Merida Framebag Travel L

The Merida Framebag Travel is designed to hang beneath the top tube, making good use of otherwise relatively empty space. It's generally well made and user-friendly, but check that your frame's main triangle will swallow it without restricting access to bottles/cages.

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Materials/specification

The bag comes in two sizes – medium (4.6 litre) and the large (5.4 litre) we have on test, which measures 15x51x7cm.

It's made from waterproof 210 denier Ripstop TPU (Thermoplastic Polyurethane), a material sometimes described as bridging the gap between rubbers and plastics. Lightweight, yet rugged and flexible, it's a sensible choice for lightweight bike luggage.

Access to the inside is via waterproof zippers either side. These have long, elasticated tags, which tuck neatly into garages when not required.

The inner compartment is lightly reinforced to keep its shape, and lined in yellow for easy spotting of goodies.

A divider lets you organise kit more precisely, attaching via Velcro to the main bag so removable should the need arrive.

On one side is a medium zippered pocket for wallet/smartphone or similar valuables, on the other is a mesh 'wall' divided into three pockets – two medium, one small – with elasticated tops. There's also an elasticated key keeper.

That's as prescriptive as things get, so no problems with pumps, big tubes, a folding tyre, micro jacket, arm/leg warmers and so on.

Fitted and loaded

The bag attaches to the frame via a series of relatively thin Velcro straps that'll entertain larger 'oversized' oval or hydroformed tubing. There's scope for adding more through the webbed nylon tops should you find sway an issue, although these aren't supplied.

Although my winter/training bike wasn't the ideal test rig in terms of space, I managed to get everything to play nicely by switching to side-entry bottle cages. For reference, said frameset (pictured below) is 54cm (semi-compact geometry), broadly equivalent to a to 58cm horizontal design.

Though hardly pencil thin, the chromoly tubes aren't particularly buxom, so I had to draw the Velcro pretty tight around the top tube and had some reservations regarding sway. Thankfully, the down tube and seat tube strap kept everything reassuringly solid.

I didn't load it to the gills, but the Travel bag had no problems swallowing a multi-tool, several tubes, a mini compact system camera, full water bottle, micro jacket, keys, wallet, dynamo USB charger and a mini Gorillapod tripod.

Despite some initial scepticism and fear that I might be riding bow-legged, the setup remained in check and allowed me to bimble along at a steady 18-20mph for as far as my legs would take me. There was some slight bob noticeable along unmade roads and when navigating washboard tarmac along remote lanes, but nothing untoward.

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Crucially, the bag wasn't brushing against my thighs and I haven't had to nip up the straps tight mid-ride. I have kept a close eye on them, snugging the top tube straps fractionally tighter after the first few rides, but in fairness this was precautionary rather than remedial. I would have preferred more substantial straps, especially if looking towards regular gravel/bikepacking adventures rather than commuting or road-biased weekend touring, but they haven't let me down.

Waterproofing

A decidedly arid testing period didn't present much opportunity to assess its water repellency. The zips and fabric are designed to be waterproof, and it passed my three-minute close-range garden hose test with flying colours – bone dry inside. When I did encounter a heavy downpour the water just beaded up then rolled away.

Matt did find that the seams could leak in heavy rain in his test of the medium Travel bag on our sister site, off.road.cc, so it's sensible to keep water-sensitive kit in dry bags.

Value

At £47.99 the Merida isn't a bad price compared with others in the bikepacking frame bag world, and it does offer a little more space than some. (The medium option is the same price.)

You can pay less: Passport Cycles' large frame bag is a little smaller, with a capacity of 4.8L, and a good bit cheaper at £34.99 (and its Velcro attachments seem more substantial) – Rachael tested the medium size on off.road.cc.

BBB's Middle Mate frame bag only comes in one size – 4L – and is £34.95.

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The Woho X-Touring frame bag Stu tested is the same price as the Merida and lighter, but again a little smaller. 

Topeak's Midloader comes in a larger 6L size, for £54.99, while its 4.5L sibling is now £46.99. 

Summary

While there's a lot of competition, the Merida Framebag Travel is competent and well worth closer inspection if you're looking for a wallet-friendly option.

Verdict

Decent performing option, but more substantial Velcro straps would give better peace of mind