Mark/25 April 2021/Posted inBiking Gear, Reviews

The Best Small Bike Seat Bag

Let’s get something out of the way. Liv is a bike brand under the Giant umbrella, dedicated to biking accessories for women. As they say, “At Liv, we put women first in everything we do, every frame we build, every component we spec, and every piece of gear we design. We want your cycling experience to be perfect from the very first ride.”

And just to clarify, I’m a bloke. But I looked at a fair few seat bags for my new bike and the Liv Vecta offered the best design and the perfect size for my needs. Did the soft lilac packaging or the purple Liv tag stop me? Hell no!

Choosing a Seat Bag

Buying a bike seat bag online is risky as there are so many shapes and sizes, and when you just see a clear-cut image of a seat bag on a white background you have no idea of its true size. Then in others that show photos of the seat bag on the bike, the bikes and seats themselves can vary in size, making it all the more confusing.

Why’s it important to get the right size? Well, I have a Top Peak seat bag that I bought many years ago. I think it’s a ‘medium’ but it has so much space inside that I need to stuff other stuff in there to stop it all shaking around on the trail. On top of that, now that I’ve got into single track/trail riding, one key aspect is being able to lower the seat for riding over the bumps and berms, and if you have a seat bag, a reflector, a rear light, and maybe even a detachable rear mud guard on your seat stem then you find yourself quickly running out of vertical space.

The Liv Vecta Seat Bag
Note rear light position is unchanged in each photo.

The Topeak Seat Bag
Note rear light position is unchanged in each photo.

So the hunt was on for a small seat bag with a focus on taking up less vertical space. I had a quick look around online and found that Torpedo7, EVO Cycles, and Pushbikes all had a good selection.

Topeak seem to dominate the shelves – and are a good brand – but there are also options out there by brands like Blackburn, Apidura, Evoc, Cactus, BBB, Pro, and more.

When it came to deciding on a seat bag, my criteria was:

Low vertical space/height, not coming too far down the seat stem
Simple, easy to clean
Subtle design
Under $50

The design was particularly important as my Top Peak bag has quite a textured design and holds the dust, meaning that it’s always looking pretty dirty.

While I was in the Pushbikes store, I came across the (women’s) Liv Vecta Seat Bag ‘Small’ which ticked all the boxes.

Liv Vecta Seat Bag

Its soft lilac packaging and the fact that it was in the “girl’s” accessories section didn’t put me off! Its design is perfect; streamlined, easy clean, high quality feel, and with just a subtle, small purple tag with a white Liv logo.

As they say:

Liv Vecta Seat Bag allows you to carry the essentials in a water resistant ProTextura™ fabric construction pack with water-resistant nylon zip closure. Easy to install and secure using anti slip hook and loop Velcro® straps, Vecta includes an internal pocket, reflective strip for improved low light visibility and a clip for hanging your rear light.

Material: ProTextura™
Closure: Water-resistant nylon zip
Fixing: Anti-slip hook-and-loop Velcro® straps
Features: Reﬂective strip, taillight hanger, internal pocket
Small: 0.6L – 120mm x 70mm x 75mm (Note: This is my one, as shown in the photos)
Medium: 1L – 130mm x 95mm x 90mm

My Topeak Seat Bag has been great and after years of use shows little sign of wear, but its textured design does mean it attracts and holds dirt well, and visually it isn’t particularly streamlined. It’s also too large for my needs so items rattle around inside.

In comparison, the Liv Vecta’s design is cleaner and more streamlined, The purple tag is subtle. Worth noting that it fits to the bike via Velcro straps instead of the Topeak’s full plastic-clip mount, so the Velcro may attract some dust and means the bag takes longer to remove, but it does help to make the bag lighter.

How much can it hold?

While small (0.6L – 120mm x 70mm x 75mm for my ‘Small’ model, and a ‘Medium’ is also available), the Liv Vecta holds just exactly the right amount of gear for my needs, all in a snug package that doesn’t move around as I bike. I use it to hold:

A puncture repair kit (link for size reference)
My Torpedo7 multitool (link for size reference)
A small first aid kit
My bike lock key, kept in a pocket in the lid to save it falling out

Liv Vecta Seat Bag allows you to carry the essentials in a water resistant ProTextura™ fabric construction pack with water-resistant nylon zip closure. Easy to install and secure using anti slip hook and loop Velcro® straps, Vecta includes an internal pocket, reflective strip for improved low light visibility and a clip for hanging your rear light.

A photo showing how much the Liv Vecta seat bag holds

Any extra features?

The Vecta has a waterproof zip on three sides of the lid, making the lid easy to fold flat – and it folds down to make it nice and easy to see in and reach your gear while its attached to your bike. The Velcro straps are naturally adjustable to suit different seat frames and, like most seat bags, there’s a loop on the rear that you can fit a bike light through.

For the bike light, I put my 2F’ER USB light through it without the mount but the light comes out easily so I’m worried about losing it on bumps (the light’s fault, not the bag’s). I ended up leaving it attached to its rubber mount and looping that through the bag’s loop instead. This seems much more secure and actually allows you to angle the light, plus having the light on the back of the bag gives you more seat stem space to allow you to lower the seat more or fit further accessories.

Liv Vecta Seat Bag with Rear Light Mount

Verdict, Where to Buy, and Alternatives

I’m really happy with my seat bag. In terms of price, you won’t find much for less (I paid $38.99 at Pushbikes in Rangiora), and I’m not quite sure why there’s such a big leap to some of the more ‘elite’ seat bags out there, at $100+.

The Liv Vecta has a very premium feel in terms of materials and build quality. It’s light weight while feeling durable and water resistant (the body is water resistant and zip is waterproof), and there’s exactly the right amount of space for what I need. The mesh pocket in the lid is a nice, and usable, touch and the Velcro straps feel strong and solid.

As mentioned, Pushbikes have this product in store (and online) at time of writing, but I couldn’t find much else in New Zealand other than an old (sold out) listing on the Torpedo7 website, and the official Liv website itself.

If you’re looking for a close alternative, the Pro Saddle Bag was very similar in size and price but with a racier look, and the BBB Saddle Bag Speedpack (T7 and Pushbikes) is in the same ballpark, although to me is of a lower quality.

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