Seatbag vs Rack

While made of waterproofed materials the seams on the Stealth bag are not sealed which is the case for most seat-bags. Some bags have a higher inherent level of waterproofing than others, but generally you are advised to use a dry-bag inside them for 100% water tightness. Obviously you need to use a dry-bag as well on the Thule.

With the Thule, you are slightly more likely to find your legs kissing the front edge of your dry-bag than you are using the Stealth which has a very narrow profile. Funny enough, despite the height of the Stealth, I did not come into contact with it when hanging off the back of my saddle in technical riding, whereas with the Thule I could feel the dry-bag brushing against the inside of my thighs in this scenario. Despite this, I would not say that this is an issue in any way. One is good, the other is better.

Comparatively speaking, attaching the Stealth is pretty much a doddle, although I found a technique which makes it even easier. If the bike is hanging vertically from a hook (ok, this is only relevant for commuting and you have a hook at your house) you can attach the seat-post velcros first, and then loop the belts through the seat rails and crank up the clasps. If the bike is horizontal you have to wrangle the weight of the seat-pack as you try to thread through the clasps and attach them. This is not an issue if the seat bag is not packed at this time. It’s the packed weight that makes it difficult. You can pack it while it is attached, or pack it while is off the bike.

The Stealth is a pretty normal seat bag in most respects and packs that way. It is useful to pack the lower wedge of the bag with something quite compressible which helps give the bag rigidity. The opening to the Stealth bag is a lot narrower than other similar bags on the market but it makes up for it by being longer and skinnier with much better wheel clearance. You have to make the decision on your packing approach. To try to jam a pre-packed dry-bag into the seat-bag, or to put the dry-bag into the seat-bag and pack from there. Probably best that way. An another approach might be to forget about the dry-bag and have an external rain cover. That is not a feature of the Stealth bag at this point. Packing the Thule is as simple as strapping your dry-bag onto the rack, but even there you need to take care. If you have pointy or hard items in your dry-bag you best have them well wrapped so that pressure from your straps does not wear a hole in your dry-bag. I have an old piece of camping mat zip-tied to the rack so that a full day of off road hammering does not rub a hole into the bag.

The Stealth bag, like most seat bags has good quick “un-click and roll-back” access in comparison to a dry-bag which is strapped to a rack. It will always be a bit more hassle to un-cinch a dry bag on a rack and then re-set it. The speed at which you can access your goods determines the nature of the goods within.

The narrowness of the Stealth bag makes it easy to compress the contents quite a bit before even calling on the compression straps. Compression in the Thule scenario comes down fully to what kind of a dry-bag you use and if it is one of the compressible kind. While weight is an issue in bikepacking so is bulk. You don’t really want a big fluffy mess hanging off the back of your bike.

The workmanship in the Stealth bag is impressive and the material appears very robust. The proof of the pudding in the design of the Thule rack is that it has remained unchanged since its launch in 2009. The chunky look to this rack may put a few people off, and I often say “simple is always better” but I have to say, the Thule/Freeload racks are bulletproof. I have actually sat on mine in order to be more aero on a long downhill stretch and it felt rock solid.

When you first try a seat-bag there is a that little tail-wag thing that you notice, and then don’t notice again too much, until A. You drop into a sharp corner at speed, or B, you take the bag off and on your first ride you notice you don’t have to compensate for it. It’s just something that you adapt to very quickly and the Stealth bag feels pretty much the same as the Revelate Viscacha. The Thule is different again. The feeling is there, but it’s a more solid feel. No wag as such, but a definite rear weight bias that takes a bit of compensation until you don’t notice it anymore. It’s the same with the Stealth although the Stealth’s weight is higher, but not by as much as you might think. Check out the image with the rack and the bag on the bike at the same time. I think most people would agree that having the weight down lower is more desirable.

Something that you will likely experience is the “settling” of your “kit”. Whether its a seat-bag or a dry-bag on a rack. Sometimes, depending on the terrain you may need to stop and give the straps a tweak. In a seat bag it will likely be the straps that go through the seat rails; in a rack set-up it will just be the straps holding the dry-bag on the rack. In the case of the Thule, I recommend installing your rack well in advance of your trip and give it some good testing, maybe even deliberately wet the webbing of the mounts. Check that there is not another “click” available in the ratchet after some big rides and those mounts will not move again until you go to take the rack off.

The Stealth seat-bag looks very simple compared to the ThulePack n Pedal. The Stealth has a plastic stiffener inserted in its base to help with rigidity. You need to be aware of this when packing this bag, as it is possible to push aside the velcro responsible for keeping the stiffener in place. If you know about it, it shouldn’t happen. I believe later models have a tweak to stop this. I’ve mentioned the complicated look of the Thule Pack n Pedal before, but I’ve have never had a bolt unwind on any of mine since 2010, so while it does look complex, the engineering behind it really does seem to stand up to the job. Bear in mind that I am talking about the Sport version of this rack as I have not had extensive experience with the Tour rack running Panniers. See my first unboxing and installing of my rack here in 2010.

Feel

The fat alloy tubes used in the Thule Pack n Pedal are very useful and well angled for attaching stretchy mount rear lights and also water bottle cages attach easily with a couple of radiator hose-clips, presuming you are not concerned with more rearward weight on you bike. The Stealth bag has provision for maybe a rain jacket or banana under its crossed elasticated straps on the top of the bag.

I found both systems great for commuting, the only issues are covered above in ease of attachment, assuming you unclip the Stealth bag, or unstrap your dry bag using the Thule option.

For the Thule Pack n Pedal (Freeload) I have to declare I have used this system three times in New Zealand’s 1100 kilometre Kiwi Brevet. Twice on a 26er fully, and once on a drop-barred rigid 29er. I also subjected it to my new local “accelerated bike-bag test course” which is a route I often take on the way to work. It’s is a 3.1 km winding downhill course with many tight turns, some roots, a drop and some G-outs, depending on how fast you are going. I went as fast as I could, on each run, on a half-loaded bike. The course takes in the Transient and Serendipity Trails in the Polhil Aro Valley area. I did many runs on my rigid drop-barred Karate Monkey with both systems. Apart from 2 weeks of 20kms each way commuting, and a couple of long gravel grinds this was the extent of the testing I did on the Stealth bag which I borrowed off a friend who had just finished this years Kiwi Brevet with it. If Strava can be trusted, and I don’t believe it can, the difference between both systems was about 15 seconds over around 12 minutes. Not a margin large enough to say if it was real in my view. If I was just tootling up and down the River Trails I would not have learned much at all about these systems. Anything will work in that environment.