Tajue17

I already have this bag and the matching rack it slides on but wondering if I should move that to my cruiser bike and get something else for my touring bike,,, I'm a beginner and right now I'm on short 15 to 30 mile tours where I go somewhere and set up a small camp and just chill for awhile so I'm pretty local..

I've noticed with the topeak it kind of bounces up and down on the rack,,, seems secure but it does have some up/down play and makes a knocking sound when I go over some bumps I'me sure a bungee over it would take care of that but i'm also curious about the zippers and function of the bag is it quality stuff worth keeping..

before I start planning longer rides I want to make sure I have decent gear that I won't have to replace later because its falling apart..

THX T

alan s 

Been using one for years for commuting. Very durable and convenient. Have the compatible rack on four bikes. Not sure how it would hold up for touring, but I have traditional panniers and bikepacking bags for that. Several layers of black friction tape on the deck will eliminate any noise, and still allow the bag to slide on and off as designed. Home Depot sells the tape and it’s made by 3M. Looks like fabric electrical tape.

Rob_E

I also use the bag/rack combo for commuting. And for that purpose, I love it. But I've had a bag or two suffer damage: ripped seams and popped zippers. I use the bags almost daily, so having them wear out after a year or two isn't a big deal, but it does leave me not wanting to trust them to a touring load, where a failure could leave me struggling to find a creative way to keep my gear intact. Also the bags a heavy. When commuting, they're not prohibitively heavy, and the convenience "outweighs" any weight concerns. But when I'm touring, I'm trying to minimize weight, and starting out with a heavy bag doesn't help.

I do have an MTX Super Tourist rack on my touring/commuting bike and a MTX beam rack on my folding bike. Makes it easy to throw that bag on whatever bike I'm taking. The Super Tourist rack stays on when I tour, even though the MTX bag does not come with me. I sometimes worry that the MTX track on the top of the platform will wear into whatever I strap up there, but it hasn't happened yet. And since I spend a lot more time commuting than touring, I'm very happy with the set-up.

So, for me, I love the Topeak MTX stuff, but I wouldn't use their bag for touring.

kingston 

+1

veganbikes

I might do some shorter tours with the bag and certainly would rock it commuting. If I were to do longer touring I might modify the pannier portion to hook onto the rack better but then again I probably would go with actual panniers at the point.

DanBell

I have a friend who used a Topeak rack and bag combo for all of his touring for years without issue. Nothing too hard core, but we did probably two or three 400-1000km tours each year for three or for years with him using one of the Topeak bags with the unzippable flip down panniers. No problems at all. This was all in Japan though, so we were never far from civilization for any necessary repairs, or a comfortable train ride home if necessary.