Lezyne Road Caddy saddle bag review

Lezyne does a whole range of saddle bags as part of its on-bike storage although many of them have a bit of a utilitarian ‘dad bike’ look to them. The Road Caddy has a much sleeker and minimal aesthetic with its 0.4L storage and suitable aesthetic. While it is called the Road Caddy, it crosses over well to compete with the best saddle bags for mountain biking if you are looking for a slimline storage solution. 

Design and aesthetics 

The Road Caddy is a simple design built from a woven nylon material that uses a simple cuboid shape. A water-resistant zipper that runs almost the full circumference of the saddle bag and allows it to be fully opened flat once removed from the bike. On the inside, there is an internal pocket that feels like it’s made from neoprene tucked in the top half of the saddle bag.

The velcro is sewn into the body of the Road Caddy, rather than using a loop, and it's positioned a little off-center which pushes the bag back and means there is no issue with it touching the stanchion of a dropper post which could cause unnecessary wear over time.

Detailing is minimal with a small reflective light loop and a diagonal repetitive Lezyne logo on the velcro strap. There is a little more branding on the inside of the bag too.

Performance 

As the velcro is sewn into the top of the saddle bag, getting a good secure fit from the broad velcro strap is easy. It’s a little fiddly to feed the strap through the loop, but once through it can be tightened up a lot so there are no worries about it breaking loose. The wide velcro strap not only provides a large surface area when tightening to avoid it wiggling loose but wider velcro straps are generally a bit more resilient against dirt ingress too.

As the zip starts next to the seatpost, it isn’t possible to access items inside without loosening the velcro strap in order to get the zip past the strap. You can loosen the strap but as it doesn’t offer much slack, sometimes it was easier just removing the Road Caddy if I was accessing a tool or tube as it could be fiddly to leave or repack while hanging from the saddle rails. We noticed that the zip didn’t always quite close either although it wasn’t such a concern as there was no risk in it bursting open and we generally assume that items in saddle bags will get a bit soggy on a wet ride anyway. 

In terms of size, I was able to fit a lightweight 29er tube, a slim multi-tool and a tire lever comfortably. The little internal pouch can either be used to store some emergency cash or keys but we also managed to squeeze our regular multi-tool in there too. That’s a bonus as separating your tool and tube will hopefully mean when you eventually do pull out your well-traveled inner tube, it hasn’t been eaten away by your other tools. If you're happy strapping the tube to your frame then there would be plenty of additional space for the likes of CO2 canisters and a few additional tools.

Verdict

The Lezyne Road Caddy strikes a great balance in size and subtlety. It isn’t so large that it looks unwieldy or might swing itself loose on descents, yet offers just enough space to store your essentials. It’s a little annoying that you can’t always quickly grab bigger things out of the Road Caddy without removing the whole bag, especially when it’s covered in dirt and you have to try to re-thread the dirty velcro through the loop. The flip-side is that the large velcro surface area does a great job of securely holding the Road Caddy in place. Its low profile and plain design slips under the aesthetical radar and at $21.99 / £22 it’s pretty good value as well.

Tech Specs:  Lezyne Road Caddy saddle bag

• Price: $21.99 / £22.00
• Size: 0.4 liters 
• Colors: Black
• Attachment: Velcro strap 
• Weight: 73g