Thanks for tuning in today we're going to be reviewing the KOM Cycling saddle tool roll.
Saddle tool rolls are a streamlined way to carry gear and tools on the bike.
They replace traditional rigid saddle bags with a much smaller and sleeker
folding design. What we have here today is the new KOM Cycling saddle tool roll and it's part of
their new etop dial lineup of accessories and they use an atop dial rather than traditional
velcro straps. In terms of the packaging is very simple you have the actual saddle roll
placed directly on top of the cardboard backing as the comps liking logo and their white red
and black color scheme instructions are directly printed on the back. You can see it's actually
just strapped on directly so we can simply take that off and then we'll go over these specs.
So retail price on this is 39.99 however it is on Amazon currently for half that price.
It is a streamlined storage solution so being a a nylon construction it's flexible so the less
gear you have the smaller it is and the more gear you have the bulkier it is. So you can really tune
it to what you actually need it has a single ATOP dial. The difference between ATOP and BOA
you can see it tightens the one direction and then loosen in the other that's the only difference. You
don't pull up. It's a water resistant coating so a pvc coating on the exterior that'll keep
your gear safe even in wet or colder climates. It has an elastic outer strap to hold the form so
you can see with the ATOP dial loose you have this velcro elastic strap on the exterior and on the
inside you actually have three pocket design which gives you a lot of capacity to carry tubes gear
tubeless repair kits or anything else you need. Now take a look at the weight of the tool roll putting
it on the scale it comes in at 106 grams. They're quite light thanks to the nylon construction.
Now let's go over the fit and finish of the KOM Cycling saddle roll.
What's nice about a saddle roll it's a lot more compact than traditional saddle bag and offers you
the flexibility to really fold things together and keep everything in place. You can see in terms of
design very simple black finish and you have this nice diamond pattern on the out part outside
portion it has almost rubberized texture. It's likely just mostly polyester fabric composition
you have a velcro strap that goes around the outer portion to compress everything together.
You can see you just pull that up tighten it and then you have the ATOP dial with the dial closure
that wraps around the main body. Now this is where the saddle bag would go so your saddle rails would
go here and it would hang like this and you can see plenty of space here so depending on what kind
of bike you have it should work. It can also be mounted in other locations with a simple design
so you could even mount this on your frame if you needed it.
What's really unique about this though is the fact that it has the ATOP dial it's very similar to a
BOA dial but the difference here is that it's a rotating one direction to tighten and you can
see it pulls the cables inside and winds it up and then to do a release you don't pull up you rotate
so and then it's in a full release mode. You can see a lot of slack
these are nice thin wires that shouldn't scratch your saddle rails either i'll go ahead and open
this up. It has a plastic hook here and it sort of locks into place you just pull it
so once that's open then you pull the velcro open that up and you can see this is why it's
called saddle roll because it rolls up. So the top flap goes out open and then
inside you have three pockets it's an all black design which is one downside and there are no
additional hooks or anything on the inside so just three pockets insides are empty. You can
put whatever gear you need so if you have a tire you can put that in the largest one in the middle
and then accessories like the KOM Cycling tire lever and one a micro tool and anything else you
might need then you simply fold it up in place. First you pull the flap and then fold it over
pull the strap over to hold it and then put this on your bike
so unlike a saddle bag which you can access on the bike you actually have to take this off to use it
but the advantage here it's more compact and you don't have the bulk or rigid structure so it can
actually flex to whatever you need and you can see you can put all your gear you need in here.
It is still on the small side so you can't carry too many tubes or larger tools it
have to be within this couple inch size otherwise it will stick out
but definitely a sleek design and with the ATOP dial it makes it easy to put on or take
off the bike really quickly as you just lock into place and then do a quick adjustment.
Here you can see the saddle roll installed on our bike you can see it's a much smaller compact form
factor than a traditional saddle bag which has a rigid structure. Everything is nice and folded flat
the ATOP dial is easily accessible on the side and you can see you can pull it loose to easily take
it off if needed and then lock it up when you're ready. The big downside to any saddle roll design
is you do have to take it off to access any object in there so you can see to take it off pull it
take off the hook slide it off and then it's accessible now.
Then you access what you need fold it up again pull the strap around
and then you want to simply to reinstall you want to align this little flap section along
the saddle rail so you push this through and then pull the hook onto the corresponding side
and that's it. Here's a side shot of it as well you can see it's nice and compact
it stays in place fairly well but it will jiggle around because it only has one
contact point so you just have to simply tighten this up enough where it won't wiggle too much.
Now let's compare the KOM Cycling tool roll with other storage solutions on the market.
One of the most direct comparisons here is the traditional saddlebag it's the EVOC BOA saddlebag
and you can see it's a lot bulkier it has a rigid structure. It's designed for trail riding so it is
larger with the extendable capacity but you can see the nice thing about a tool roll is that it
folds flat when there's nothing in there and it can grow as you need more items so it looks a
lot sleeker on the bike versus the traditional saddlebag. Tthe big downside to any saddle roll
the fact that you have to open it up and unroll it to access the tools or components while a normal
saddlebag has a little zippered pocket or like this just a little hooked pocket that you can open
without removing it from the bike. KOM Cycling also has other ATOP dial accessories like the
frame strap you can see very similar design same cross hatching material and similar ATOP dial.
So full turn in one direction other direction will loosen the difference here is the wire
system on the frame strap is a soft nylon so it doesn't scratch your frame while this is
a traditional harder wire and it's designed to carry more weight than the little frame strap is.
Otherwise very similar design elements they're designed to mount anywhere you can put on your
saddle roll or you can even put on your top tube with a little flexible mounting system.
One other nice comparison is the Topeak Burrito pack it's actually the same
price as the KOM Cycling at forty dollars and very similar. You can see you have a soft sat
fabric construction but they use a velcro on the Topeak versus the ATOP dial on the KOM Cycling.
So you can see we've been using the burrito pack for a while
and the velcro just starts to show its age it gets dirt and dust. The main differences between
the design aside from the velcro the fact they use two elastic straps on the side versus the
KOM Cycling which uses the one strap. I like the dual strap a little bit better once you open it up
you can see the topic one looks a bit fancier it has a different
more organic looking texture to it. Also it has this embroidery in the yellow that really makes it look
more premium even though it's the same price it's also slightly larger as you can see side by side.
The other nice thing about the Topeak is that it has velcro to hold the tool rolled uh cap
on and it also has a brighter yellow accent color on the inside versus the all black of the KOM.
That's one really nice thing about the Topeak is that you can actually see on the inside
being a bright yellow you can spot whatever's in there more readily than you can with the all
black design of the KOM. So little small things potentially could get lost here the other thing
is this one has little hoops in here built in on one of the pockets and that lets you put a money
as you can see here you can slide in smaller items that might get lost otherwise so I think the Topeak
is a little bit better but the Atop dial of the KOM Cycling saddle roll is a nice plus.
Now let's go over the pros and cons for the KOM Cycling saddle roll. What we like about it is the
fact that it has a foldable design so unlike a rigid saddle bag it can actually compress
or expand depending on what you need to carry. The ATOP dial also makes it very easy to install
so you don't have to mess with velcro straps and has an attractive water resistant finish with that
diamond plated design. Some of the cons for the saddle rolls the fact that they're no color
options only available in black and the fact that the inner pockets don't have any hooks or loops
like an equivalent Topeak Burrito Pack would. It's also difficult to see inside the all black
pockets would have been nice to see a yellow or red accent color on the inside to kind of
contrast the all black look. Taking everything into account we give the saddle roll an 8.5 out of 10.
It's a nice compact storage solution thanks for watching this review don't forget to like and
subscribe. You can see more content from us on our website at thesweetcyclists.com as well as follow
us on Instagram at @TheSweetCyclists. This is The Sweet Cyclist reminding you to enjoy the ride!