Scott Felter, owner and and brains behind some really neat designs at Porcelain Rocket, has done a fantastic job in creating a bag that is light, strong, versatile, and functional. The Anything Cage Bag was designed to fit perfectly into the Salsa Anything Cage, a system that attaches to 3 cage bolt systems.
You can find the 3 bolt cage systems on Surly and Salsa forks, as well as some frames. You can also find them on the Trek Farley among others. The perfect location for the Anything Cage is the fork, it gives you more cargo options by adding two cages on either side.
The Porcelain Rocket Anything Cage Bag is a glorified stuff sack. The specific one we got to test out was extra special because the main body was made out of Cuben Fiber, an ultra light non-woven material mainly used for sails and kites. The lower/outer part of the bag is reinforced with X-Pac to ensure strength and durability when rubbing up against brush and other elements.
The top of the bag has a closure system similar to a dry bag – using a roll and clip function. The top seams are lined with velcro for a clean and secure roll. Attached are two thoughtfully placed pull straps to easily release the velcro when you want to access the contents of the bag. On either end of the top seams you will find two plastic buckles that snap nicely together when the bag is rolled down. This secures the bag and ensures a tight fit.
The bag attaches to the cage with two velcro straps that are adhered to the outside of the bag. The straps wrap under each side of the cage and back around, cinching down as much or as little as you desire. Although we could have secured it with just the velcro straps, we added one of the Salsa Anything Cage straps towards the bottom to ensure a solid fit to the bag during our more rough rides.
The interior side of the bag comes with a piece of red webbing sewn into the bag to create 6 loops. Two small velcro straps are provided that attach at the top and bottom of the bag. The velcro straps connect the bag to the cage by wrapping around the cage and fork to ensure the bag is securely fit to the cage.
Although some of these features may sound simple, it was the combination and thought behind each feature that make this the perfect bag to complement your Anything Cages.
This bag was tested in a variety of ways this summer, one of them being an extreme abuse test. This bag rode on the handle bar for 550 miles of the Colorado Trail. Although it may not have been made for this particular use, the beauty of the situation was it came away unscathed. The body of the bag is cosmetically ‘beat up’, but it shows no signs of ripping. The stitching shows no sign of malfunction, and the velcro is still working perfectly. The white bag is just a bit stained.
One side of the female buckle piece snapped, however the buckle has held up great with just one side functioning, which pays tribute to the creator and his buckle selection. Although the stitching is very well done, possibly because the nature of the cuben fiber, water had penetrated ever so slowly to the inside of the bag. Nothing a little seam seal could not fix.
The other test was done naturally in its element, on the Anything Cage. The bag held its position well up front – on pavement, rugged dirt roads, and even singletrack. The securing mechanisms worked perfectly as the bag never came loose from the cage and can be trusted up there.
The bag functions wonderfully on the cage. We stored everything from jackets, layers, sleeping pads, even food. To access the bag, simply undo the buckle, rip the velcro open and do what you need to do. Because of the snug fit, you can easily rip something out of it or stuff something back in without dealing with the bag moving around on you. This feature alone makes the bag worth it. Alternative options just do not have that secure and snug fit like the Anything Cage Bag does.
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