Thule’s Rail Hip Packs Carry Just The Basics Or Cargo Plus Water

Particularly when temperatures rise, hip packs become a pretty attractive option for hauling your ride essentials. Keeping most of your back uncovered works wonders for keeping you cool, and with options like Thule’s Rail 0 and Rail 2, you can haul just an essential trailside kit or a fair bit of cargo and enough water for a few hours of riding.

I’ve been riding the Rail 0 and Rail 2 packs since mid-March, and found each has its place; The Rail 0 is great for those who don’t like riding with bulky items in their pockets, and it can hide under a jacket easily. The Rail 2 offers more cargo space and can haul two water bottles… although it gets a little less cozy as you add weight to it.

Thule Rail 0L

The Rail 0 is a slim, small pack that can haul a few extra items or get everything out of your pockets. With a 0.5L capacity, it’s just big enough for the essentials, and not big enough to get bulky or heavy.

For storage, the Rail 0L offers a full-size main pocket with two smaller pockets, webbing loops, and a key clip inside. The pack also has a phone pocket on the outer face and two small mesh pockets with hook-and-loop closures on the straps. To enhance visibility the Rail 0 has reflective accents and a web loop to attach a rear light to the bottom.

The Rail 0’s waist strap is a bit over 2” wide, which isn’t huge but is enough to keep this small pack comfortable. The strap has plenty of stretch to it, and a hook-and-loop panel and waist buckle keep it cinched in.  

In the Rail 0, I’ve carried a multi-tool, tire plugger, spare plugs, a c02 cartridge, inflator head, and some Skittles in the main pocket. I also threw my smartphone in the outer pocket. There’s easily room in the main pocket for several more small items, but as for layers, anything less than an ultra-compactable jacket would not likely fit.

Ride Impressions:

The first few times I wore the Rail 0 I hid it under the Patagonia Dirt Roamer Storm jacket (review coming soon!) easily. I find it pretty easy to access your phone or cargo with the pack still on your back. Even under the jacket, grabbing my phone or some Skittles during a ride was no hassle.

I’ve had the Rail 0 pack since Spring, and throughout my test rides, I’ve had no notable comfort issues with the straps or back panel. Nothing is amazing about the back ventilation, as this pack doesn’t include a perforated panel like the bigger Rail 2, but it leaves a small footprint.

My only minor gripe is that Thule didn’t include a better way to tuck away or bundle the excess waist strap. Luckily I only have about 4-5” of strap left dangling, but if it were any longer I’d give it a trim (those with larger waists may not have an issue). One last detail I liked is the bright yellow interior fabric, which makes it easy to see inside the pack.

The Rail 0 sells for $69.95 and comes in Dark Slate Grey only.

Thule Rail 2L

The Rail 2 is a larger hip pack that can haul a fair bit of cargo plus two water bottles. Its main pocket offers a 2L capacity, and it’s divided up into three smaller pockets and webbing loops inside. There’s also a key clip inside, external mesh side pockets on both straps and a smartphone pocket on the front of the pack.

The Rail 2 gets a perforated back panel for ventilation and uses the same stretchy waist strap as the Rail 0. Since it can carry a fair bit of weight, the Rail 2 includes two cinch buckles at either side to snug it up. Other details include a top carry handle, a high-visibility yellow interior fabric, reflective accents, and a web loop for a rear blinker light.

Along with one or two water bottles, I carried a multi-tool, tire plugger, spare plugs, a c02 canister and inflator, some candy, bug spray, and even my very packable Dainese AWA wind shell. I easily could have squeezed a few more small items in the main pocket, and I carried my phone in the outer pocket.

One or two water bottles can be carried in the pockets on either side of the pack. When empty, the fabric bottle pockets fold down nicely and almost disappear.

Ride Impressions:

I’ve ridden the Rail 2 pack for up to three-hour rides, primarily with one bottle but once with two. All in all the Rail 2 is fairly comfortable, and I had no particular issues with any part of it. That said, it’s tough to ignore something cinched around your belly while you ride, especially as you add more weight to the pack. I wore it pretty snugly, which did keep it from moving around quite well while I descended.

With one full water bottle plus cargo, the weight is still reasonable and the pack remains comfortable. With two water bottles, however, the pack gets heavy and hard to ignore. Frankly, I can’t imagine any hip pack feeling great with the weight of two bottles added. A wider waist strap might help disperse the weight a bit better, but with one bottle or none the strap is totally adequate.

I tried to do a long ride with two water bottles in the pack but moved one onto my bike after 30 minutes of climbing. With the weight of two bottles, I found the pack putting pressure on my belly, and you have to keep it pretty snug (even while climbing) to keep two bottles from shifting around.

I’m having 50/50 success getting bottles back into the holders while riding. I’ve had to stop several times because the bottle gets stuck on the inner wall of the flexible pocket and won’t slip in. Now with more practice getting bottles back in might get easier, but initially, the soft-sided pockets were an issue for me.

On two rides (with water bottles), the Rail 2’s waist strap loosened up on me while climbing. During one ride the pack sagged down until it was resting on my butt, and on another ride, it loosened up to a lesser extent. On both occasions, one snug-up was enough to keep the waist strap in place for the rest of the ride… but not having to stop and fix it would be better.

As for ventilation, the Rail 2’s perforated back panel is nothing magical, but the footprint of the hip pack is still much smaller than any backpack. This pack is still a cooler option than having anything on your back, but you’ll get sweaty underneath it.

On my first ride with the Rail 2, I wound up using the top carry handle during a rest stop. It’s a nice addition to the pack that I found myself using on almost all my test rides.

Like on the Rail 0, Thule missed an opportunity to include elastic loops to bundle up the excess waist straps for the smaller waisted crowd. On me, both straps leave 6-7” of excess length dangling around, and it would be nice to have them wrapped up or tucked away neatly.  

MSRP for the Rail 2 is $99.95, and it comes in Dark Slate Grey only.

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