Stashers Modular Insulated Adventure Bag

The Stashers Modular Insulated Adventure Bag (Large) is a unique bike luggage idea for carrying long, cylindrical loads all over multiple kinds of bike. Made from rugged materials in a range of colours, it's a great one to have in your bike-gear-schlepping toolkit.

Bike luggage tends to fit into one of two designs these days: bags that attach to racks, front or back, or bags that strap into or onto a bike's frame. The former require mounting points, add weight and bulk, and the latter often take time to attach, can be beholden to frame angles and are often restricted in their dimensions.

> Buy now: Stashers Modular Insulated Adventure Bag (Large) for £60 from Freshtripe

The Stashers range of bags don't need a rack, but also aren't restricted by needing to fit within frame dimensions. Coming in three lengths measured in beer cans of two, three or four-beverage capacity, they are sized to take up to standard water bottle 3in diameter loads. In the Large size on review here, that's a normal wine bottle plus a large can, or four standard cans. Or a very large (18in) baguette.

The sizes from small to large are £40, £50 and £60, and come in orange, green, black and two flavours of camo. The orange colour tested did pick up a number of marks over time, so if that matters, go for the black where they won't show.

The body of the bag is a thickly insulated, tough, waterproof tarpaulin fabric, and inside there's a supple, removable, transparent, waterproof liner with a waterproof zip.

The zip closes up tight, but isn't waterproof where the two zips meet – so if you fill it with liquid it will leak if upside down. If you packed it with ice and oriented it correctly the meltwater would stay in the bag until you reached your destination.

As it's made of easily-washable food-grade plastic you could certainly fill it with loose snacks, nuts, fruit, that sort of thing. Or, as mentioned, it's perfect for a baguette.

If you're carrying wine or cold cans you don't need the liner, but it will add a bit of insulation. How long it will keep things cold is totally dependent on how cold they were to begin with, what the ambient temperature is, are you in the sun, and so on… but basically, it's as good as any other cooler-fabric-type thing: it'll keep drinks noticeably cold for a few hours.

The construction is stitched and not seam-sealed, so if you were out in pouring rain for a long time, some leakage will inevitably occur. Passing showers are absolutely no problem, but it's maybe not for critical electronics for a long tour.

At 375g for the Large it's not a lightweight option – that will be the insulation heft there.

Bag attachment

Outside the bag are four 2in-wide straps with hefty Velcro backing, for wrapping around your frame or handlebar. The inside of the straps is fluffy Velcro, and halfway round the bag is the hook Velcro – so your frame won't get scratched unless grit gets in between the bag and frame.

Once the straps are wrapped, the ends tuck away into sleeves for tidiness and security. Although there are four straps, with that much Velcro on hand just two will hold a full bag easily. The strap spacing and choice means if you're attaching the bag to a handlebar, you can pick and choose which two or three straps to use.

At either end are Velcro-backed webbing straps, to hold the ends of the bag taut if you're attaching it above or, more likely, below your top tube. This is the most likely position I'd see people using a Stashers bag.

Space allowing, you can layer the Stashers bags inside your frame to create a modular system two or three bags deep, each bag attaching to the next, enabling you to carry nine cans in total, or two wine bottles and three cans. A happy picnic, at the very least.

In use

An example of the capability of the Stashers bag was a recent two-battery e-mountain bike expedition I undertook with a friend into the heart of the Cairngorms. I rode with a £200 EVOC battery backpack and lent my friend the Stashers bag to carry his spare 625 Bosch Powertube battery.

The 625 battery fits perfectly inside the Large Stashers bag, the insulation acting as padding to keep the battery safe.

Full-suspension e-mountain bikes usually have no internal frame clearance because of the suspension gubbins taking up most of the triangle, so the Stashers bag was strapped to the top tube by three straps and the two end straps wrapped around the seatpost and fork steerer tube to keep the bag vertical. The battery slotted snugly inside the bag, so there was no wear or pendulum effect from its 3.5kg mass moving about. If your top tube didn't have enough length to fit a battery there, your handlebar would be the next bet.

Of course, if you have a rack front or back, the Stashers bag can be lashed to it, likewise oddly shaped frames like hybrid step-through bikes. If you can get the straps around, it should stay put.

Stashers bags are pretty much a universal fit and I can't imagine a frame or handlebar that wouldn't be able to fit one. Even on a drop bar, you can lash a Stashers bag underneath the tops, and have clearance for your hands on the hoods, in the drops, or even to curl your fingers under the tops if you don't cinch the Velcro up tight.

Another great location for a long, narrow cylindrical load is strapped to a cargo cage on your fork. I'm a big fan of the Tailfin Cargo Cages and the Stashers bag straps quickly and solidly in place. The full-length Large bag on test, holding a 3.5kg mass, stayed put and with the straps secured through the cage holes there was zero chance of it slipping down or coming loose.

The only time I found any interference was when it was mounted below the top tube on my gravel bike, and my knees would occasionally brush the bag. That's down to a combination of my frame geometry, position on the bike, my Q-factor (pedal width) and pedal stroke, ie how far my knees come in. When I mount the bag on top of the top tube, the issue goes away.

Value and conclusion

Overall, the utility provided is great for the £60 asking price. Other cylindrical options include the now £46 CamelChops Blimp bag or Stasher's own slightly fatter and shorter 'Plus Sized' bag at £55, for loads up to 5.2 inches in diameter. But both of these and the many other bar bags of similar design are too large to fit on a top tube or inside a frame.

> 15 easy ways to carry stuff on your bike

There are a thousand variations of sculpted, bezippered frame bags from under £30 to £150 or more, but none that can work on a rack, handlebar or fork. Scrolling back through half a decade's worth of reviews, I can't find a single bag that can work on a frame, handlebar, fork cage and rack equally as well as the Stashers range.

If you need a quick-fitting and solid way to carry stuff of up to 3.5in diameter, keeping it hot or cold for a reasonable duration, in multiple locations on your bike, the Stashers Modular Insulated Adventure Bag range is a darn good shout.

Verdict

Very good and highly-adaptable way to carry stuff all over your bikes