Tailfin System Review: Finally, an Elegant, Versatile, and Bomber Bikepacking Kit | GearJunkie

Most bikepacking bags and frame packs are great if you like things that burst apart at the seams, zippers that fail under heavy loads, Velcro that works for a few weeks, and that rhythmic sway and bounce that keeps your balance on edge.

I’ve struck out repeatedly to find bike bags that can stand up to the actual rigors of rough gravel riding and bikepacking in the mountains of Colorado. So I had exactly zero qualms about peeling away the thready remains of my existing bags to test Tailfin’s sharp-looking bikepacking ecosystem.

Have you heard of Tailfin? I hadn’t either. They’re a small Bristol, U.K.-based company making a big splash in the bikepacking bag scene. The kit I tested consists of three elements: Cargo Cages (cages that attach to standard bottle cage bosses and fork cargo bosses) and Cage Packs (straps to these cages), Frame Bags, and its innovative AeroPack/Pannier combo.

Over relentless miles of gravel grinding, rocky trail bashing, commuting, and bikepacking, I’ve come away impressed with the kit in just about every regard — durability, versatility, ride quality, and aesthetics. After 4 months of intensive use in the mountains of Colorado, from commuting to bikepacking, I’ve come away both impressed and hungry for more from Tailfin.

In short: Tailfin’s impressive amalgamation of bags and racks are exceptionally high quality, durable, and well suited to any bicycle adventure. The Cargo Cages are low profile and can hold just about anything, from matching Cage Packs to ski boots. The Frame bags are gentle on bikes, don’t roll or bounce, and stand up to burly trails. The innovative AeroPack is a refreshing take on the rear rack and seat pack that elegantly integrates Tailfin’s panniers and other accessories.

I stumbled across Tailfin’s bikepacking lineup for the first time earlier this spring when I was looking for cargo cages for bike-to-ski adventures. They worked great for attaching my ski touring boots. Now, I have three Large Cargo Cages ($60) permanently affixed to my Canyon Grizl gravel bike — one on each fork leg and one underneath the downtube.

A ton of companies make cargo cages these days. What drew me to Tailfin’s system was the integration between cage and pack and the low-profile leave-them-attached cages.

Gravel bikes like my Grizl are peppered with bolts to attach accessories like these cages. Each fork leg has the standard 3-bolt weight-bearing pattern that matches the cages, but they can also attach to standard 2-bolt water bottle mounts.

These 79g cages are slick and, as far as bikepacking goes, aerodynamic enough. I didn’t feel the need to take them off between adventures into the backcountry. And besides, they came in handy carrying my coffee thermos during typical commutes and a bottle of wine during grocery runs. Unique, removable platforms at the bottom of each cage helped support the weight of heavier items and also enhanced their ability to fit longer items when removed.

The cages integrate with the specifically designed waterproof Cargo Cage Packs ($40-60) using stealthy black TPU ski straps. Also available in 1.7L and 5L capacities, the 3L bags on each leg went a long way when packed strategically.

I packed rolled-up clothing into each one to keep things light up front. They didn’t look overly secure at first glance. But the ski straps laced through lash tabs on the pack that locked them to the cage. They were impressively bounce-free on bumpy dirt roads, too.

Tailfin hooked me with the cargo cages and packs, so I tried another product. At first touch, I chuckled at how overengineered the Top Tube Bag ($70-80) felt for a simple frame-mounted snack pouch. And I mean that in a good way. Tailfin’s engineers weren’t messing around.

Tailfin makes this snack pouch with a rubbery-feeling 210D Hypalon and Ripstop Nylon fabric. It was springy and resilient. When it folded, it sprung back into its normal shape.

Other than the solid construction, What really set it apart from competitors was the universal V-Mounts. Tailfin uses them on its frame packs and top tube bags. These clever concave feet are rubberized, so they didn’t slip and cut vibrations at the same time. They integrate with the included TPU Voile-style straps to fit literally any frame’s top tube.

The bag latched on so well that it didn’t need any other strap to attach to the stem or head tube to keep it from rolling around the top tube. It also has a direct mount option for frames with accessory mounts on the top tube, like my Grizl, that proved equally solid.

With 0.8L, 1.1L, and 1.5L versions available, these top tube bags are quite versatile. The 1.1L I tested felt plentiful for on-deck snacks and electronics like my iPhone. It has a small cord port at the front to connect a battery to a handlebar light.

The bag is tall enough that my knees bounced off it when I was climbing out of the saddle. This is inevitable with any medium to large volume top tube pack. It’s possible to flip the bag around and mount it in front of the seat post to keep it clear of your knees, though. That’s the route I took on my mountain bike.

I couldn’t help myself; I had to try the Tailfin Half Frame Bag ($140-175). I’ve had more frame bags meet an early demise than any other bike accessory I’ve ever used. Tailfin clearly did its homework. It claims its frame packs are the most “technically advanced frame bags in the world.”

Honestly, I didn’t doubt this claim. This bag felt like it’s from the future compared to a lot of the hand-sewn, arts-and-crafts-style frame bags I’ve Velcroed into my front triangle.

The waterproof 210D Hypalon and Ripstop Nylon 3D welded exterior looked and felt impressively durable, and the tech goes much deeper than that. The pack sports an “internal carbon space frame,” which prevented the bag from bulging into my leg zone. It also massively increased the bag’s longevity.

Tailfin worked out the space frame to maximize the pack’s width without interfering with the rider’s knees through extensive R&D and real-world testing. I couldn’t complain after many days in the saddle. Taiflin dialed in everything about the frame bag — no sag, wag, or bulge.

Tailfin splits the bag into two compartments, each with its own full-length side zipper. On the rider’s left is a very shallow compartment with mini-organizing pockets perfect for a multitool, map, wallet, and other slim necessities. The rider’s right zips open to the more cavernous cavity, which has roughly 3 L of space inside the version I tested.

Like the top tube bag, the frame bag attaches to any frame using three rubberized V-mounts and TPU ski straps. A fourth mount and strap secured it to the down tube near the head tube. Tailfin nailed it in the fit department. The frame bag fit snugly into the front triangle of my Canyon Grizl like it was custom-made.

Of all the pieces of the Tailfin bike bag ecosystem, the Half Frame Bag is possibly the most elegant and versatile. It comes in nine different sizes (2.3L-6.5L) to fit the vast majority of hardtail frames out there.

I’ve ordered the wrong size of more than one frame pack by accident due to clumsy measuring. Tailfin solved the fitting dilemma with an online fitting tool that spits out the largest volume pack that will fit your frame.

Like the top tube bag, I never felt the need to remove the Frame Pack between storage-dependent rides because it stayed out of the way and didn’t vibrate or bounce. Even better, the Top Tube Bag and Frame Pack’s V-mounts are the same width, meaning they can share ski straps for simplicity. The best part? There’s not a scrap of Velcro anywhere. This bag will survive the long haul.

Seat bags can add a ton of volume to a bikepacking kit, but they usually have so many issues. Nothing in bikepacking is more annoying to me than bag wag. That’s what Tailfin addressed with the launch of its AeroPack, which mashes a rear rack, seat bag, and optional panniers together.

The Tailfin AeroPack is a little bit complicated to explain, so hang with me. The rack is the foundation of the whole system. It consists of a fork that straddles the rear wheel and attaches to your bike’s rear axle or rear triangle of the frame.

The top of the fork connects at a hinge to a horizontal fork whose other end attaches to the bike’s seat post. That horizontal fork integrates into an 18L waterproof roll-top pack, and this completes the AeroPack. The AeroPack is available as the 772g AeroPack Carbon ($525) or the 1,081g Alloy AeroPack ($385), each rated to carry a 59.5-pound payload.

The legs of the AeroPack can attach to the bike in a few different ways — axle mounting, direct mount, or frame mounting, which are all detailed in Tailfin’s extensive informational library and how-to guides. I went the axle mounting route, replacing my Grizl’s axle with Tailfin’s Universal Thru Axle.

Once installed, the Aluminum AeroPack was rock-solid and adventure-ready. Given its aero design, the drag was minimal, but it really stood out once I hit the dirt. The rack simply refused to rattle and bounce, loaded or unloaded. Bag wag was nonexistent. It felt like an extension of the frame, which is about the highest praise I can give a rack.

The bag provided versatile, watertight storage, and I defaulted on adding my camping kit. My NEMO Hornet tent poles fit perfectly lengthwise, and there was plenty of space for the rest of the tent, a beefy sleeping pad, and even my Western Mountaineering Alpinlite sleeping bag.

Once closed, it worked well. But I couldn’t help but imagine that more of a tube-style bag, with an opening facing the rear of the rack, would be easier to operate. It would sacrifice some of the generous overstuffing capacity, but it might be easier to open, close, and fit the area between the rear of the saddle and the tire.

The AeroPack has two wraparound straps to keep things tidy and compressed, which were also useful for attaching odds and ends. I found them handy for attaching wet clothes that needed to dry, an extra set of shoes, a fishing rod case, and even my skis.

I ended up leaving the Aeropack installed on my bike most of the time. It’s easy to remove if I get the urge — it took under 20 seconds thanks to two silver fast-release pull tabs at the dropouts and a simple locking ladder strap at the seat post.

After a few months of use, one of the quick-release pull tabs and locking bolts on the fast-release dropouts disappeared, rendering one side of the rack loose. I was able to zip-tie it temporarily in the field, and I reached out to Tailfin to see if it was a common occurrence.

The brand said that a small batch of dropouts suffered a thread locker issue but that the problem was remedied. It’s been sending fresh dropouts to all the affected riders. Within days, I had a replacement set installed to keep the adventures rolling.

The AeroPack comes with or without mounts for Tailfin’s family of rear pannier bags, which come in Ultra Durable, Super Light, or Mini Pannier varieties. The bags attach directly to the legs of the Aerorack using a clever, low-profile hook and latch system.

The Ultra Durable Pannier Bags I tested are both cavernous (22L each) and waterproof. I had more packing space than I knew what to do with. Clothes, jackets, a camp chair, a big pot, a laptop, whatever. For weekend trips, I didn’t think too hard about the packing strategy. The panniers just ate all of it.

What impressed me the most about the pannier setup, aside from the clean aesthetic and dependable waterproofing, was its composure in really rough terrain. Bouncy bags can be jarring and downright dangerous when roads and trails get steep and rocky, but the system was rock solid. The bags and I rode in harmony.

Riders needing some storage but not quite as much as a pannier bag will be excited to find three accessory mounts on each AeroPack rack leg. These cyclists can mount cargo cages and packs, water bottle cages, and other accessories instead of the big pannier bags.

The rack and panniers require some assembly. It would have been tricky without instructions, and Tailfin was way ahead of me on this one. A handsome, accented man held my hand through the assembly process via crisp instructional videos on its website.

Gear doesn’t often wow me and a bike bag has never impressed me, but I was a big fan of this kit. It was difficult to sniff out flaws in Tailfin’s bikepacking ecosystem besides the dropout bolt debacle. The Tailfin team and its athletes have put in the R&D and real-world testing to produce fully baked Cargo Cage, AeroPack, and frame bag systems.

Are they a little bit heavier and more expensive than many top competitors? Yes. And I think it’s justified.

Tailfin didn’t need to tell me the overarching design ethos because it was so apparent as I started putting its gear to the test. These bags were durable, high-performance, thoroughly weatherproof, and easy on the eyes. They felt futuristic compared to many of the bike bags and bikepacking systems on the market today.

The modularity of the system means that this kit will fit the needs of a wide variety of cyclists. Bikepackers will appreciate the vast pack volume and bounce-free ride. Road tourers will appreciate the aerodynamics and easy removal. Commuters will be thrilled with the obsessive waterproofing and quick-release pannier bags.

Tailfin is onto something, and I’m eager to see what they come up with next.

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