“After three years of design, engineering and hard-fought testing, we’ve left no stone unturned to develop the world’s most advanced piece of technical bikepacking equipment. Proven by our R&D Division, we’ve ached over the minutiae, and obsessed on the process to deliver a radically different frame bag compared to anything that’s come before.” – Tailfin Cycling
“Comprising nine unique half-frame and wedge-style models, as with any Tailfin product, the key emphasis is to provide the majority of riders, regardless of frame size, with options to fit. We are aiming this (first) range mainly at drop-bar riders, with dimensions optimised for narrower Q-factors associated with road and gravel bikes.”
Tailfin Frame Bag: Need to Know
- Nine sizes of Half- and Wedge-style frame bags. Allowing you to prioritise water or storage.
- Volumes from 1.9L – 6.5 Litre. Suiting bike sizes from 47-61 cm.
- Conformable panels adapt to bike frame geometry.
- Internal carbon space frame design maintains structure and stops sag.
- Carbon side struts support zip performance and reduce bulging, minimising knee rub.
- 3D tapered shaping designed to prevent knee rub.
- Size-specific zips and tuned carbon struts provide all bag sizes with the same ease of use and accessibility.
- Proven V-Mounts provide stable attachment and minimise frame damage.
- Left side access ‘map’ pocket features a stretch mesh divider to allow expansion into the bag to accommodate larger, bulky items.
- Internal organisation pockets to keep valuables safe and accessible.
- Welded Hypalon and Ripstop Nylon construction plus waterproof zips guarantee weatherproofing.
- User-replaceable hardware.
- Hydration hose/cable port situated at the front of the bag.
- Price: £95/$120/110€ – £125/$160/150€ (size dependent)
Tailfin Frame Bag Product Page
Why?
The frame bag is the heart of any complete bikepacking setup, and for a very long time, it has been our goal to create the best-performing frame bag in existence. While there are already some highly-regarded frame bags on the market, many of which do a great job of resolving one or more of the issues usually associated with this style of luggage carrier, we felt that none answer all of the problems currently faced by riders. During our research, we found that the fundamental issues riders have with existing frame bags can be broken down into:
- Production frame bags often with only a few size options can be a poor fit; most people don’t want to wait (or pay) for custom.
- Most frame packs don’t have a great deal of structure, so easily balloon and cause knee rub.
- The lack of structure in packs causes pinch points with the zip that leads to it bursting.
- Most are attached with velcro, which can either wear bib shorts, skin or cause frame damage.
- Most zips either require a bulky (knee-rubbing) rain flap or are not waterproof.
- ‘Map pockets’ cannot take bulkier items like pumps
- Frame bags and top tube bags usually require separate straps or clash, looking for a very untidy aesthetic
- Many frame bags require mounting on three sides of the pack, which again limits sizing
- If a frame pack isn’t well supported, it can require two hands to open and close the zip, limiting use while riding.
- Often, there is a lack of organisation inside.
How?
“Our journey to the culmination of the frame bag project began with a truly innovative approach to data collection. After trawling various bike shops and brand websites, we realised that collecting the correct frame data would be critical to success. To push to the next level, we engaged our customer database and asked riders to send us specific photographs of their current bike setup, complete with set data capture measurements.”
“Over five hundred riders participated and sent us their setups. To make sense of all this information, one of our design engineers wrote a custom piece of software to turn the images into a range of heat maps. These heat maps provided the baseline for our sizing approach.”
“It very quickly became apparent that opting for just a small number of sizes would not enable us to achieve the Tailfin Universal Fit approach found with most of our current products. It was going to need more, a lot more. After much agonising, we settled on the nine sizes released in this range: six Half-frame bags and three Wedge-shaped. With these nine frame bags, we are satisfied that the majority of riders, from riders of XS frames up to XXL frame sizes, could find at least one bag that would fit perfectly.”
Why Different Shapes?
“During our research, we also asked riders to indicate their water bottle preferences in terms of the number of bottles carried and preferred volumes. As expected, we realised that not one shape would work for all riders, which is why we wanted to offer riders the option to choose their frame bag based on whether they prefer to prioritise storage capacity or maximum water carrying ability, e.g. for a hot weather trip vs. cold weather. Of course, you could always size up or down to get to your preferred frame bag size, but offering a truncated wedge-style bag allows riders to fit a larger bottle on the seat tube.”
Additional Fit Considerations – No Two Frames are the Same
“Just producing multiple sizes and hoping for the best is simply not the Tailfin way, so there are numerous additional features that enable our bags to fit seamlessly into the majority of frame sizes and shapes. The key here is that although the bags feature obvious structure, there is inbuilt conformity at the front and rear to accommodate different frame designs and internal frame geometry.”
Minimising Knee Rub – The Secret is Carbon
“The Tailfin Frame Bag is not your ordinary soft and floppy offering. We identified early on that one of the worst traits of existing frame bags was the tendency to bulge when overfilled, widening the bag and interfering with parts of the rider’s leg whilst pedalling. At its best, this interaction is annoying, but at its worst, it can lead to repetitive, ride-ending injuries. We knew we needed to add structure to the bags to reduce this bulging, but if we added too much stiffness we’d limit the effectiveness of the storage space and access to your kit. Our solution was to create a carbon fibre space frame that produces a semi-rigid structure along the upper edges of the pack and below the zip. This carbon space frame gives the pack structure and the ability to resist ballooning.”
“We soon found, however that using carbon of the same thickness across all sizes simply didn’t work. It was too stiff, there was limited entry on smaller sizes, and it didn’t provide enough support for the XXL size bags. Determining the optimum thickness for the carbon across all nine sizes was one of the reasons why getting to this endpoint has taken so long! Taking our time to develop optimal carbon stiffness has resulted in comparable levels of lateral stiffness and ease of entry regardless of the bag size. One additional point to note is that the carbon strips are user accessible and removable, so if you never suffer from knee rub and prefer to over-stuff a pack, you have the choice.”
“As with our Top Tube Bag range, the full range of Frame Bags features 3D shaping with a tapering design. This is mapped to follow the movement of the leg during pedalling, with the areas most at risk of interference benefitting from both a horizontal and vertical taper.”
Zip Durability
“High on the list of issues many riders experience with their existing frame bag is a tendency for zip failures. This can be caused by overfilling the bag, pulling the zip out of alignment, a lack of zip support in the structure or simply through dirt ingress. Our carbon struts and space frame structure help to reduce the chances of a zip bursting by supporting it, minimising pressure from content bulging or the pinch points where the velcro normally holds the pack. This support can be seen in the zip operation, which is now a true, one-handed technique with minimal restriction on zip movement.”
“We also carefully considered the size and style of zip we wanted to use. Just opting for a YKK Aquaguard in the largest size was not possible given the size difference between the bags, a large zip would take up too much space, be too heavy and quite frankly look odd on the smaller Wedge bags. The zip size varies from Number 6 on the smallest bags up to Number 10 on the largest versions. The zip itself is a custom sourced waterproof version that holds the teeth under tension whilst shut, creating the maximum amount of waterproofing with less chance of the teeth being exposed when under load.”
“We learnt a lot from using zips on our top tube bags, and one of the critical pieces of feedback we received was about unwanted noise from the zip puller. We always listen to feedback and aim to continuously improve, so for the frame bags, we developed a custom zip puller designed to eliminate noise and rattle*“
*This design will be rolled into the next batch of Zipped Top Tube Bags
Construction
“The Tailfin Frame Bag range features our high-frequency welded construction throughout and uses our signature Hypalon and Ripstop Nylon materials for the perfect blend of high durability, flexibility, and reduced weight.”
“The internal Carbon Space Frame is designed to prevent the classic sagging that can occur between frame attachment points. Consisting of two lightweight carbon rods linking internally to the top V-Mounts. These add minimal weight but increase the longevity of the pack, support zip integrity and also reduce stress on the V-Mount attachment points.”
The Evolved V-Mount System
“Our V-Mount attachment system is a simple but effective way to safely attach bags to your bike. Following the release of our downtube packs, then top tube bags, this is the third outing of the V-Mount system and with each product release we are evolving it and improving for each use case.”
“The V-Mount system combines many parts, all working together in harmony: from the tacky rubber pads, to the abrasion-resistant and grippy TPU straps, to the welded V-Mount tunnel/garage, to how we transfer the rigidity, to the internal structure of the frame bag. These V-Mounts form a robust structure capable of withstanding any knocks from the rider while remaining locked in place regardless of riding conditions and terrain. This performance has allowed us guarantee complete stability even when used on smaller-diameter frame tubing.”
“Ordinary frame bags use velcro or other inherently unstable attachment methods that introduce a certain amount of movement to the pack whilst riding. This movement can damage the finish of your beloved bike, even when riding on dry and clean roads, and in some extreme cases, cause actual damage to the frame itself. You could apply helicopter tape to protect your frame or mount one of our bags instead. Our V-Mount system with dedicated TPU straps stops movement completely when attached correctly.”
“So, even on multi-day expeditions in the worst conditions, you can be safe in the knowledge that a Tailfin Frame bag will not cause any problems.”
“An important point to note is that the spacing of the front V-Mounts considers the positioning of the V-Mounts found in our range of Top Tube Bags. This allows for sharing straps, reducing weight and fit time whilst also providing a very clean look with minimal straps.”
Additional Features
Finally, a Usable Map Pocket
“Frequently, map pockets are restricted in their capacity to accommodate deeper/larger-volume items. However, our pack features an internal stretch mesh divider that enables bulkier items, such as pumps, to protrude inward into the main body of the pack rather than outward towards your legs.”
Clear Pack Internalisation
“Internal pockets feature on both sides of the internal stretch mesh divider, including a zipped valuables pocket. We have also incorporated a lighter-coloured interior to make it easier to find your kit.”
Hydration Hose-Compatible Port
“Providing an option to house a hydration bladder is a useful way to carry more water. A wide opening at the front allows for a hose to pass through, so you can still access it on the go. This opening can also be used to pass cables from power banks to keep your tech fully charged.”
“Finally, as mentioned before, our welded construction and material choices have allowed us to create a fully waterproof frame bag, allowing you to keep your valuables and electronics safe and dry*“
*With zip slider fully in garage and not overly packed
Finding the Perfect Fit: Tailfin’s Frame Bag Sizing Tool
“With so many sizes and styles to choose from we wanted to make sure that riders were able to pick the optimum frame bag to suit their needs. To help with this we have developed a clever Frame Bag Sizing Tool that uses machine learning to perfectly scale your bike and allow you to drag and place our frame bags in the correct location so you can see which ones will work the best.”
The process is simple and just requires you to take a photo of your bike from the correct distance and angle and upload it into the tool on our website. The software does the hard bit and then you can go to town to find the best option – Find the Frame Bag Sizing Tool HERE
Specifications
- Colour: Tailfin Black
- Volume: 1.9L – 6.5L
- Materials: Hypalon/Ripstop Nylon, Carbon Fibre
- Weights: 170g (1.9L Wedge) – 334g (6.5L Half)
- Pricing: £95/$120/110€ – £125/$160/€150
Learn more at the Tailfin Cycling Website
