I agree, I actually always preferred the under the seat pack, or seeing if I could stuff everything under the seat rails.
Can't say I do agree. Personally I think saddle mouted bags are an awful idea on anything other than a roadbike (but even then they're hardly ideal)
- in direct firing line from water/mud/debris off the rear tyre
- most larger saddle mounted bags have a high chance of rubbing the stanchion of a dropper post
- the largest packs get in the way of pelvis/crotch clearance
- Can limit dropper post drop (fouling/buzzing the rear tyre at full travel)
- adds weight high up (the worst place possible)
Plus it's kinda mental running a £200 135g SLR saddle and then hanging 400g of shit from it
A small frame mounted bag down by the BB out of harms way would always be the best option for me. Sadly not possible on my own FS Emtb frame.
I never ever carry a pack. I absolutely hate them. But I also hate unneeded weight added to a bike so I carry only minimal/essential spares on the bike (mounted as low and centrally as I can) with phone/keys/money in my pocket and on longer rides I just use a small lightweight runners waterbottle waist belt with a 500ml bottle and a tiny zipped pocket with just enough room for, keys, money and a small snack/multitool.
I also always dress light but appropriately for the ride/weather/conditions and effort I'm going to be using so absolutely never carry spare clothing or any other faffy stuff I'll never use.
Each of my bikes has it's own set of tools/spares specific to it and mounted to the frame so I can ride straight away without the need for any faff, forgetting or having to look for stuff.
eg. my Emtb has a Dakine hotlaps gripper bag mounted to the frame (iunfortunately due to my bike frame design/size it has to be mounted above the battery towards the front of the downtube/toptube junction)
The bag contains: 2x superlight 90g innertubes, 1x tyre patch, 1x tube patch, a small tube of vulcanising solution with a square of sandpaper, 1x really tiny folding hex key/torx set. 1x tiny chaintool, 1x10mm hex bit , 2x Co2 carts with head. a couple of zipties, a mech hanger and a quicklink. The entire pack loaded full is 600g. I mainly carry all that as I also commute on it between a 20-40 mile round trip 4 days a week.
for shorter local rides I'll often take the hotlaps bag off the bike completely and just ride with a multi tool in my pocket as the bike is nicer to ride without the added weight. and wort comes to it I need to walk home a few miles (I have miles and miles of off road trails within a 5 mile radius of my front door)
Each to their own though
