76 Projects Piggy Pouch

The 76 Projects Piggy Pouch is a convenient way to store a tube and tools, and swap between bikes fitted with the matching 76 Projects Piggy waterbottle mount. The shape may be too square for use in a pocket, though, and water will get in.

• Pros: Fits the Piggy mount perfectly for fast on-off or swaps between bikes
• Cons: Not as roomy as advertised, not waterproof, probably too square for comfortable pocket use

There's an irrefutable rule of cycling, that the chance of needing a spare part or tool rises exponentially with the time or distance from said tool or part, should you not have it on your person. Another irrefutable rule of cycling is that the most useful tool or spare is the one you have on you. The easiest way to make sure you don't forget a tool or spare is to put them all in one easily grabbed package. Hence the plethora of tool rolls, bags, bottle cage holders and whatnot, all designed to keep your stuff in one place, on the bike or in your pocket.

> Buy this online here

The Piggy Pouch aims to hold your required stuff for a road or mountain bike ride, in a square-ish form factor designed to work with The Piggy mount system. The need to fit and be held fast by the Velcro strap dictates an evenly proportioned cube-ish design, which means it won't naturally slip as easily into a jersey pocket as a flatter, wider tool or spares pouch. That said, what works for you in terms of a jersey pocket tools/spare storage solution is very much a personal thing: jersey cut, volume of tools, riding posture all factor in here. I found the Piggy Pouch with a single tube could comfortably fit in even relatively narrow jersey pockets, but if your shell is a snug fit over the top it could feel out of place.

Anyway, it's nice to get the weight and bulk of tubes, tools and other bits out of jersey pockets – especially on long rides where food is needed, and/or on changeable rides where pockets are needed for holding clothing.

> What should I carry when I cycle?

Coming in eight combinations of bag and tag colour – including fluoro pink for road.cc doyenne VecchioJo – the Piggy Pouch allows you to match your accessories bag to your socks or whatever. Which may or may not be of importance, but the brighter colours of orange and pink could be a bonus if you're prone to losing stuff in the boot of the car or kitbag pre-ride.

I found the Piggy Pouch to be perfectly good for holding a 28mm inner tube, tyre levers and a slim multi-tool, plus a little bag with other bits like 5ml of chain lube, tubeless repair plugs, a tyre boot and a nitrile glove for excessively mucky jobs. This package can disappear into a closed fist, so doesn't add up to more space than, say, the slim multi-tool. With this load the Piggy Pouch was easy to open and fish stuff out of as needed.

76 Projects states that the Piggy Pouch will hold:

• 2x standard road tubes
• 1x medium multi tool
• 2x tyre levers (approx 100mm long)
• 1x gas canister inflator

In my experience, two 28-35mm butyl tubes plus two small levers plus a slim tool added up to the pouch being completely rammed, with no room for a CO2 canister of any size. Maybe 28-35mm tubes aren't considered 'standard', but they jolly well should be. If you live someplace with perfectly smooth roads and roll sub-25mm tyres then yes, you can just get two 18-25mm tubes plus tool, levers and CO2 in there, but nothing else.

As 76 Projects states, 'These are not exact capacities as tubes and tools vary' – which is fair enough.

Out on the bike, the Piggy Pouch was unobtrusive, sitting snugly in The Piggy mount and not budging at all. When needed, it removed and reinserted quickly with no fuss, the long zip pull tags easy to work even with thick gloves on. The zip looks waterproof-ish, but the whole package is definitely not – even a light drizzle saw the contents inside damp and in need of a dry-out lest rust or mould accumulate.

This would be my only complaint about the pouch – it doesn't need to be breathable and is designed to be positioned low-down on the bike and in line with both wheels and the associated horrorshow of water and road muck, so why not make it 100 per cent waterproof? You could, of course, put your multi-tool inside a small bag, or find a model you know is 100% alloy so not prone to rust.

Using the Pouch in a jersey pocket was no drama, waterproofness being less of an issue up higher, but be aware that after a wet or sweaty ride you may want to air things out.

As a bonus, both the Piggy and Piggy Pouch are designed and made in the UK, keeping it local and giving 76 Projects close control over quality.

> Buy the Piggy and Pouch here

All in all, the Piggy Pouch is a good standalone solution for your stuff, and as part of the Piggy system it's even better. I'd like to see the weatherproofness improved, but for the price and given the overall utility, it's a good option to consider.

Verdict

A good choice for easy, quick swaps of tools and parts between bikes