Pedal Industries RaceDay Cycling Bag Review

By Stan Purdum

Hot!

• The product is a bag of zippered compartments that enables organization of your stuff and helps you remember what to pack
• Made of lightweight material with sturdy metal zippers
• Waterproof 300D fabric on all panels except the mesh shoe and helmet panels
• The larger RaceDay Bags can also be BikeEvent Bags
• Will even hold your helmet
• Each pocket is bright yellow inside, to make it easy to see items in them
• Bag available in two sizes and three formats

Not!

• I found no negatives to report

Price:  The Classic $79.99

            The XL $99.99

            The Pro $119.99

Available here: https://pedalindustries.com/pages/all-raceday-bags

How obtained: Sample from Pedal Industries

RBR Advertiser: No

Years ago, as a Boy Scout, I was taught that a backpack should be a “bag of bags,” which is to say that rather than dumping all my clothes, food and gear randomly inside the pack, it’s a lot easier to retrieve items as needed when they are organized into smaller bags with like items — such as socks or first-aid products for example — kept together. It’s a lesson that has served me well over the years. Whether the larger bag was a backpack, a duffle, a carry-on or a suitcase, inside I used smaller bags to organize what I needed for whatever kind of trip I was on.

The RaceDay Bag from Pedal Industries has taken this useful organizing tip to the next level by creating a bag with a series of zippered compartments that not only function as the inner bags, but can also be labeled as to their contents. And each pocket is accessible from the outside without having to move the other “bags” out of the way.

Pedal Industries caters to cyclists, but especially to cyclists who race. The company’s founder, Todd Brown, who is himself a bicycle racer, created the RaceDay Bag after entering races and discovering he’d forgotten some item he needed. He says that at races, he’s had to borrow everything from shoes to water bottles from other riders. So finally, he developed the RaceDay Bag he could preload according to the contents listed on each compartment. In effect, the pocket lists became his race checklist.

The pockets come labeled with suggestions for what to put in each one, but the label areas leave plenty of room for you to write in your own categories using a Sharpie.

The bag is available in two sizes and three formats. The smallest bag, the “Classic,” is intended to organize and hold what’s needed to participate in a one-day race. It measures 16.5″ x 10″11″ and comes with six pockets: four accessed from the top of the bag and one each from the two ends of the bag — and those two are large enough to hold, respectively, your bike shoes and your helmet. Your jersey, shorts, jacket, skinsuit, gels, chamois creams, etc. can be distributed over the four upper pockets. The bag has web straps for carrying it.

The XL bag is 20″ x 13″ x 13.5″ and has room to handle enough clothes and gear for multi-day races or other multi-day bike events. Like the classic, it has six pockets, but they are larger and hold more stuff. It comes with padded shoulder straps and can be worn backpack fashion.

The PRO is the same size as the XL, but it has eight pockets, making it even better for multi-day bike events. Six of the pockets are the same as the in the XL. There is also one pocket on the bottom that is large enough to hold a triathlete’s wetsuit. That compartment is also good for wet or dirty gear, and the PRO comes with a large plastic bag in which to place those items before inserting them into the bottom pocket. The eighth pocket is on the inside of the shoe panel and will hold three water bottles. Like the XL, the PRO comes with padded shoulder straps and can be worn backpack fashion, and when on your back, the water bottles pocket is on the bottom, so that if a bottle leaks, its contents will drip out the bottom, not down through your gear.

All three sizes are available in a multitude of colors displaying various graphics or none at all if that is your choice. Pedal Industries will also make custom bags with colors and logos to match those of your club or organization. To illustrate the point, the Pedal Industries made my bag, which is a PRO version, with the colors and logo of RoadBikeRider. (That design scheme is now available, should you want it. RBR receives no income from purchase of the bags with the RBR logo.)

It happened that my bag was delivered to my door the day before I was to depart on a family trip, and while none of the RaceDay Bags are designed as general luggage, I decided to use mine for the family venture. I needed only casual clothes and the compartments worked great to sort those according to type. My shaving/toiletries kit fit nicely in the pocket made for the helmet, with room to spare.

Though I’ve been a serious cyclist for years, I don’t race, but I do attend multi-day and week-long bike happenings, and the next one is scheduled for this June. Typically, I take enough bike shorts to have a clean pair for each day, so as not to have to do laundry at the event, and several pairs of shorts easily fit into one of the upper compartments. The rest of my ride accouterments fit into other roomy pockets. For the June event, we camp out each night, and this bag will help kept my stuff from being scattered all over my tent.

This photo shows how much stuff I was able to put in the bag.

Although the fabric used for the bag is waterproof, the bag itself, with zippers on the pockets and mesh panels on the ends, should, at best, be considered only water resistant. I verified this by filling the bag with towels and putting it in the shower briefly, and the towels became damp. I don’t consider this a negative, since roll-top closures would be needed to make the bag waterproof, and they would interfere with the easy access to the compartments. And the manufacturer never claims the bag is waterproof.

You’ve probably guessed by now: I think this bag is a great idea — and one that Pedal Industries has executed well.

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Stan Purdum has ridden several long-distance bike trips, including an across-America ride recounted in his book Roll Around Heaven All Day, and a trek on U.S. 62, from Niagara Falls, New York, to El Paso, Texas, the subject of his book Playing in Traffic. Stan, a freelance writer and editor, lives in Ohio. See more at www.StanPurdum.com.