The Greatest Mountain Bike Hip Packs of 2024

Lately, we’ve bought numerous choices for carrying the requirements with us on our rides, however mountain bike hip packs are simply among the finest. Instruments, tubes, water, meals, first help, layers, keys, and even our telephones all must go someplace, and hip packs are a wonderful solution to maintain all of it conveniently strapped round your waist.

Hip packs have steadily developed over time right into a specialised accent for the trendy mountain biker. Whether or not you favor to hold water in hydration bladders or bottles, carry the naked minimal of instruments and equipment, or convey every thing however the kitchen sink, there are hip packs designed to swimsuit each want and choice.

With so many mountain bike hip packs to select from, discovering the appropriate one generally is a problem. To assist navigate the alternatives, we rounded up a various number of 12 fashions for side-by-side testing and comparability. We loaded every pack up with water, instruments, and equipment to evaluate their cargo capability, hydration capabilities, and organizational layouts earlier than hitting the paths to investigate their consolation, stability, and efficiency whereas using.

From the top-rated Evoc Hip Pack Professional 3 to the budget-friendly Patagonia Filth Roamer Waist Pack, our prime mountain bike hip pack suggestions are listed under. You may examine our comparability chart to see all of the fashions we examined and their specs at a look. Our shopping for recommendation has useful data should you need assistance deciding, and our worth & worth part will help you establish how a lot to spend.

Editor’s Word: We up to date this information on October 7, 2024, with the addition of the U.S.-made Excessive Above Enterprise hip pack and our new Value & Worth part.

The Greatest Mountain Bike Hip Packs of 2024

Better of the Relaxation

Greatest Mountain Bike Hip Packs Comparability Chart

How We Examined Mountain Bike Hip Packs

We love using bikes, and one of many key parts of pleasing bike rides is being ready. Carrying the required instruments to deal with mid-ride mechanicals, sufficient water throughout the experience, sufficient meals to maintain the power up, and the suitable layers for the climate are all vital issues that may make or break the expertise. Hip packs are one in every of our favourite methods to hold all of the requirements, and we’ve been using in them for years. Whereas there are actually extra methods than ever to stash gear on our bikes, in cargo bibs or backpacks, we nonetheless gravitate in the direction of hip packs for his or her consolation, stability, comfort, and ease of use.

Our Knowledgeable Testers

For this purchaser’s information, evaluate authors Paul Clauss and Jeremy Benson personally examined the 12 hip pack fashions chosen for this evaluate. Clauss is an avid path rider, mountain bike coach, and path builder who lives in northern Vermont. He’s been using for a few years and has an ideal appreciation for any gear that helps to boost his efficiency and elevate his expertise out on the paths. A mechanical engineer by commerce, Clauss is especially essential of design and building and he brings a really measured and logical strategy to product testing. Along with testing hip packs, Paul has examined and reviewed quite a few different classes of drugs, together with dropper posts, bike pumps, flat pedals, and the greatest flat pedal sneakers.

Benson has been professionally testing and reviewing mountain bikes, elements, attire, and equipment for over eight years. He’s an obsessive rider who spends an inordinate period of time on mountain and gravel bikes, coaching for races, using for enjoyable, and testing new gear. He’s been using in mountain bike hip packs for the previous decade and has seen them evolve from their humble beginnings into their extra superior varieties. In that point, he’s personally owned 5 completely different hip packs and examined over 20 completely different fashions. As a full-time product tester, he’s consistently scrutinizing every bit of drugs he touches to tease out the efficiency variations that separate the perfect from the remainder, whether or not that’s hip packs, the newest mountain bike sneakers, or a hitch bike rack.

Our Testing Course of

After researching the perfect mountain bike hip packs in the marketplace, we rounded up 12 fashions to check and examine. Every mannequin was weighed earlier than inspecting their design, supplies, and building to evaluate the construct high quality and storage structure. Then, we loaded them up with the entire instruments, gear, water, and meals we might match and hit the paths. Whereas using, we thought of the match, consolation, stability, and air flow of every mannequin when used with a full load on trails starting from easy and flowy to tough and rowdy. On rides starting from fast laps on the native path facilities to all-day suffer-fests, we used and abused every mannequin identical to anybody else would. We bought conversant in every mannequin’s storage capabilities and hydration programs by filling and cleansing bladders and ingesting from hoses and bottles. After months of testing, we in contrast notes and zeroed in on our favorites and those who carried out nicely in particular methods in comparison with the remainder.

Shopping for Recommendation: Select the Greatest Mountain Bike Hip Pack

Hip packs, also called fanny packs, lumbar packs, and waist baggage, have had a resurgence in recognition within the mountain bike world prior to now decade or so. What was beforehand a reasonably non-technical accent used primarily by vacationers on trip has developed into a comparatively specialised piece of apparatus that many riders depend on to hold the required instruments, snacks, water, and different gear out on the path. Hip packs symbolize a cheerful center floor between the minimalist on-bike and physique strategy and a bigger backpack, the latter of which may be sweaty, uncomfortable, and bounce round when using technical terrain.

Carrying the hydration, meals, and instruments you could hold using within the occasion of a mechanical and to satisfy your primary human wants in a manner that doesn’t intervene with biking motion is a traditional problem for mountain bikers and one which hip packs goal to beat. In comparison with most backpacks, hip packs are usually extra secure and comparatively small, in order that they cowl much less of your again and are worn across the waist so weight is decrease in your physique. They’ll additionally often carry extra water and equipment than most individuals are capable of strap to their bikes or stuff into pockets.

With so many hip packs in the marketplace nowadays with completely different types, designs, cargo capacities, and hydration programs, discovering the appropriate one to fit your wants generally is a problem. For such a seemingly easy product, there’s lots to contemplate when deciding what’s best for you. We’ll break down the vital elements to contemplate when making a purchase order choice.

Cargo Capability

Mountain bike hip packs range fairly dramatically of their cargo-carrying capability, with fashions made to swimsuit nearly each want or choice. The capability is usually measured in liters with tremendous slim, minimalist, race-belt type packs beginning round 1 liter and high-volume fashions topping out round 7 liters plus a 1.5 or 2-liter water bladder. We examined 11 completely different hip packs starting from 1.6 to 6-liter capability, with the Bontrager Speedy Pack because the smallest and the USWE Zulo 6L as the most important. The precise capability for you is dependent upon what you propose to hold.

If you happen to simply want the necessities – your keys, telephone, pockets, a tube, multi-tool, water (in a bottle or bladder), and a few CO2 – any of those packs will work with area to spare, with the Bontrager Speedy Pack being essentially the most streamlined possibility at 1.64-liter capability, adopted carefully by the two.2 Excessive Above Enterprise. If you happen to’d like somewhat extra flexibility to hold further meals and a few bulkier gadgets like a mini-pump or a super-packable layer, fashions within the 3 to 4-liter vary, just like the PNW Rover, Evoc Hip Pack Professional 3, Osprey Seral 4, Thule Rail 4, or Patagonia Filth Roamer are good decisions. And, should you’re a heavy packer, going for a protracted experience, or heading out in variable climate, packs with 5+ liters of capability might be simpler to stuff with packable jackets and bigger meals gadgets. The most important packs we examined are the Deuter Pulse Professional 5, the USWE Zulo 6, and the Dakine Scorching Laps 5L.

It’s additionally vital to notice that a lot of the packs we examined function extremely usable compression straps, permitting the pack to be compressed when not absolutely loaded or to maintain the load compact to forestall the contents from bouncing round inside. Compression straps can successfully lower the amount of a bigger pack, making it usable for rides if you want numerous gear and people if you don’t.

And, regardless of our excessive reward of hip packs, typically even the most important fashions aren’t fairly sufficiently big for some individuals’s wants. Maybe you’re going out for an enormous journey into the alpine, the place you could convey a jacket, layers, and additional meals, or possibly an in a single day bikepacking journey? Conditions like these might require considerably extra cargo capability, and backpacks may merely be a greater possibility. Bike-specific backpacks are available in an enormous vary of sizes and designs to satisfy varied wants, way more even than hip packs. Deuter, for instance, makes 12 completely different fashions of motorcycle backpacks ranging in cargo capability from 8 as much as 30 liters.

Storage Structure

Practically as vital because the capability, the storage structure of a pack dictates the group of your gear and the way you need to use the area. Some packs, just like the Osprey Seral 4, take a quite simple strategy, with a single giant compartment with a zippered pocket inside. Others, just like the Deuter Pulse Professional 5 and Thule Rail 4, are extremely compartmentalized, with separate zippered and open group pockets and bigger open sections. The cut up design of the Bontrager Speedy Pack and its small capability makes it tough to hold bigger gadgets, whereas the extra open designs of packs just like the Patagonia Filth Roamer or PNW Rover make it simpler to stuff bulkier gadgets into them. 

If you wish to separate your meals out of your instruments or hold your telephone display screen secure from scratches whereas using, a extra compartmentalized design may give you the results you want. A number of the extra organization-heavy designs depend on the consumer storing instruments and different gadgets of their separate pockets to get essentially the most out of the area. It could take some getting used to, however when you’ve bought your system, every thing can have its place and be fast and simple to search out if you want it. In order for you a bag to toss the necessities into, zip up, and overlook it, an easier structure like that of the Excessive Above Enterprise might swimsuit you simply wonderful. Like capability, a hip pack’s structure is dependent upon what you could carry and the way you favor to prepare it.

Pockets on the hip wings of the waist belt are one other issue to contemplate. Many packs have them, and they are often very helpful to maintain smaller gadgets that you simply need to entry on the fly with out having to spin the bag round to the entrance. These range in dimension, however most are good for smaller gadgets like keys, gels, chapstick, or bank card/ID, whereas a number of are able to becoming a smartphone. Moreover, a number of fashions, just like the Dakine Scorching Laps 5L, Deuter Pulse Professional 5, Excessive Above Enterprise, and the Patagonia Filth Roamer, have exterior strap programs that can be utilized to connect bulkier gadgets like knee pads or a jacket to the skin of the pack for further carrying capability.

Hydration Fashion

Most mountain bike hip packs present the flexibility to hold further water in further water bottles, water bladders, and typically each. Like the general capability of the pack, the appropriate water capability is dependent upon how a lot you drink and the period of your experience. Having extra water than you want is at all times higher than not having sufficient. Of the packs we examined, 4 of them carry water in bottles solely, 7 of them carry water in water bladders, and a couple of of the fashions with bladders can carry an extra bottle or two. What works greatest for you is usually a matter of private choice.

Bottles

The bottle-carry fashions can often deal with one or two 20 to 25-oz bottles, which can be greater than sufficient to your wants, particularly should you’ve already bought a bottle on the bike. Each the Fox Commonplace Hip Pack and the Patagonia Filth Roamer can carry two bottles in sleeves on both facet of the storage compartment. The PNW Rover comes with one removable bottle holder, and you may add a second if you could. The Bontrager Speedy Pack can solely carry one bottle, but it surely does so very securely within the middle of the pack between the storage pockets.

In comparison with hydration bladders, bottles are tremendous simple to fill and clear. For these packs that may carry two bottles, you’ll be able to virtually get the identical quantity of water capability as a pack with a 1.5-liter bladder. For many of those packs, it’s additionally fairly simple to succeed in again and pull the bottles out of the pack for ingesting, however not fairly as simple as reaching a hose as much as your mouth whereas using. And, whereas most bottle holders are fairly safe, there may be the possibility they might bounce out over tremendous tough terrain or in a crash.

Bladder

Of the bladder-equipped packs we examined, six of them, the USWE Zulo 6, each Evoc fashions, the Deuter Pulse Professional 5, Thule Rail 4, and the Osprey Seral 4, include a 1.5-liter bladder (50.7 oz). The Dakine Scorching Laps 5L comes with a 2-liter (70 oz) bladder. Moreover, the Evoc Hip Pack Professional 3 can carry two bottles, and the Deuter Pulse Professional 5 can carry one. Any of those packs ought to carry sufficient water for 2-3 hour lengthy rides, or longer, relying on the temperature and your private charge of consumption.

There are some benefits to bladder-style hip packs. Ingesting from them is tremendous simple and handy. The hoses and nozzles are positioned on the waist belt, and reaching down and grabbing it to drink is fast and simple and might often be finished whereas using on easy sections of path. The bladders are additionally delicate and squishy, in order that they conform to the form of your again and different contents in your pack and might distribute water weight extra evenly, which may improve pack stability. Bladders are carried internally, so they need to by no means fall out on a tough path, and also you’re unlikely to set it down and overlook it on the facet of the path like you can with a bottle. The disadvantages of bladders are that they’re barely extra cumbersome to fill and clear, and micro organism and mildew can develop within the bladder/hose/nozzle if uncared for. Some individuals simply don’t like ingesting from a hose, and the hoses can often pop free whereas using, which may be annoying and doubtlessly harmful.

Waist Belts

Whereas all of them carry out the duty of securing a hip pack across the waist, there are two principal types of waist belts on the packs we examined. Most packs include a extra primary, adjustable, static webbing belt with a plastic clasp to safe it. The PNW Rover, Patagonia Filth Roamer, Fox Commonplace, Bontrager Speedy Pack, Evo Hip Pack Professional 3, and Dakine Scorching Laps 5L, all use this type of waist belt.

Different packs, usually the costlier ones, have huge, overlapping velcro belts that even have a webbing strap and clasp excessive to safe it. This type of waist belt is discovered on packs just like the Deuter Pulse Professional 5, Evoc Hip Pack Professional 3, Thule Rail 4, and USWE Zulo 6. Realistically, each types work fairly nicely and provides little to complain about, however the softer, wider, overlapping fashions are typically somewhat extra comfy and secure, and so they distribute the load of a loaded pack somewhat extra evenly across the waist. The flip facet is that they’re a bit extra finicky to placed on, as you must line up the overlapping straps earlier than securing the buckle on prime. Regardless, it isn’t that a lot of a problem, and the added consolation and stability are usually well worth the few further seconds it takes to place them on.

Each types of belts are adjustable to suit a spread of waist sizes and hold them comfortable when in use. The designs range considerably, after all, however most are moderately simple to regulate and keep safe whereas using. The really useful waist dimension ranges additionally range among the many fashions we examined, with some fashions just like the Thule Rail 4 and USWE Zulo 6 becoming waists between 31 and 40 inches in comparison with the PNW Rover, which is claimed to work for waists between 24 and 48 inches.

Air flow

In comparison with hydration backpacks, hip packs cowl solely a small portion of your again and are inherently higher for staying cool and managing sweat. That stated, they nonetheless make contact together with your decrease again, which may turn out to be fairly sizzling and sweaty. Nearly each hip pack makes some try at managing moisture the place the pack makes contact together with your physique by way of using breathable mesh supplies or extra superior air flow programs, however they aren’t created equal.

The 2 Evoc packs, the Hip Pack Professional 3 and the Hip Pack 3L have by far the perfect air flow among the many fashions we examined with their Air Circulation Contact System. The again panels function raised, channeled foam blocks which might be lined in an open mesh materials that permits for superior breathability. Moreover, the Venti-Flap system permits the consumer to shortly loosen the higher a part of the pack and create a spot between your again throughout climbs or different occasions you need to improve airflow, then shortly cinch it again down for the descents. The remainder of the fashions we examined do a commendable job of selling breathability and are usually a lot cooler and fewer sweaty than carrying a full-on backpack.

Value & Worth

Like the rest in mountain biking, hip packs range fairly extensively by way of worth. The extra primary designs and those who carry bottles are inclined to price a bit much less. If you add a water bladder or fancier waist belt, the value goes up a bit. Nonetheless, they’re among the many extra inexpensive equipment you should purchase, and most will final for a few years.

Funds

On the decrease finish of the value vary, hip packs are typically a bit less complicated in design, and most carry water bottles, in the event that they carry water in any respect. The Patagonia Filth Roamer ($69) is a superb instance. Not solely is it inexpensive, but it surely’s well-made and it occurs to be our favourite bottle-carry pack, too. Different fashions on the low finish of our worth vary are the Bontrager Speedy Pack ($68), the Fox Commonplace Hip Pack ($70), and the PNW Rover ($79), all of which have comparatively small capacities and carry water in easy bottle sleeves.

Mid-Tier

Across the $100 mark, hip packs start to incorporate water bladders. Whereas these packs are nonetheless fairly easy, bladders and hoses alone can price within the neighborhood of $25-ish, so having them included drives the value up a bit from the price range fashions. Fashions just like the Dakine Scorching Laps 5 ($100) and the Osprey Seral 4 ($90) are each easy and efficient designs that embody water bladders for simple hydration on the fly. They lack the bells and whistles of the premium fashions, however they’re completely practical and nice choices for loads of riders.

Premium

With solely a slight bounce in worth, we get into premium hip pack territory above round $125. On this worth vary, most hip packs include bladders and plenty of boast bigger carrying capability or options that goal to boost consolation. Evoc’s Hip Pack Professional 3 ($150) neatly organizes as much as 3 liters of drugs, carries 1.5 liters of water in a bladder, and has an excellent comfy overlapping stretch waistband and the perfect again air flow system we’ve seen.

On the less complicated facet, Excessive Above’s Enterprise Pack ($135) is made within the USA from tremendous sturdy supplies. Home manufacturing merely prices greater than doing it abroad, and including cool options like Fidlock buckles — and the choice so as to add a Fidlock bottle — contributes to the upper worth. Fortunately, a lifetime assure additionally ensures that you simply’ll get your cash’s price after which some.

Regularly Requested Questions