially walking my MTB several miles back to the car.

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If you have it - you won’t need it. Physics law. Or something.

For me, as long as it’s easy to carry - why not. It’s a part of my multitool, takes zero extra space, weight is negligible. So why not. If it were any different, like miraculously it becomes a separate tool that doesn’t fit well into my caddy, then I would ditch it in a heartbeat. I want to believe that I’m taking good care of my chains, and I don’t ride them to the point of failure.

I guess that’s why I’ve never broken a chain. I’m pretty meticulous about bike maintenance and take great care of my drivetrain. My multitool with the chain breaker on it is about as heavy as a brick and takes up a lot more space than the one I typically use so I just never felt the need to swap it out.

I use the Silca Matone smaller size with the boa. I like it. like many other bags the zipper is the weak point but will say that i blew it out once, took vigilant pics and they warrantied it almost without question.
Likewise for the Arundle Duo The zipper sucks as someone above mentioned and i always struggle to zip it either way and have blown it out. Warranty was crazy good and i like supporting small craft companies but their saddle bags look cool and the zippers that they use look cool with the smooth “water proof” look (which a true WP Zip. is very difficult and expensive to do btw) but to achieve this smooth look you are basically reversing the zipper and its just not meant to work this way as well as it should. Likewise with using the really small tooth size. It looks better and maybe slightly more “water resistant” but fine, small tooth- zippers wear faster and does not work as well. Likewise with their welded seams, mine has not blown yet but just waiting for it.
I used to work in the outdoor industry and as with anything, its all about the zipper.
I’ve used the speed sleeve (and the other copy cat types) and its funny because its really not that speedy. Its quick to take off and get the tube quick but then reloading it with a blown tube, all you tools carefully so they don’t fall out, compared to a common bag with a standard zipper you blow all that time you gained on the front end trying to remount it on the tail end. I race a lot of MTB and have learned this frustrating lesson many time. Its basically just rip it off and expect to cram the sleeve and everything in your jersey pocket when your done.
Wow, i know i have no life when i can talk this much about saddle bags (and i could write more but even i’m board)

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This is the one I use, Topeak Propack.

Clips onto the saddle rails and fits loads in considering the size.

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I’ve used mine twice in the last 2 years, mostly on other people’s bikes. Abandoning a 200km ride halfway, in the middle of nowhere or at night is not an appealing option when it’s so easy to fix a broken chain.

And yet you take a quick link.

Either you have no requirement for a chain tool, or you need a tool and a quick link. What are you hoping to do with that quick link - replace one of the links you drop somewhere when you split your chain for… some reason?

Over the last five years, I’ve used a chain tool as much as I’ve used a set of tyre levers and / or an inner tube. The only things that get regularly used are common allen keys (e.g. straighten bar in crash), tyre plugs, and CO2. The last time I used it I got a branch caught in my drivetrain racing an enduro stage and I had to shorten the chain. I’ve also used it when I’ve torn a mech off the bike and needed to make my bike a singlespeed to get home.

If you don’t need a chain tool, then it strikes me that the daysaver and two schwalbe blue levers is the lightest setup.

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