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First off a bit of a disclaimer. I’m a saddle bag user, there I’ve said it. I share this review in the hope that it might help those of you who also can’t cope with rule 31. I’d previously taken the view that if I used a small enough bag no one would notice. I’ve been at sportives and been the target of the withering glances of practicing Velominati. In fact on my last sportive a ride buddy was in the process of sounding off about the spoilt lines of the expensive road bikes festooned with saddle bags when he noticed the ortlieb mini dangling from my rear.
I’ve tried lots, and I mean LOTS, of bags over the years but never hit on one that didn’t fail to impress on one level or another. The biggest failing tends to be waterproofing. There is nothing worse than opening a soggy pack to extract the wet £5 emergency money (buying coffee and cake is an emergency) then having to apologise to the cashier as you pay. So requirement 1; it has to be waterproof. Requirement 2; it has to be small. Big enough to hold a multitool, tube and inflator, oh and a £5 note. Finally, requirement 3; it has to be either discrete or exceptionally stylish, essentially invisible or a bold statement. That’s it, just three requirements to fulfil. Not much to ask but I have not found a bag to date that ticked all the boxes.
So roll back the clock a few months. There was a Kickstarter campaign by a guy called Pat Reardon from Cyckit in New Zealand who was looking to fund the tooling for a pretty great looking saddle bag. Unfortunately the project didn’t make the funding required but thankfully Pat went ahead anyway. As of a couple of weeks ago the Aeroclam is now available to purchase. Check out the website at http://www.cyckit.com. I paid my NZ$49 the day the website went live and it arrived a few days ago.
It’s now fitted to my Roubaix and is everything I have been looking for in a saddle bag. It even aces requirement 3, it’s discrete and exceptionally stylish at the same time!
The upper half of the clam bolts to the saddle rails and the lower half clips into hinges at the front of the Aeroclam. It closes at the rear using a rubber catch. A great feature is that you can mix and match the black and white parts to match with your saddle. I have all white to go with the Specialized Toupe on my bike. The web site shows all black, white and black and white combinations to really fit well with your bike aesthetics.
The Aeroclam very small so loading has to be done in a specific way. There is a recess in the bottom to take a small multitool. The Topek I had was too big so I ordered a small one by Genuine Innovations as recommended by Cyckit. A quick measure showed 27mm x 75mm x 10mm to be the size of tool that will fit, possibly a bit thicker if your tubes are thinner. The Aeroclam comes with two tire levers which sit on top of the multitool and form a partition between the multitool recess and the rest of the bag. The tube and inflator with CO2 cylinder sit on top of the tire levers. The Aeroclam then closes up using the rubber closure on the back. It’s a tight fit in there to ensure no rattles while riding. The attention to detail is great as Cyckit also send a small rubber packing piece which you can use if needed to stop rattles.
When closed the Aeroclam is sleek and refined. If you weren’t looking for it you would assume it was an integral part of the saddle. Forget the adage “form over function”, this is function with great form.
It wasn’t completely plain sailing though. When I first packed the Aeroclam it didn’t close tightly. That concerned me as requirement 1 needs it to be waterproof. I narrowed it down to the tube not fitting properly. I looked at it and saw that it was pretty messily rolled so not as thin as it could have been. I re-rolled it neatly and the clam then shut, just, but I felt that the seam was not as tight as it could have been. Without the tube in there the seam shuts tight. I exchanged some email and pictures with Pat and he was exceptionally helpful, even going to the shops and buying the same tube as I had to try it himself. It turns out the Specialized 700×20/28 thin tubes roll to be 3mm wider than the range of tubes that Pat had used when designing the Aeroclam. It’s that extra 3mm of packing height that caused the Aeroclam to not close firmly. The design is that finely tuned! With my neatly rolled tube I have an acceptable case seal but don’t have the invisible case line that it should have. I can live with the way it is closed now, but it does give me an excuse to try some other brands of thin tubes so this can actually be seen as a good thing B-)
The bottom line is that yes, I think this is the best saddle bag ever. Even the most ardent of Velominati will struggle to spot the Aeroclam on the bike and when they do they will most likely be awed by it’s great lines rather than appalled at the desecration of a thoroughbred racing machine. Oh and did I mention it only weighs 136 grams
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And the other…
And the other…
Like Paul, I’ve been using
Like Paul, I’ve been using the Aeroclam since 2014 too. I’ve got two of them, one on each of my summer bikes. I carry a spare tube, two tyre levers, a CO2 inflator and head, a tyre boot and a Topeak rescue box with patches and a chain link. Both Aeroclams are packed the same.
I also carry an old iPhone 4 size neoprene zipped wallet from Cervo Rosso (anyone remember them?) This carries another spare tube and CO2 canister and my Lezyne v11 multitool which slips into a jersey pocket. Very neat solution and so much nicer than a dangly bag with straps hanging out each side. I did get the large Aeroclam but have never used it as I think it’s too big. I get many comments from cyclists who think the small one is just part of the saddle, it’s very unobtrusive.
Here are a couple of pictures.
Sorry to pop a very old post
Sorry to pop a very old post up but I thought I would provide an update on the Aeroclam. What has prompted this? Well, out of the blue I received an email from Cyckit. I’m still on their mailing list from 2014. This is only the second unsolicited email I have received from Cyckit so hats off to Pat for not spamming his customers. It transpires they are tooling up for additional sizes in the range. The email prompted me to think about the Aeroclam for the first time in a long time and to look up what I wrote here in 2014. As you can see from that original post I was pretty pleased with it. It was close to perfect for me at that time. You will see in the thread that I had a bit of trouble with fitting my tubes and Pat was looking into it. Well he did way better than that. A couple of months later I received a replacement in the post that improved the seal. No more gap with my tubes. I’ve really not given it much thought since then. It’s sat securely and silently tucked under my saddle now for six years. I only ever think about it when I need it, and that is probably the best thing about it. It’s always there with my emergency spares. I don’t forget to slip a tube in my pocket, I don’t arrive at Sweets tea room without cake money.
This is one of the reasons I’m poping this thread up. The Aeroclam realy is a pretty much perfect product. It’s so well made you probably only ever need to buy one. I would love to support Pat and buy another one but the origional is so good I simply don’t need to. I’m hoping that someone else reading my experience will prompt them to take a look and maybe reward Pat with a purchase. It’s my attempt at saying thanks to Pat for designing the perfect saddle pack for me. He has frankly saved me hundreds of pounds over the last six years as I have not bought yet another ‘this must be the one” saddle bag which was an annual event for me.
So a few comments after six years: The tubes have come and gone, the five pounds emergency money has been impacted by inflation and is now ten pounds but the Aeroclam is still in perfect pristine condition. It’s interesting to look back at the comments in the thread. There were worries about longevity of the product. Well this is six years later. The white parts are still white, the rubber parts have not perished. The mount hasn’t come loose or broken. It’s got some smudges and abrasions from use but looks six months old rather than six years. Some were saying it was too small. For many it probably was, which is why large and medium bodies are also on offer. The small for me is still perfect. It’s actually surprising what goes in it. I thought I had posted some images of the contents of my Aeroclam but I can’t see anything so I’ve added a picture of what’s in my bag today. TWO spare tubes (I’ve needed them during hedge cutting season), CO2 inflator, multi tool, tire levers and a ten pound note. I’ve used old inner tube to wrap the multi tool and CO2 canister,. That ensures there is not a sound comming from my rearend even when straining hard on the peddles :-).
There’s not a lot more that can be said apart from for me it’s the last saddle bag I’ll ever buy.
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