Words: Liam Friary
Image: Cameron Mackenzie

If you plan to travel with your bike, you want to do it fast and it must be light. Plus you’ll need to reduce the clutter as much as possible. Bikepacking bags are the modern alternative to panniers for multi-day rides.

Since way back, cyclists have ventured further afield and have mainly opted to carry gear has been by panniers: bags that hang on racks, usually have internal reinforcing, and stick out from the sides of the bike. In recent times, the bike luggage systems, aimed at long-distance and off-road use have taken off and now there’s a plethora of choices on the market. However, they are not all equal and Aeroe aims to stand out from the crowd with their systems.

Aeroe BikePack is a bag and mount kit that allows riders to customise the placement of their bags on the bike. One of the flaws with a lot of bikepacking bags is where to attach them to your bike, and it becomes a little harder when you have drop bars. The Aeroe kit uses revolutionary twist-lock mounts to quickly affix the bags. They offer flexibility – and offer several options for fork, frame, seatpost and handlebar mounts. The BikePack bag is available in three sizes; 9L, 11L, 14L and Each bag is made of lightweight double-laminate TPU fabric, and being from NZ, Aeroe have used 600-denier fabric which is waterproof and made to endure the tough conditions our country often throws at us.

I took them on an multi-day adventure through the Timber Trail. This was the first time I’d used them – it was ideal testing ground. I liked the ease of packing my 11L bag, it fits a ton of gear and packs down real snuggly. I even packed it at home the night before and then threw it in the car all packed and ready – saves a ton of time. All I needed to do at the trail head was fix it to the mount and I was good to go. On the trial they secure, the zips are sealed but a little hard to get into when you need to grab something out of them. I used the front Handlebar mount and it survived the relentless bumps on the trail – it was even harder as the bike was fully rigid. There’s a bit of rattle noise, but it wasn’t excessive. And, whilst it’s not an issue for everyone, with the mount and BikePack pod there are on the heavier side. We arrived at the nights digs, I simply turned and unclicked my bag and walked into my room. This is easier than a lot of other bikepacking bags on the market and it was more evident when getting set up to leave, it’s just so quick. There’s been other times when I’ve spent an half hour or more when having a ton of bikepacking gear to strap up, tension and get in order before a journey.

The other notable product is the spider cradle, this holds an Aeroe Dry Bag or any other dry/bikepacking bag, a sleeping bag or a lightweight tent. It can be mounted vertically or horizontally on the handle bars, front forks, rear rack or seat post mount. As, someone who’s tried many options to strap more stuff to the front bikepacking of my bike when taking of for a few days this is a welcome option.