Restrap Race Saddle Bag 7L

Restrap's Race Saddle Bag provides a decent amount of storage that is quick and easy to gain access to. It's secure, too, and very well made.

Restrap's Race series is designed as a lightweight solution for ultra-endurance races, audaxes, and everything in between. Iwein tested the Race Bar Bag recently and thought it was excellent.

This saddle bag follows a common design of a harness that attaches to your saddle rails and seatpost, into which you then slide a drybag, in this case a respectable 7 litres.

Fitment is simple and will literally take a couple of minutes. You loop each of the upper straps over their corresponding saddle rail before tightening them using the buckles on the lower part of the harness; another strap wraps around the seatpost, passing through a slimline buckle which keeps it away from your thighs. No Velcro to destroy your shorts, either, which is another plus point.

Foam pads are included to give a secure fit and reduce the chance of any wear or rubbing against your components.

With the drybag inside, the straps are easy to adjust to give a secure fit, and there is a magnetic strap at the rear which keeps the bag in place.

Even loaded up, the Race bag stays secure with barely any sway at all, and the magnetic strap held firm even when using the bag on rough gravel routes.

The drybag rolls up at the top and then both corners clip together, creating a completely waterproof package. I rode a couple of times in the rain and there was no ingress at all, even on a bike without mudguards.

The harness has a hardshell construction, created from VX21, a waterproof material that sandwiches a PET film between a 210-denier nylon on the outside and a 50-denier polyester backing. It also uses Hypalon for the strapping and edging.

When Mike tested the previous version of the Race saddle bag back in 2020 he wasn't impressed with the position of the loop for attaching a light. That loop has gone now, which isn't a problem because if you need to clip a light on you can attach it to the strap that holds the drybag in position.

The whole construction is scuff resistant and highly durable. It's very well made too, by hand in Yorkshire, and comes with a lifetime warranty.

This kind of quality doesn't come cheap, though, which is why the Race Saddle Bag costs £119.99.

That is less than the Miss Grape Cluster 7 Waterproof bag, though, which is £135. That also has a 7-litre capacity but is an actual bag rather than a harness/drybag combo, which does mean it takes longer to detach your kit from your bike, to take it into a shop with you, for example.

It's also cheaper than Apidura's Racing Saddle Pack, which is designed for a similar style of riding as the Restrap, though again it's a full bag design. The 7-litre model is £132.

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There are cheaper options out there, though. The Wildcat Tiger Wayfarer is a similar harness design to the Restrap and is a little cheaper at £80 for the harness (it's gone up since Vecchiojo tested it last year), £30 for the 7L drybag. You can currently buy both for £99.

You can get a drybag from somewhere like Alpkit for just over a tenner, though, while Restrap sells the Race drybag on its own for £17.99.

A cheaper 7L bag design (not holster and bag) is Vel's Seat Pack; it costs £65, and Stef was very impressed with it.

Conclusion

The Race Saddle Bag is quite an investment, but I can't fault the quality or the way it fits to the bike securely and with little sway. The drybag/harness design also makes it quick and easy to remove your kit.

Verdict

Exceptional build quality and waterproofing, with an excellent fit on the bike