We seen well-made bags from Czech bikepacking gear maker AcePac for several years now. But taking a closer look at their Eurobike setup, we noticed a few new bags, some great looking hand warmers, and a new way to carry waterproofed gear on and off the bike.
AcePac modular adventure bikepacking bags
The AcePac bag lineup covers pretty much everything you need to haul on a bikepacking trip, whether exploring gravel roads or mountain bike trails. With almost 30 years stitching up utilitarian packs on and off the bike, they offer one of the widest range of bikepacking bags, all produced in the mountains of the Czech Republic. Carry over products like the Bar bag, Fuel bag, Canteen bag & Zip Frame bag offer easy-to-access storage for adventure riding.
Updated Roll Fuel Bag
This new Roll Fuel bag jumped out at us as an alternative way to store more gear, and adjust to how much you are hauling. Like the original Fuel bag (above left) it gets mesh outside pockets for quick snack access and can be mounted either against the stem or seatpost on the top tube.
But the roll top closure could make for easier access on the fly, especially where zipper closures can be tough to operate one-handed. Inside, a velcroed-in waterproof liner keeps your food and other goodies better protected from the elements, and can be removed to pack or unpack off the bike. The new bag has 0.8L of storage, but can expand or be cinched down a bit to accommodate what you are actually carrying.
The new Roll Fuel Bag sells for ~$29/25€ with its removable waterproof liner bag, and is already in stock.
Reinforced Bar & Saddle Harnesses
We actually previewed some new harness-based bags from AcePac last autumn, but now they are heading towards final production together with an assortment of new Drybags. The frame is designed to offer semi-rigid support for the accompanying 8L or 16L Drybags, which include daisy chain straps for secure lashing points.
The new Bar Harness will be available in early spring 2019, and will come in two different widths that will suit flat or dropbars. They can be combined with the drybags or without to use the harness for hauling other items like a tent bag. It can also be topped off by 5L Bar bag to haul readily accessible essentials.
AcePac puts a lot of focus on getting their bags easily on & off the bike while remaining secure. Their Bar Harness attachment solution looks like a nice balance of some of the more secure retention systems we have tested. Foam block spacers keep the harness off of the bar so you can still wrap fingers around the bar top and cables aren’t pinched. A cam (red) allows you to easily cinch the mount tight, and quick release buckles (gray) make removal fast.
In addition to the Bar Harness is a new matching Saddle Harness with its own separate dry bags. Also available next spring, it uses three main stabilizing straps that should lash down whatever you stuff into the drybag or any other stuff sack.
The welded seam Drybags will feature single or double roll closures. The daisy chain straps also offer a secure way to attach the bags to one of AcePac’s standard backpacks, which they say makes carrying your gear around camp or when traveling by train much easier than having to detach bar & saddle bags from the bike.
The bike with the new Harness packs also had AcePac’s existing over-the-toptube Roll Frame Bag attached. Another simple solution for quicker on and off the bike, the ~$64-68/54-58€ bag also moves any velcro straps away from the toptube, where some riders have issues with scraping their legs as the pedal. A slightly cheaper standard Zip Frame Bag held on by a series of velcro straps (as on the bike at the top of the page) is also available.
Cordura Hand Warmers
OK, so these new Hand Warmers were maybe the hottest thing AcePac had to show. Instead of a more conventional heavy neoprene, these use light, water-resistant HiCor ripstop polyester fabric combined with BHB insulation tech they brought over from their sleeping bag production.
Like a good sleeping bag, the Hand Warmers include easy-to-operate velcro vents so you don’t overheat. The warmers are for flat bars only (for now) and incorporate a nice bar detail, where you insert a plug into the end of the handle bar with a rigid velcro plate. Then you can attach the warmers from the inside to the ideal position on the bar to provide plenty of room to maneuver your warm hands inside around the brake levers.
The new Hand Warmers will sell for ~$54/47€ pair when they go on sale this fall in time for next winter’s snowy, cold bike trips.
AcePac bag construction & Availability
All of AcePac’s current bags (and other gear) can be found (and ordered) either directly on their Czech language-only website (remember google translate is your friend) or from one of their international distributors.
AcePac’s bags are primarily constructed from a durable Cordura Ecomade fabric made of recycled PET bottles, custom developed for their packs. Generally each of the bags is available in camo, green, blue, gray & black, plus red on some things like the upcoming drybags. Their primary fabric is
Cyclone can get them to US bike shops, Why Cycles in Colorado sells some combos direct, plus there is distribution throughout Europe, a few places in Central & South America, and even Japan.
