A Closer Look at the Carradice Adventure Range

With nigh-on hundred years of bicycle bag business in our back pockets, we’ve delivered plenty of new products to riders around the world, but this is one we’ve been pretty eager to shout about. 

Introducing the Carradice Adventure range - a complete set of bike bags to help you carry, store and utilise your gear on every type of riding escape. From bikepacking to touring and simpler everyday adventures, each bag has been designed for durability, versatility and ease of use.

Ready for a deeper dive into the Carradice Adventure Range? Here we go.

Carradice Adventure Range Overview

The Adventure Range consists of six bags: two handlebar bags (the Bowland and the Harrop), three saddlebags (the Odyssey, Colorado, and Cambrian), and the Pennine Top Tube bag. 

In designing the Adventure Range, our goal was to create a cohesive set of bike bags that excel on journeys off the beaten track—whether on or off-road. All bags in the Adventure Range are made from rugged, weatherproof Cordura and, like all Carradice products, are manufactured in England.

Features such as tape-sealed liners, reinforced wear patches and reflective logos are included to match your riding ambition pedal stroke for pedal stroke, whether that’s a rapid country crossing or a slower, but no less thrilling, single-day adventure. 

It was a no-brainer to ensure the saddlebags in the range also worked with our existing Bagman Racks to deliver a rigid, stable setup; something off-road users of Carradice bags have come to appreciate over the years.

Like all Carradice bags, the Adventure Range is part of our lifetime warranty program.

Carradice Adventure Range Specification

That’s an overview of the Adventure Range as a whole. Next, we’ll continue with a rundown of each product.

Bowland Bar Bag

A brand new bag and available in a 12L or 20L format Bowland Bar Bag is a mid to large-size bar bag. Made from waterproof 1000 denier military-grade Cordura with a taped sealed orange lining, the Bowland Bar Bag offers excellent durability and weather protection - two key attributes even the fairest or fair weather riders will always appreciate.

Features like a reinforced wear patch, a velcro-secured flap, and a roll-top closure for adjustable capacity enhance its resilience.

Unlike the Harrop Bar bag, whilst we’ll see in a moment, the Bowland attaches securely to handlebars via the Bagman Bar Rack.

Harrop Bar Bag

The Harrop Bar Bag is another new addition to our range of handlebar bags. At 4.5L this is a barrel, or cigar-shaped ‘bar bag that’s perhaps more suited to bikes with drop bars - think road or gravel bikes - but would still do the business on something with flat handlebars.

Team it with the Colorado Saddlebag and the Pennine Top Tube bag for a thoroughly modern bikepacking setup or use it as a bag to keep your rear pockets free of tools and snacks during a one-day ride.

The bag firmly attaches to your handlebars using three adjustable straps - two on the handlebars and one additional support bungee to loop around the headtube of your bike. The Harrop also includes a zippered pocket on the front storm flap.

Odyssey Saddlebag

The first Saddlebag in the Carradice Adventure Range and the largest, is the newly redesigned Odyssey. 

At 27L this is a cavernous bag that suits the demands of the multi-day tour. If you’re heading off on that long-planned trip and worried that a regular bikepacking saddlebag or saddlepack won’t do the trick - consider the Odyssey.

Storage-wise, there’s one main section to the bag (finished in orange so it’s easy to fish out that Jam sandwich you buried in there hours ago), two side pockets plus a useful bungee cord on the hood to store bits that the bag just can’t swallow.

Available in both standard or QR fitting to accompany the appropriate Bagman Rack.

Colorado Saddlebag

For modern-day bikepackers - those looking to shed weight, pack light and travel far - the Colorado Saddlebag will be a familiar format. Mounted to the saddle rails and the seatpost it makes great use of the space over the rear wheel of the bike, without the need for a ficknity pannier rack.

Like all bags in the Adventure Range, the Colorado is constructed from 1000 denier Cordura, a highly durable material that’ll shake off scrapes along brick walls, nicks from errant branches and perhaps most crucially a consistent downpour. A tape-sealed lining ensures that even during the heaviest rain your warm jacket or sleeping bag for that night’s camp won’t get wet.

One issue that gets levelled at large saddlebags, like the Colorado, which are mounted perpendicular to the saddle is that when fully loaded they have a tendency to sway when riders climb out of the saddle. This issue is solved with the Bagman Saddlebag Support Rack which attaches under the saddle, giving the bag stability on all terrains or when it’s packed full.

Cambrian Lightweight Saddlebag

Last but not least, the third saddlebag (and the smallest in volume) in the Carradice Adventure Range is the Cambrian Lightweight.

Measuring just 30cm wide when packed the Cambrian’s narrow form and light weight (0.7 kg / 1.5 lbs) makes it appealing to a certain subset of riders. It’s ideal for day trips or light touring, providing plenty of room for carrying the essentials plus a bit more without significantly increasing the weight of your overall setup. 

Like the Odyssey Saddlebag, the Cambrian Lightweight features a roll-top closure with an additional two-buckle hood to cinch the bag closed. This kind of design works when riding loads can vary from bike trip to trip or even hour to hour. We’ve been there, dizzy with hunger after a long day’s riding, armfuls of food in hand after raiding the first shop you clapped eyes on. But now you’ve brought all the food there’s no way of squeezing it into a narrow slim frame bag or titchy saddlebag you’ve chosen to fit.

The adjustable volume of the Cambrian is the feather in this bag’s cap and talking of food this bag also features a bungee cord on the hood - the ideal place to sneak in a pack of Hobnobs or 500g packet of linguine that just wouldn’t fit inside, no matter how you tried.

Mount the Cambrian securely to your bike using a Bagman Rack. Choose from the standard fitment or for easy mounting (and removal) choose the QR version.

Pennine Top Tube Bag

Last but not least, the Pennine Top Tube bag has been given a new lease of life and is now part of the Carradice Adventure Range. 

The kind of bag you’d store snacks, your phone or maybe even a power bank - anything you need quick access to whilst on a ride - the Pennine is made from the same Cordura as the rest of the Adventure Range making it very hard wearing. 

A symbol of our commitment to sustainable manufacturing, the Pennine includes up-cycled inner tubes to grip and protect the frame. Speaking of which this top tube bag can be mounted at the front, looping it around the fork steerer and spacers or at the rear of the bike by connecting it to the seatpost.

That marks the end of our round-up of the Carradice Adventure Range. Looking for more? Our complete guide to bikepacking is just a click away, as is our handy explainer on our best-selling products - how to choose a Carradice saddlebag.