Thanks for tuning in today we're going to be reviewing the Topeak Gravel Gear Bag Essential
Repair Kit. Storage space comes at a premium which is why most people stuff their tire repair
kits into their jersey pockets or crowded saddle bags. That means you're often rummaging through
the gear when you actually need it and have a flat or need to repair something on your bike.
The Topeak Gravel Gear bag is a nice compact all-in-one solution that puts all your tire
repair kits and multi-tool into a single premium case. As you can see packaging-wise really simple
you have Topeak's characteristic yellow and white color scheme. Everything about
the kit is written right on the cardboard backing and it's actually just velcroed on
go ahead and take it out of the velcro and off the cardboard and go over the specs. So retail
price on this is $139.95 so a premium price for a premium product. It has a 0.6 liter capacity so
it's not as large as some other gravel specific bags but it provides a nice all-in-one solution
and with this you get an essential tire repair kit with it. So you get their Air Booster head,
you get their Power X Levers and you also get a multi-tool which is a really nice Tubi
11. You get the velcro straps here as well to attach it to your frame it's a waterproof zipper
so you can ride with this in all weather whether your road cycle is touring or gravel cyclist.
Then you have this nice internal organizer as you can see with labeled spots so if you
forget where something goes you just look at the illustration.
In terms of what comes with it you can see you get that Air booster,
the Power X Levers which is great. For actual installing chains you have the Tubi 11 multi-tool,
the velcro strap for your bike and also some little repair kits for your tubeless tires.
What's not included with this you can see is the empty spots you don't have a tube and you
don't get the air canisters you'll have to get those separately. It's a little weird that they
don't include the CO2 canisters although it does make sense why they wouldn't include a
tube as everyone runs a different tire. It does have an instruction manual here in this little
mesh pocket on the side which is great for any additional items so this gives you a little
information on how to use the little inflator head and then some of the other items in here
and also more instructions for the individual item so here you have the Tubi 11 instruction.
The inflator information for the different canisters Topeak offers and then finally the
little instruction manual for the Power Lever. It's pretty cool it's not just a tire lever
it's actually a multi-piece design that can work together as a clamp so you can see you
actually attach them and they work as a plier. Now let's look at the weight of the gravel bag
with all the included contents and the velcro strap. So you need both velcro straps that
comes in at 362 grams a little bit heavy but that includes tire levers inflator and the multi-tool.
Now let's look at the fit and finish of the gravel gear bag. As with a lot of Topeak products
the build quality is very nice. You can see this black finish and this nice texture fabric texture
on both sides as well. You have two velcro strap locations for your top two and then the
seat post would go here so this will wrap around. Nice rubber covers here to prevent
any scratching very simple design it's not super heavy at only 0.6 liters it's not a very large bag
it has everything you need. I'll tuck away even on a road bike as a lot of Topeak products the build
quality is really high and that's reflected in the price which is also a premium price.
You can see this waterproof zipper so it actually has multi layers in here and it's watertight so if
you're riding in the rain you don't have to worry about the inside of this bag getting drenched when
you open the bag. That's probably the best part about this you have everything nice and labeled
so you have the yellow color that really pops and then indicators where everything goes. You
get one multi-use pocket here which includes some darts for a tubeless tire repair you can also put
other items in here as it's open. Then you have the indicated locations for the Power X lever
which is a great multi tire lever set. The Tubi 11 multi-tool is folded and very compact. Two spots
for co2 canisters which they don't include and then one spot for a tire which you can add in here
and then you can see very nice and compact you could potentially fit another one in here
but it would get a little bit bulky. You also have the co2 inflator head which also works on Schrader
and the Presta valve so a great option for a gravel cycling, touring or even a road cyclist
who's tired of stuff in their pockets. It zips up really easily and you can see the velcro straps
are simple design there's wrap around and they have this nice silicone backing so they won't
scratch anything. Now let's take a look at the air booster head. This works with any CO2
threaded canister and you can see it actually has two sides here one side says engage and the
other side says store. So if you have a partially used one you can actually loop it back on here
for storage and then you can pull the little cover and this actually has a little needle
inside that'll penetrate it and open up the CO2 canister when you're ready to use it.
So you pick the appropriate side it works with both straighter and then press the valve
attach it and then push down to engage so very simple and you can see the little rubber here
so when you're using it you have a little bit of leverage as you have the canister as well.
Now let's take a closer look at the tire levers these are their Power X levers and they do more
than simply installing tires. You can see they have the standard tire levers on the bottom
they're much larger than your standard ones because they have multiple functions. So
they actually function for removing chains and installing them so we'll show you that first.
They actually fit flush together when they're being stored you can see the nice grooves here
then you can simply pull them apart and then work in two different ways. So you can use this to
install so you can see here when i put this right on the inside so you want to line it up so that
the middle hole and the black ones beneath it when you close it you can see it'll actually
compress it together. So if you have a master link you can actually pull this close and tighten
it down so that's one operation. The other operation is to actually take them off so
instead of putting that here you want to put it on the left hole so you move it to the back
and now you see as i compress it together i'll actually pull them apart so if you want to take
the chain off you can do that. It also has a bunch of little compartments in here so you have your
standard char your chain hook so you can put that on there so when you're removing
a chain it doesn't go flying off that'll hold it in place. You also have storage area for a
master link so if you have extra ones you can put it in here and it won't affect the size
so definitely a nice design and much larger than your normal tire lever because of the
additional functionality. Then again you can see you just look at the illustration
and slide it into place. Now take a closer look at the Tubi 11 which is the multi-tool that's
attached with this. It is a tubeless tire repair specific one usually very compact fits in your
palm of your hand feels premium with the metal construction and Topeak logo. Now if we go to the
front side you can see you have two rows of tools this includes your standard Torx and hex bits
and on the back side you have this little cover which doubles as a tire lever. So you can see you
can use this as a tire lever as well and then it hides two little repair tools inside it. So they
have little plastic tabs to hold into place a little threaded head so you put that on here.
This is your dart tool so if you want to repair a tire you can put that in here and
then push it all the way in and you get nice leverage again because of this body
so you can grab it and rotate it nice threaded design too you almost don't notice it's there
and then you also get the little cleaning tool so if you want to pull the debris out you can also
do that with this other attachment. So you can see it's simply a flat head like a little knife
so you can get in there and clean things and again that's threaded so it goes right here
put it back in its little sheath. Now you also get two rows of tools so you saw the different
hex bits here and then when you pull this up again multiple sizes with the single Torx, it's a T25
which should do a lot of basic functionality on a bike. This is not a full repair kit
but something that works really well for little adjustments so if you have a little if you have
a stem or seat post that's moving on you great way to adjust it and tubeless tire repair all in one.
Here we have the Topeak bag installed on my Specialized Tarmac. It is designed to
work with road bikes touring bikes gravel bikes even suspension bikes
with these extra long straps you can see even with a frame pump it actually still works.
That's actually one of my complaints too you can see the rear one is too long for my application
so it ends up sort of flapping in the wind it would have been nice if they had a little cut out
here where you could tuck it underneath otherwise it just doesn't look as good and again it makes a
little bit of noise. Otherwise nice weatherproof bag and especially if you're doing a long century
or even around town it's a nice convenient way to throw everything in there and then ride. When
you need it simply pop it off the velcro and then unzip it to access the contents.
Now let's go over the pros and cons for the Topeak Gravel Bag. What i like about it is that premium
quality like a lot of Topeak products. It feels really well built and has a lot of clever details
it also includes all the repair items you need with the bag.
So it has the tire lever the multi-tool the inflator and even the darts for tubeless repair.
It also has a very nice wet and labeled interior compartment with the yellow outlines for where
each item goes so again looks really cool and easy to keep it organized. Some of the cons
for the bag is the fact that it's so expensive and you are paying for those additional pieces
so if you already own those tire levers you'd be buying them again. Also they don't include
the co2 cartridge it's a little bit strange we understand why these spare tires aren't included
but it would have been nice to see the cartridge at least. Also it's only available in the black
color unlike Evoc or other bags which have more graphics and color options Topeak only offers it
in this scheme. Taking everything into account we'd give the Gear Gravel Bag an 8.8 out of 10.
It's a premium top tube gear bag. Thanks for watching this review don't forget to like and
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