Carradice Bagman Bar Rack

The Carradice Bagman Bar Rack is the handlebar version of their popular saddle support racks, offering an easy-to-mount and brilliantly stable platform for products like the Bowland Bar Bag from their new Adventure Range.

> Buy now: Carradice Bagman Bar Rack for £69.95 from Carradice

Anyone who uses a Carradice saddlebag will be familiar with similar support systems, such as the Bagman Expedition or Bagman Sport saddlebag racks. They are an essential purchase to ensure that your Carradice bag is stable and doesn’t bounce around on the road.

The new Bagman Bar Rack takes the same approach, flips it 180 degrees, and applies it to your handlebars, allowing you to carry loads of up to 6kg up front.

The design is simple – a metal rack that inserts into two handlebar clamps – and setup is relatively easy with two options for either a high or low setting, which gives you some flexibility. I found this was helpful to ensure that my existing dynamo lights weren’t obscured.

Lock and load

To mount the rack, there are two handlebar clamps that need to be bolted in place. Keep these a little loose at first, because you then need to insert the two ends of the wire rack into them. It’s good to be able to adjust position on the handlebars at this point.

You can have the clamps on high setting – so that the wire rack goes in above the handlebars – or flip them round for a low setting, so that they slot in just below the bars. This gives you a drop option of 16cm or a deeper 22cm, which means you can work around your existing lighting or frame size – or simply set it up according to personal preference.

You then need to tighten the handlebar bolts fully before securing the wire rack with another bolt. When this is in place, you won’t be able to get access to one of the handlebar bolts, if further tightening is required. This feels like a bit of a design issue that could have been avoided, but it is a small point.

On the road

I tested this rack with the new Bowland Bar Bag and I was very impressed. It stayed in place and felt very secure over some appalling roads and bouncy gravel. It was super stable as I got out of the saddle and attempted to climb three of Wales’s highest mountain roads in one rather epic weekend adventure.

Even when I got close to the suggested 6kg limit (via a load of soaking wet bike gear) it showed no sign of movement, rattle, sway or misbehaviour.

It does the job it is designed to do brilliantly and if you are tempted by the new (and very impressive) Bowland Bar Bag, then this wire support is going to be an essential purchase and not simply a ‘nice to have’.

There are other products in the Carradice range that this will also work with (the Carradice website shows it in use with a Nelson Saddlebag) and you could feasibly flip any old saddlebag around to work here as well.

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Of course there is always the option of using this rack to carry a dry bag. If you are using it with straight handlebars, this might allow you to get a wider load on, but with drop handlebars your width is restricted. I gave it a quick try around a local route and struggled to make it work for me. That might have been my clumsy bungee array, but in all honesty I can’t see myself ever using this for real – especially if I had the option of using the Bowland Bar Bag, which is what it is really intended for.

This isn’t a hipster, all-purpose pizza rack, so when you are riding with the rack empty, it does look a little forlorn. In all honesty, I’d be inclined to take it off when it wasn’t in use and remount it when there was a big bikepacking trip on the horizon. That means an added faff factor (as well as the need to safely store essential bolts) but it would be well worth it for the performance you get from this product.

Handlebar real estate

With a big summer ride on the horizon, I want it all: aerobars for a more relaxed position on the bike; space for a punchier beam that will pick out potholes on fast descents; and room for an extra computer mount (I’ve been struggling with a misbehaving Wahoo and want a backup).

But the Bagman Bar Rack is rather space hungry and it doesn’t leave a lot of options for other kit. When I had the Bowland Bar Bag attached – even on the lower setting – it was difficult to find a light that would send a beam over to illuminate the road ahead.

That’s not a deal breaker for me because my existing dynamo sits well below the rack, but you might need to give this some consideration if you have a dynamo light located nearer your handlebars or handlebar mounted lights that might be obscured by a saddlebag.

It’s worth noting here that Carradice’s Super C Handlebar Bag addresses this problem by having an attachment underneath for a light. I am sure there should be an easy way to add a similar mounting point to this rack.

Value for money

If you want a Carradice Bowland bag on your handlebar then this support is an essential purchase and it represents excellent value for money, because it will ensure a comfortable load carrying experience. It’s a good investment if you plan to carry heavier bike packing loads that will open up wild camping experiences when riding faster, lighter tourers or more gravel-capable bikes.

There are two other Carradice handlebar bags available – the aforementioned Super C and also the Keswick. These both require a Klickfix handlebar bag attachment that costs just £22.95. This is less obtrusive and cheaper to have on multiple bikes.

Personally, if I had to go for one option, it would probably be this combination of handlebar box and Klickfix attachment, as this covers the kind of long audax days that I tend to ride. However, for bigger adventures, I can see that the Bagman Bar Support offers far more flexibility, capacity and load carrying options. I would love to have it as part of my fast-touring setup.

There are other front racks that can cope with more diverse luggage options, such as the Jack the Bike Rack that Patrick reviewed for our sister title. It’s a little heavier and has a lower suggested weight capacity, but the flat platform makes it more versatile. It also looks better when not loaded – but at £79.99 you are paying a bit more.

It’s worth noting that this is more expensive than the basic (non quick release) Carradice Expedition Saddle Bag Support, which costs £49.99. That seems to suggest that this is a little overpriced, but it might be accounted for because of the requirement for two clamps on the handlebar rather than a single saddle bolt. The saddle support will work with a much wider array of Carradice products, which makes it hard for me to give this product a high value for money score as luggage choices are pretty limited.

Most people are likely to be considering this in tandem with the new Carradice Bowland Bar Bag, so make sure you’ve read our review of this before you buy either. It is an excellent product, but isn’t ideal for very narrow handlebars.

Conclusion

The Bagman Bar Rack is a good addition to the Carradice range. It opens up bigger adventures and gives you the option to securely carry more kit on gravel or fast touring and wild camping rides. If you like the look of the new (and rather excellent) Carradice Adventure range and want the Bowland Bar Bag up front, this is going to be an essential purchase.

However, while it performs brilliantly, there are currently limited options for products that you can use with it, so you will need to know it is right for you before committing to a purchase.

Verdict

Fantastic performance when used with the Bowland Bar Bag but worth considering other luggage combinations before you buy

> Buy now: Carradice Bagman Bar Rack for £69.95 from Carradice

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