ILE Seat Bag Review
Saddle bag's, are a bit like Marmite you either love them or hate them! So for the lovers or needer's we got one lined up for you, courtesy of the lads at "Lead out",
"Who" I hear you say!
Check them out here........
http://lead-out.co.uk
Impressive or what!
We have here a "Tardis" of a saddle bag! It looks tiny but Mary Poppins would give her eye teeth for this little beauty.
The name is "ILE Seat Bag" (Inside Line Equipment) on opening it out of the packet, my first thought was, how small it was compared to the bag I use, I'll never get all my gear in that!
It's so Small! compared to my Cycle bag!
The Material the ILE Cycle bag is constructed out of is a durable but lightweight XPAC Sailcloth, which means it is going to be tough, and stand up to all weather's. The bag comes with an adjustable strap attachment with bayonet buckle so it can be secured under the seat, and then tightened.
Sturdy buckle
Has a solid feel to it.
A nifty accessory to the buckle is the quick release button, and the Auto-lock buckle keeps bag secured under the seat.
I found it was very easy to attach to the seat, with a Velcro patch for the flap to fix to, it was large enough to be able to adjust to every angle.
A very big difference in size to my other cycle bag!
The overall look of this is just Amazing, small, compact and has a great feel to it, thats great but will everything that is in my bag fit back in to the ILE, here goes!
Bike Tool pouch
Inner Tube
Cycle Lock
Tyre Leavers (Not shown in photo)
In goes the Bike Tool Pouch
Inner tube, and lock also there along with the Tyre levers!
Now you know why I called it the "Tardis" it just handled the lot! and still had space left for a few Jelly babies!
The ILE Cycle Seat bag stays just where it should, behind the seat pad, even when fully loaded and does not flop about, it also takes up a lot less room than any other cycle seat bag we have tried!
There was a lot of space saved by using this bag compared to any others, [and I've gone through a few, ask the wife!] it didn't feel over stretched and it also has a great flap that comes over the front of the opening, which also has a tag on the end so I could fix the strap through it to hold it even more securely in place.
When parking up your bike, you may feel you don't want to leave the stuff inside the bag, instead of emptying it simply un-clip it and take it with you, easy as that!
Look at the space it has saved!
Now the rear light is much better sited to be seen, and I have also fixed a mudguard just to show how much space the bag has saved!
Conclusion
A Terrific little seat bag, made from strong sail materials, with a first class buckle and strap.
At first sight, you think the bag will be too small, and will not hold much, but you just need to try this one to know that it is more that a bit Special in the way of design and space saving!
A little bit of how the ILE range came about
A bit of background blurb:
ILE (Inside Line Equipment) bags were created while in the saddle of a bicycle - on the way to the local circuit or cross race, or riding home with a bag of groceries. They are designed with strength and simplicity in mind, and the style and elegance found in cycling itself. ILE use the toughest materials, and best machines, to make durable bags of all types. Lifetime warranty on materials and craftsmanship.
The brand is a great innovative one and is pretty much the brainchild of Eric Fisher, who until recent expansion personally made all of the bags in his small workshop in downtown San Fran. He has since expanded to a larger office/factory in San Fran.
The Seat Bag is a great example of the innovative, simple but very cool bags that he produces.
As far as Lead Out goes- they are a relatively new on line shop, but there brief to source products and brands that are a little different, but always very high quality. They pride themselves on having very cool brands (ILE) and also brands that are at the cutting edge of performance such as Spada, MCFK, FRM and more.
One of the most amazing things we have done a review on!
Watch more from here on Youtube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJOlAZEBQ6s
