Hydration Pack vs. Hip Pack vs. Frame Strap [Video]

What MTB essentials should I bring with me on my rides, and how should I carry them?

No matter the ride, having your own riding essentials is, well, essential. Unless you would rather be the guy who always borrows tools and tubes from his riding buddies. Or you are crazy like Jeff and don’t mind walking countless miles back to your car at the trailhead. Here at WC, we do all kinds of riding from all day XC epics to endless bike park laps, so we have accumulated a lot of experience on the topic of riding essentials between all of Zack’s flat tires and my broken chains. Based on these experiences, and what we think could go wrong, we decide what specific items we should bring with us and how we should carry them, also depending on the ride and where it's at. We will get into some of our favorite essentials later, but in the meantime here are some of the basic types of essentials that we like to carry, no matter the ride (unless you are Jeff): 

• Spare tube and tubeless tire plugs 
• CO2 or frame pump
• Tire levers
• Multi tool w/chain breaker
• Spare master link
• Spare derailleur cable and/or a spare AXS battery
• Zip ties

Now that we have covered the basic essentials we like to bring with us on our adventures, you might be asking what are the best ways to carry them? Well I am glad you asked, you came to the right place. We typically like to use either a KETL bib with pockets to stash stuff in, a backcountry research frame strap, a hip pack, or a full on hydration pack, depending on how long we plan on riding, where the ride is, and sometimes even the conditions. Crazy, I know. But if you aren’t picky about your setup, what are you picky about? With so many options these days, you can easily spend endless hours researching the various tools, packs and spares you might need, so we are here to break it all down in one place and help you out. Let's get into it.

Jared rocking the Osprey Savu Hip Pack out on the trail.

When we run a frame strap vs. hip pack vs. full hydration pack

You might be asking yourself, why should I have all of these different ways of carrying my riding essentials when just one of these will do? Well, that is an excellent question, and I am here to tell you exactly why. If you are going out for a relatively shorter ride, say around 1-2 hours, you won’t need all of the same essentials that you would on an all day epic. With that in mind, you may not want to carry a large pack on shorter rides since they can be bothersome to have on your back, plus you don’t need much stuff on shorter rides and having nothing on your back or hips while riding is extremely liberating. Even if I am going out for a longer ride and I know I can refill my water bottle along the way, and if I can fit a couple of snacks in my bib pockets and have my tools and spares on my bike, I will often leave my pack at home just so I can be free from the constraints of wearing a pack. Now you might be saying “I don’t mind wearing a pack all the time, and in fact I have been doing it for years so I am used to it” and if that is the case, more power to you, and we wish we could be more like you. However, for those of us who are picky and stubborn and don’t want to carry our hydration pack on every ride, we like to mix it up and have different ways to carry our stuff, depending on the kind of ride we are going on and where it is. 

Long story short - shorter rides or rides where we know where we are going and know what to expect - a frame strap with a water bottle is the go to, or we stuff some essentials in our KETL bib. Medium duration rides, and/or rides where you may be doing a bit of adventuring and exploring, some sort of pack (whether its a full hydration pack or a hip pack) is recommended so you can bring some extra water and snacks with you to keep the fun going longer. Hip packs can be advantageous in this situation because you can bring everything you need along with you, but you can still be free from having something over your shoulders and on your back. Long rides where you are going to be out in the saddle for 3+ hours and you aren’t able to refill your water, or if it is ridiculously hot, a full on hydration pack is usually a good call so you can bring plenty of water, food, spares, and maybe some camera equipment so you can get some sick footy for your friends.

The Preferred Essentials of Your Favorite Worldwide Cyclery Goofballs

While we do agree on many things here at WC, the method of storing your riding essentials varies from rider to rider and will remain highly debated for all of eternity. For instance, I would never even consider departing on even the most casual of rides without basics like a tube or master link, and on the other hand we have Jeff who would probably ride naked if it was socially and legally acceptable, so you might catch him out on some epic ride with as little as a water bottle and a brussels sprout. Which leads me to my point: choosing your own riding essentials and how (if) you carry them is up to each rider's personal preference and what they need, and what their bike might need.

"...on the other hand we have Jeff who would probably ride naked if it was socially and legally acceptable, so you might catch him out on some epic ride with as little as a water bottle and a brussels sprout."

If you have a bike with integrated storage in the frame or elsewhere, well done. Those of us without it envy you, know that. Having your emergency necessities always on your bike makes it so you can easily grab your bike and some h2o and go. With that in mind, most people will need the same basic essentials or at least versions of them depending on your bike, how you carry those and when you bring them is entirely up to you. Here is my typical setup, as well as our main man Liam’s:

Jared’s Setup

• Tubolito lightweight tube
• Pedro’s Tire Levers
• Wolf Tooth Encase Tools
• Lezyne Mini Frame Pump
• SRAM Eagle spare master link

Liam’s Setup

• Wolf Tooth B-Rad System
• Tubolito lightweight tube
• OneUp EDC
• C02 w/Chuck
• SRAM Eagle spare master link
• Zip ties

What Are Your Favorite Hip Packs and Hydration Packs?

Osprey Savu

The carabiner clips are a custom modification for when you need to bring your Birkenstocks with you on your ride. 

Hip packs have had a major resurgence in popularity in recent years, and when it comes to mountain biking at least, for good reason. As far as hip packs go, the Osprey Savu is one of the most versatile and spacious packs that we have seen and used. I have been using this pack for a couple of years now and it is still in excellent shape - I use it mainly when heading out on those longer rides that may call for an extra water bottle or snack, but doesn’t exactly demand a full size hydration pack.

The versatility and functionality of the modern MTB hip pack can be mind-boggling.

One of the great things about this pack is that it has the ability to carry 2 full size water bottles where many hip packs can only carry 1, and you can also fold these compartments away and make the pack a little more compact. When heading out on a ride where you aren’t sure when you will be back, it's nice to be able to carry that extra water bottle. In addition to the 2 water bottle holders, there is a main storage compartment which is perfect for some essentials, snacks, your phone, and maybe a GoPro, as well as a smaller compartment adjacent to the main compartment that is handy for a wallet and keys. There are also 2 smaller storage compartments on both sides of your hips that are also great for snacks or things that you might want to be slightly easier to access, and I have found that I can perfectly fit a pair of blurry and sweaty sunglasses in there so they don’t take up a bunch of space in the main compartment. All in all, this is a great quality pack that is extremely versatile and doesn’t break the bank.

EVOC Hip Pack Pro 3L + 1.5L Bladder

 While on the topic of hip packs, the EVOC hip pack is another shop favorite. This one, in particular, has the ability to utilize a bladder system like a traditional hydration pack which is convenient for when you need a higher level of hydration than a single frame mounted water bottle. One thing to be aware of with a setup like this on a hip pack is that once these hydration bladders are filled up, they can sometimes reduce the amount of available storage space inside the pack. However, this pack also has the ability to carry 2 water bottles as well, so you can run whichever option you prefer. In fact, EVOC also offers another version at a reduced price that does not include the bladder in case you have no interest in running the hydration bladder at all.

As far as storage is concerned, this EVOC hip pack has a relatively spacious main storage compartment that also would typically hold the hydration bladder, as well as useful side hip pockets and a smaller front pocket which would be good for small tools and/or your phone, wallet, keys etc. Another nice feature is the water bottle pockets can be stowed away when not in use, similar to the design of the Osprey. This hip pack definitely has some thoughtful design features that make it a solid mountain biking pack. If you are looking for a solid pack from a reputable company that can use either a hydration bladder and/or water bottles, this is a great option.

Osprey Syncro 12 Hydration Pack 

 This pack has seen some s***.

Osprey has been around for nearly half a century, so they know a thing or two about how to make a quality pack, no matter the intended use. If you have ever used an Osprey backpack you probably noticed the impressive attention to detail and quality that only comes with experience. There are several features of the Osprey Syncro that set it apart from other hydration packs for me personally. The Syncro pack has what Osprey calls a LightWire frame with a mesh back panel that shifts weight from your shoulders to your hips, very similar to what you would see on a backpack that you would take on a trek through the Sierras. When you combine that with their “Airspeed Suspension”, you get a pack that has great airflow and also manages to remain stable on your back while sending it down the chunkiest of the chunk, which you can’t say about all hydration packs.

I first tested this pack in Sedona on some classic red rock tech and was extremely impressed by the stability and versatility of the pack, and the 2.5L reservoir held plenty of water. That was over two years ago now, and to this day, this pack has been my favorite hydration pack that I have ever used. Most recently, I rode with this pack out on our Chasing Epic MTB trip in Crested Butte, Colorado and it was the perfect pack for our all day missions. I was able to fit all of my water, a filter, lunch, snacks, hydration mixes, a rain shell, tools, spares, and still had plenty of room for more, all while staying comfortable and not feeling heavy on your back. The included rain cover for the pack came in handy as well since we were lucky enough to experience a mid afternoon rain/hail storm. You could argue all of these useful features come from their years of experience of producing and using backpacks, and that helps create packs that are well thought out and have serious attention to detail for their application. 

Not only is this pack one of my favorites that I have used, I wanted to share my personal experience with Osprey, as I have found that they are an awesome company to deal with as well. It all started one day when I decided it would be a good idea to put some massive tree clippers in my beautiful Syncro pack on a trail maintenance day, and they sliced a hole right through the material and went through multiple compartments. You live and you learn. This is when I found that Osprey has their “All Mighty Guarantee” and they will repair your pack or send you small replacement parts free of charge, all you need to do is ship them your pack if you mess it up like me and they will repair it and send it back to you.  I took them up on their offer and got the pack repaired. They did such a great job on the repair with great attention to detail - every compartment that was punctured was repaired with a solid patch that matched the color and now the pack is good as new.

The aforementioned repair job done by the fine people at Osprey. 

USWE 

Many of us lament the idea of running a full sized hydration pack mainly due to the fact that they can bounce around on your back, and as a result, distract and annoy you while you are just trying to send it. Enter USWE - these packs are designed to eliminate the “dancing monkey” as they call it, and keep the pack stable on your back and not bouncing all over. They use a special clip that you would see more commonly on skydiving parachutes as opposed to a mountain bike hydration pack, which allows a more secure fit as opposed to the traditional clip and strap across the chest. Smaller packs like this one are a great comparison in size and functionality to a hip pack in more ways than one. In the Airborne 3 you can fit a 2L hydration bladder, as well as a few riding essentials, however don’t expect to fit your lunch in there or much else other than your personal items and some small spares or tools, similar to what you could expect with your average hip pack. This is the pack that Liam grabs when he needs a little more hydration than just his frame mounted water bottle.

What's Worldwide's Takeaway?

So, we have gone over our favorite packs, riding essentials, as well as where, when and why we like to use each particular one. What does it all mean? Well, like many things MTB related, it all comes down to personal preference, and what you feel is right for you. We are here to give you the information you need as well as some of our own embarrassing personal experiences in order to assist you in making your decisions, and I hope this article has done just that. I personally prefer to ride with no pack as often as I can because as I mentioned before, riding with no pack is extremely liberating. I usually shove my Tubolito and tire levers in my KETL bib and have my tools on the bike, and that works great for me and 90% of my riding. In summary, if you make sure your essentials are covered so you don’t get stranded and your setup is comfortable and functional, it will give you peace of mind and make your mountain biking adventures that much more enjoyable.

 Author: Jared Erickson

If you are one strange human that would like to read a transcript of the video above, continue reading below!

ladies and gentlemen mountain bikers of the world i am jeff and i'm jared we are here to tell you about the ways you can carry your riding essentials on your mountain bike that's right that's right not just the riding essentials there's a lot of great videos on youtube and articles that kind of talk about all the various things you can take with you on your ride and what's essential we're going to gloss over those but more importantly we're going to talk about the various ways you can carry them with you whether that be in a hip pack hydration pack frame straps wrapped onto your bike edc stuff in your bib stuff in your bib all right so riding essentials quickly and concisely tube co2 tire levers multi-tool maybe a pump instead of a co2 maybe a garmin inReach, a master link that's a very good one do not want to forget the derailleur cable that's another nice one oh i forgot that yeah uh link below in the video description if you want to see a more in-depth article of all the various essentials but again that's a topic that's been extensively covered on youtube and everywhere else and it's not really that complicated you kind of just need to be prepared for the most common things out there like a broken chain flat tire or a random bolt coming loose because you need a multi tool things like that not super complicated now what is more full of decisions you could say is how you carry those essentials myself personally i used to ride with a hydration pack and i would put all my essentials in there and that's kind of what i did for a really long time then i stopped going on like long rides and i mean like two hours plus like most of my rides were kind of more local they were less than a couple hours and i just started putting a water bottle in my frame and going out raw dog no tools no nothing this guy's nuts take it easy jeffrey i like a lot of risk in my life baby he's ready to walk and he enjoys walking yes it's a pain so that's really convenient i look at it it's like if i get a flat tire on a local trail ride it's now a hike with my bike in clipless riding shoes this guy's crazy i don't advise that but that's just kind of what i do because i i enjoy riding with like the least amount of weight and clutter and everything um most people don't do that most people for those local trail rides are doing frame strap or a little like you know maybe little edc thing what do you have for local rides what do you use for me local rides i will throw like a tube and tire lever in my bib and then like i got the tools on the bike and then water in the cage yeah it's pretty simple and if i'm going like you know if my i'm riding a bike that doesn't have the tools on the bike then i'll take the pack and just throw everything in there and then you know water bottle on there if i'm going for like a longer ride where i can't refill my water bottle throw an extra bottle or two in this and then i'm good to go yeah little hip pack action what about big long rides like two hours plus 20 miles plus big mountains back country stuff big long rides back country stuff i'm bringing a full pack and you can throw like more snacks and stuff in there like a little sandwich or yeah you know bar or whatever i guess you could fit a bar in this but yeah long rides you get the pack yeah likewise that's the only time i use a pack now is like we just went out and we're riding mountain bikes in crested butte colorado we did multiple days every day was like 25 miles plus a lot of climbing way out in the middle of nowhere kind of needed like a rain shell uh a lot of water and a water filter which is nicer

and all snacks your essentials yeah snacks or lunch i guess you could call it lunch at that point it was a lot of snacks it was like lunch there was like little sandwiches we were taking with us it was great because we were on the bike for like five hours some days yes hanging out seeing the sights riding yeah and this is perfect for something like that and then you even have room for other things like you want to bring camera or you know gopro whatever throw it in there all your accessories and stuff like that yeah absolutely and packs are not all created equal you can get really simple ones with less storage space in them that are lighter weight and less expensive and you can get really larger fancier ones that have like dedicated pockets for your camera and all your other equipment you can get unique ones from usually that really try and eliminate all of the the dancing monkey as they call it the whole back thing you know which is a huge pain yeah it is a little bit yeah depending on how you're riding and your shape some people are bothered by that you can get uh evoc and some other brands make packs that have spine protection going down the back those get pretty pricey does that osprey want to have that yeah this one basically has like a mesh in between the back and the pack so it has the separation between you know you and the pack so it doesn't get super sweaty i mean still get sweaty but it's nice like anything you get what you pay for so an expensive pack is going to have nice features that you know keep ventilation for you nicer quality zippers probably come with the bladder come with more storage compartments a little thing to hold your helmet on when you're not on the bike and then the less expensive packs less features less features zippers may or may not break on you kind of depends but probably one of the most affordable ways is the hip pack osprey makes a great one sabu osprey 50 to 60 bucks yeah and that holds water essentials you just throw it right around your hips two water bottles and if you got another one on your bike you got plenty of water for a pretty solid ride yeah water would be nice that is an awesome way to carry all of your stuff and have it conveniently like just sitting next to your bike every time so yeah pretty solid otherwise you can strap all that stuff to your frame like you can see now with a frame strap and then you can also get into the edc world right so one up components makes what they call edc everyday carry you can slide all your tools and fancy stuff inside of your steer tube um that's another great way to do it you've got some wolf tooth what does wolf call those things um the name's escaping me it's on the screen in case the wolf tooth so the tools go in these things and it goes in your handlebars so it's actually super convenient really nice and you don't have to mess around with your steer tube which is kind of cool but yeah i've actually been running this for like probably a year now and i really like this system yeah that is cool yeah good way to carry a multi-tool tucked inside of your handlebars super simple chain breaker on one side with a tire plugs and a multi-tool on the other side and then you just run a frame pump and then pretty much dialed yeah that's nice what about the master link is that in there too yeah you can actually fit the master link in these little storage sleeves that go inside the bar yeah very fancy so those are the various ways you can carry your riding essentials with you and the different ways you can do it depending if you're doing a you know one hour local ride or you're doing a six hour big back country ride in the high country of colorado if you want to know how a lot of mountain bikers are doing it we're going to quickly interview a whole handful or more of our staff and ask them how they carry their tools let's see if they're honest with us like i was honest with you and told you i didn't really take anything just raw dogged it that's very honest we'll see ladies and gentlemen we are here at worldwide cyclery hq in california everybody is hard at work and we are going to go interrupt them and see what they like to bring on their mountain bike rides let's go hey zack how you doing today oh great how are you i'm doing excellent so i got a question for you yeah what do you like to bring on your mountain bike rides and how do you like to carry it only thing i bring is my water bottle my food and maybe a tire plug or two yeah and i put it all in my ketl bib which oh i have right here oh look at that nice bib i could use a new one if they're in stock um yeah sponsor me might be able to make that happen thank you very much for for your input you're welcome enjoy your day

what's up tyler how are you doing doing great yourself awesome i'm doing great so what do you like to carry with you on your mountain bike rides and how do you like to carry it a worldwide backcountry strap with the tube co2 and a multi-tool a simple water bottle cage and that's about it this guy's got it figured out everybody well done chance how you doing today i'm doing well what about yourself i'm pretty good i can't complain what do you like to bring with you on your mount bike rides and how do you carry it usually uh usually a backcountry strap um with like a tubalito co2 and like an air chuck dialed these guys are dialed in nice mike how's your afternoon going today jared how you doing doing great good mike what are your favorite riding essentials and how do you like to carry them on your rides so water uh in a water bottle cage right i got my ketl bib which i mostly just carry snacks and i'll put my phone in there um and then i have one of those one up edc tools that goes in the stem if i had to use it to fix something on the trail i wouldn't know how i don't carry tire plugs i don't carry a little pump if i need to pump it up i don't carry a tube so i'm basically f'ed if i get a flat on the trail okay but you can tighten the bolt it comes loose or something yeah or like drop my seat post if i have to perfect okay maybe a little bit of work to do but we're almost there yeah okay awesome perfect thank you

daniel how's it going today uh pretty good just cleaning the shop up you know a little bit and you're doing a great job doing it just like to say um when you go for mountain bike ride what do you like to carry with you and how do you carry it um so you know being the site manager i always bring a mr clean sponge everywhere i go um just you know keep the trails clean keep myself clean keep the shop clean other than that i don't really bring anything else i just ride mr clean okay okay okay i'll take that yeah thank you very much you're welcome have a good one perfect all right jason how are you doing today ah fantastic but i feel like i work at a circus you know you kind of do so jason when you go for mountain bike ride what do you like to bring with you and how do you like to bring it uh i have a specialized bottle cage that you can carry the tool on the bottom of and that's pretty cool um and then i have just a tiny pouch that i put my tire levers in a little bit of sealant and then one of those bacon strip plugs but i use the muck off brand one oh hey sounds like you're pretty dialed yeah and i usually carry that in my my jersey because i have no other space anywhere and i gotta have my bike looking clean clean appreciate it thank you sir of course anytime absolutely jared how you doing today good awesome can i ask you a quick question um when you go for a mountain bike ride what do you like to bring with you and how do you like to carry it um bananas for potassium and just pockets now that might be the smartest answer that i've heard all day thank you very much thank you

what's up liam how's it going hey how how's it going oh man it's going great you know we're just going around the shop asking everybody what they like to carry on their mountain bike rides and how they like to carry it so what's your story well if my name was zack weaver i wouldn't carry anything shots fired but but seriously what do you like to carry on your bike well we just so happen to be looking at my bike right now would you look at that let's just take a little tour shall we so uh i usually put water there that's where water goes and then that's where my second water goes with the fidlock and then this down here is a wolf tooth b rad strap b-rad and that has my turbo lito and co2 and co2 head and tire plugs and then whipping around up here i have a 1up edc

wow with tire plugs and that has my multi-tool and chain links and chain tool wow it sounds like you've kind of got it all figured out huh

he certainly does everybody thank you very much liam

so there you have it those are the various ways you can carry things on your bike let us know down in the comments how you prefer to do it and if you've changed over time i used to always use a hydration pack and now i only use a hydration pack on big long rides so let us know how you do it hey let us know if we should start a comedy channel too because we've been looking into doing that we kind of want to do it we just don't know how to make a pg that's the problem that's the problem all right see you next time later