Brooks Scape Frame Bag

The Brooks Scape Frame Bag is a high-quality, waterproof pack that is ideal for slightly larger frames (think medium and upwards). It can carry plenty, making it ideal for day trips or longer bikepacking adventures, and there are plenty of pockets for separating items. A neat finishing touch is the handy cable port on the interior tech pocket, along with a port on the front of the outer fabric for charging or hydration. It seems relatively expensive at £85, but actually comes in well under many of its competitors.

We've reviewed pretty much the entirety of the Brooks Scape range – Saddle Roll, Pannier, Handlebar Roll, and more – and overall have been impressed with everything we've seen. This latest, the all-important frame bag, is the party piece if you're bikepacking, but it's also versatile enough to be useful for touring, day rides or commuting.

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Like the rest of the range, the Frame Bag is an aesthetically pleasing dark green, and is constructed from 100% waterproof welded material, which features a small reflective Brooks logo on the right side. It's very rugged stuff and should withstand a lot of abuse.

There are three hypalon Velcro straps at the top to fasten to the top tube, with two options for fore or aft placement for the front-most loop.

There are also two at the front for attaching to the head tube and down tube, and one at the rear for the seat tube.

Basically, it's easy to fit, and the hypalon material shouldn't scratch your frame, so you don't have to put frame protectors in place (though you might want to if your ride is going to get wet and muddy).

The bag measures 460mm in length, and was a perfect fit inside the triangle of a Trek Checkpoint in a medium size. On a larger bike, such as my XL Ribble CGR Ti, I was able to secure both front and rear straps to the head tube/seat tube, with a 3-4in gap front and rear. You'd struggle to fit the bag in smaller frames, however, so it's worth measuring before purchasing.

With a height of 120mm, the Scape Frame Bag doesn't fill the triangle too deeply to make bottle access problematic, either. The 60mm width also ensures the bag doesn't stick out too far either side of even skinny top tubes, and I never encountered any interference with my thighs during testing.

There are two zips on either side of the bag, which run along almost its entire length. The right one gives you access to the generous 3-litre main compartment, which is big enough to take some spare items of clothing, tent poles, a couple of sandwiches, a head torch, and some other bits.

Clearly, what you put in there is up to you; I managed to fit my 2-litre Camelbak hydration bladder, using the TPU port at the front of the bag for slotting the drinking hose through, for easy access to sips on the move.

When it's not being used it can be sealed, so there's no chance of the elements permeating the interior in torrential weather.

On the left side of the bag is a waterproof pocket with a KCC waterproof zip, making it the ideal place to store your phone, credit card or charging brick.

Because of the slim width of the pocket, a charging brick will also need to be reasonably slim – I managed to stow a brick the width of about two iPhone 12s. That's about the thickest you'd want to go.

One neat feature of this fully waterproof pocket is the addition of a cable port, enabling you to slot the cable from your charging brick into the main compartment, and then through the front TPU port. This allows you to charge your lights, GPS or phone while riding.

Brooks says the Scape Frame Bag weighs 200g, though our scales showed 233g. It's still pretty light, which is good news if you're counting grams. It's slightly heavier than the similar capacity Miss Grape Internode (190g), but can't quite match the lighter Ortlieb Frame-Pack Toptube (170g).

There's not much to dislike about the Scape. If I was being picky, the bag could do with a touch more reflectivity, though Brooks does sell a small hypalon reflective patch which can be attached to any of the bag's loops. Another minor issue is that when the bag isn't totally fully, the material does tend to collapse slightly in some areas because of a lack of structural rigidity. It doesn't cause a problem, it's more of an aesthetic thing really that will either mildly bother you or not.

Value

As to the price, £85 isn't cheap, but it's not outrageous either when compared with similarly specced frame bags. The 3.5L Alpkit Possum is lighter and slightly cheaper at £72.99, but its weatherproofing isn't on a par with the Brooks.

Going up the price scale and the Miss Grape Internode comes in at a tenner more at £95. Again, it's not as weatherproof as the Scape, but it does come in three different sizes to suit more frames.

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At the top – cost-wise, at least – is the Ortlieb Frame-Pack Toptube. It's slightly more capacious at 4L and features IP67 waterproofing. That aces the Scape, though it's only really a boon if you're planning on submerging your bike. On the downside, you only get one pocket for storing stuff, so you can't subdivide your valuables, and there's no port for threading a cable or bladder hose through externally. And there's the small matter of the £105 price tag.

Conclusion

Overall, the Scape is an excellent option for the money. If you're on the lookout for a top-quality frame bag with good carrying capacity that doesn't take up much frame space (and your frame is capable of accommodating it), then it's a great piece of gear.

Verdict

If it fits your bike, this is a top quality waterproof frame bag that's perfect for bikepacking