The Finest Mountain Bike Hip Packs of 2025

Today, we’ve received numerous choices for carrying the requirements with us on our rides, however mountain bike hip packs are simply among the best. Instruments, tubes, water, meals, first assist, layers, keys, and even our telephones all must go someplace, and hip packs are a wonderful technique to maintain all of it conveniently strapped round your waist.

Hip packs have steadily advanced through the years right into a specialised accent for the trendy mountain biker. Whether or not you like to hold water in hydration bladders or bottles, carry the naked minimal of instruments and equipment, or carry every part however the kitchen sink, there are hip packs designed to go well with each want and choice.

With so many mountain bike hip packs to select from, discovering the proper one could be a problem. To assist navigate the alternatives, we rounded up a various collection of 13 fashions for side-by-side testing and comparability. We loaded every pack up with water, instruments, and equipment to evaluate their cargo capability, hydration capabilities, and organizational layouts earlier than hitting the paths to investigate their consolation, stability, and efficiency whereas driving.

From the top-rated Evoc Hip Pack Professional 3 to the budget-friendly Patagonia Grime Roamer Waist Pack, our prime mountain bike hip pack suggestions are listed beneath.

Editor’s Notice: We up to date this information for bike season on April 25, 2025, with the addition of the brand new Osprey Raptor 4 and the minimalist Out of doors Analysis Freewheel 2.5L.

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Extra Mountain Bike Hip Packs To Carry Your Gear

Finest Mountain Bike Hip Packs Comparability Chart

How We Examined Mountain Bike Hip Packs

We love driving bikes, and one of many key parts of gratifying bike rides is being ready. Carrying the required instruments to deal with mid-ride mechanicals, sufficient water all through the journey, sufficient meals to maintain the power up, and the suitable layers for the climate are all essential issues that may make or break the expertise.

Hip packs are one in all our favourite methods to hold all of the requirements, and we’ve been driving in them for years. Whereas there at the moment are extra methods than ever to stash gear on our bikes, in cargo bibs or backpacks, we nonetheless gravitate in direction of hip packs for his or her consolation, stability, comfort, and ease of use.

Our Professional Testers

For this purchaser’s information, assessment authors Paul Clauss and Jeremy Benson personally examined the 13 hip-pack fashions chosen for this assessment. Clauss is an avid path rider, mountain bike coach, and path builder who lives in northern Vermont. He’s been driving for a few years and has an ideal appreciation for any gear that helps to boost his efficiency and elevate his expertise out on the paths.

A mechanical engineer by commerce, Clauss is especially essential of design and development and he brings a really measured and logical method to product testing. Along with testing hip packs, Paul has examined and reviewed quite a few different classes of drugs, together with dropper posts, bike pumps, flat pedals, and the greatest flat pedal footwear.

Benson has been professionally testing and reviewing mountain bikes, elements, attire, and equipment for over 8 years. He’s an obsessive rider who spends an inordinate period of time on mountain and gravel bikes, coaching for races, driving for enjoyable, and testing new gear. He’s been driving in mountain bike hip packs for the previous decade and has seen them evolve from their humble beginnings into their extra superior kinds.

In that point, he’s personally owned 5 totally different hip packs and examined over 20 totally different fashions. As a full-time product tester, he’s consistently scrutinizing each piece of drugs he touches to tease out the efficiency variations that separate the very best from the remainder, whether or not that’s hip packs, the most recent mountain bike footwear, or a hitch bike rack.

Our Testing Course of

After researching the very best mountain bike hip packs available on the market, we rounded up 13 fashions to check and evaluate. Every mannequin was weighed earlier than inspecting their design, supplies, and development to evaluate the construct high quality and storage format. Then, we loaded them up with all the instruments, gear, water, and meals we may match and hit the paths.

Whereas driving, we thought-about the match, consolation, stability, and air flow of every mannequin when used with a full load on trails starting from easy and flowy to tough and rowdy. On rides starting from fast laps on the native path facilities to all-day suffer-fests, we used and abused every mannequin similar to anybody else would.

We received aware of every mannequin’s storage capabilities and hydration programs by filling and cleansing bladders and consuming from hoses and bottles. After months of testing, we in contrast notes and zeroed in on our favorites and those who carried out properly in particular methods in comparison with the remainder.

Shopping for Recommendation: How one can Select the Finest Mountain Bike Hip Pack

Hip packs, often known as fanny packs, lumbar packs, and waist baggage, have had a resurgence in reputation within the mountain bike world previously decade or so. What was beforehand a reasonably non-technical accent used primarily by vacationers on trip has developed into a comparatively specialised piece of apparatus that many riders depend on to hold the required instruments, snacks, water, and different gear out on the path.

Hip packs characterize a cheerful center floor between the minimalist on-bike and physique method and a bigger backpack, the latter of which may be sweaty, uncomfortable, and bounce round when driving technical terrain.

Carrying the hydration, meals, and instruments you should hold driving within the occasion of a mechanical and to fulfill your fundamental human wants in a method that doesn’t intervene with biking motion is a basic problem for mountain bikers and one which hip packs intention to beat.

In comparison with most backpacks, hip packs are usually extra steady and comparatively small, so that they cowl much less of your again and are worn across the waist, so the burden is decrease in your physique. They’ll additionally normally carry extra water and equipment than most individuals are capable of strap to their bikes or stuff into pockets.

With so many hip packs available on the market today with totally different kinds, designs, cargo capacities, and hydration programs, discovering the proper one to fit your wants could be a problem. For such a seemingly easy product, there’s loads to think about when deciding what’s best for you. We’ll break down the essential elements to think about when making a purchase order determination.

Cargo Capability

Mountain bike hip packs differ fairly dramatically of their cargo-carrying capability, with fashions made to go well with nearly each want or choice. The capability is usually measured in liters with tremendous slim, minimalist, race-belt model packs beginning round 1 liter and high-volume fashions topping out round 7 liters plus a 1.5 or 2-liter water bladder.

We examined 13 totally different hip packs, starting from 1.6 to 6-liter capability, with the Bontrager Fast Pack because the smallest and the USWE Zulo 6L as the biggest. The correct capability for you will depend on what you propose to hold.

For those who simply want the necessities – your keys, telephone, pockets, a tube, multi-tool, water (in a bottle or bladder), and a few CO2 – any of those packs will work with house to spare, with the Bontrager Fast Pack being essentially the most streamlined possibility at 1.64-liter capability, adopted intently by the two.2 Excessive Above Enterprise.

For those who’d like extra flexibility to hold further meals or bulkier objects like a mini-pump or a super-packable layer, fashions within the 3 to 4-liter vary could go well with you higher. This contains fashions just like the Evoc Hip Pack Professional 3, Osprey Seral 4, Thule Rail 4, or Patagonia Grime Roamer.

And, should you’re a heavy packer, going for an extended journey, or heading out in variable climate, packs with 5+ liters of capability will likely be simpler to stuff with packable jackets and bigger meals objects. The biggest packs we examined are the Deuter Pulse Professional 5, the USWE Zulo 6, and the Dakine Scorching Laps 5L.

It’s additionally essential to notice that a lot of the packs we examined characteristic extremely usable compression straps, permitting the pack to be compressed when not totally loaded or to maintain the load compact to stop the contents from bouncing round inside. Compression straps can successfully lower the quantity of a bigger pack, making it usable for rides once you want numerous gear and people once you don’t.

And, regardless of our excessive reward of hip packs, typically even the biggest fashions aren’t fairly large enough for some individuals’s wants. Maybe you’re going out for an enormous journey into the alpine, the place you should carry a jacket, layers, and additional meals, or perhaps an in a single day bikepacking journey? Conditions like these could require considerably extra cargo capability, and backpacks may merely be a greater possibility.

Bike-specific backpacks are available an enormous vary of sizes and designs to fulfill numerous wants, way more even than hip packs. Deuter, for instance, makes 12 totally different fashions of motorcycle backpacks ranging in cargo capability from 8 as much as 30 liters.

Storage Format

Almost as essential because the capability, the storage format of a pack dictates the group of your gear and the way you need to use the house. Some packs, just like the Osprey Seral 4, take a quite simple method, with a single giant compartment with a zippered pocket inside. Others, just like the Deuter Pulse Professional 5 and Thule Rail 4, are extremely compartmentalized, with separate zippered and open group pockets and bigger open sections.

The break up design of the Bontrager Fast Pack and its small capability make it tough to hold bigger objects, whereas the extra open designs of packs just like the Patagonia Grime Roamer or Osprey Raptor 4 make it simpler to stuff bulkier objects into them. 

If you wish to separate your meals out of your instruments or hold your telephone display protected from scratches whereas driving, a extra compartmentalized design may give you the results you want. A few of the extra organization-heavy designs depend on the person storing instruments and different objects of their separate pockets to get essentially the most out of the house.

It could take some getting used to, however when you’ve received your system, every part can have its place and be fast and simple to seek out once you want it. If you’d like a bag to toss the necessities into, zip up, and overlook it, a less complicated format like that of the Excessive Above Enterprise could go well with you simply nice. Like capability, a hip pack’s format will depend on what you should carry and the way you like to arrange it.

Pockets on the hip wings of the waist belt are one other issue to think about. Many packs have them, and they are often very helpful to maintain smaller objects that you just need to entry on the fly with out having to spin the bag round to the entrance. These differ in dimension, however most are good for smaller objects like keys, gels, chapstick, or bank card/ID, whereas a number of are able to becoming a smartphone.

Moreover, a number of fashions, just like the Dakine Scorching Laps 5L, Deuter Pulse Professional 5, Excessive Above Enterprise, and the Patagonia Grime Roamer, have exterior strap programs that can be utilized to connect bulkier objects like knee pads or a jacket to the skin of the pack for additional carrying capability.

Hydration Type

Most mountain bike hip packs present the flexibility to hold additional water in further water bottles, water bladders, and typically each. Like the general capability of the pack, the proper water capability will depend on how a lot you drink and the period of your journey. Having extra water than you want is at all times higher than not having sufficient.

Of the packs we examined, 4 of them carry water in bottles solely, seven of them carry water in water bladders, and two of the fashions with bladders can carry an extra bottle or two. What works greatest for you is usually a matter of private choice.

Bottles

The bottle-carry fashions can normally deal with one or two 20- to 25-ounce bottles, which can be greater than sufficient in your wants, particularly should you’ve already received a bottle on the bike. Each the Fox Commonplace Hip Pack and the Patagonia Grime Roamer can carry two bottles in sleeves on both aspect of the storage compartment.

The Out of doors Analysis Freewheel 2.5L is designed to suit a single bottle should you like. Equally, the Excessive Above Enterprise may be bought with a Fidlock magnetic bottle or a bottle sleeve. The Bontrager Fast Pack can even solely carry one bottle, but it surely does so very securely within the middle of the pack between the storage pockets.

In comparison with hydration bladders, bottles are tremendous simple to fill and clear. For these packs that may carry two bottles, you’ll be able to nearly get the identical quantity of water capability as a pack with a 1.5-liter bladder. For many of those packs, it’s additionally fairly simple to achieve again and pull the bottles out of the pack for consuming, however not fairly as simple as reaching a hose as much as your mouth whereas driving. And, whereas most bottle holders are fairly safe, there may be the prospect they may bounce out over tremendous tough terrain or in a crash.

Bladder

Of the bladder-equipped packs we examined, six of them, the USWE Zulo 6, each Evoc fashions, the Deuter Pulse Professional 5, Thule Rail 4, and the Osprey Seral 4 and Raptor 4, include a 1.5-liter bladder (50.7 ounces). The Dakine Scorching Laps 5L comes with a 2-liter (70-ounce) bladder. Moreover, the Evoc Hip Pack Professional 3 can carry two bottles, and the Deuter Pulse Professional 5 can carry one. Any of those packs ought to carry sufficient water for two to 3-hour-long rides, or longer, relying on the temperature and your private charge of consumption.

There are some benefits to bladder-style hip packs. Consuming from them is tremendous simple and handy. The hoses and nozzles are situated on the waist belt, and reaching down and grabbing it to drink is fast and simple and may normally be accomplished whereas driving on easy sections of path.

The bladders are additionally tender and squishy, so that they conform to the form of your again and different contents in your pack and may distribute water weight extra evenly, which may improve pack stability. Bladders are carried internally, so they need to by no means fall out on a tough path, and also you’re unlikely to set it down and overlook it on the aspect of the path like you possibly can with a bottle.

The disadvantages of bladders are that they’re barely extra cumbersome to fill and clear, and micro organism and mildew can develop within the bladder/hose/nozzle if uncared for. Some individuals simply don’t like consuming from a hose, and the hoses can often pop unfastened whereas driving, which may be annoying and probably harmful.

Waist Belts

Whereas all of them carry out the duty of securing a hip pack across the waist, there are two important kinds of waist belts on the packs we examined. Most packs include a extra fundamental, adjustable, static webbing belt with a plastic clasp to safe it. The Patagonia Grime Roamer, Fox Commonplace, Bontrager Fast Pack, Evoc Hip Pack 3, and Dakine Scorching Laps 5L, all use this model of waist belt.

Different packs, usually the dearer ones, have large, overlapping Velcro belts that even have a webbing strap and clasp excessive to safe it. This model of waist belt is discovered on packs just like the Deuter Pulse Professional 5, Evoc Hip Pack Professional 3, Thule Rail 4, and USWE Zulo 6.

Realistically, each kinds work fairly properly and provides little to complain about, however the softer, wider, overlapping fashions are usually a bit extra snug and steady, they usually distribute the burden of a loaded pack a bit extra evenly across the waist.

The flip aspect is that they’re a bit extra finicky to placed on, as it’s important to line up the overlapping straps earlier than securing the buckle on prime. Regardless, it isn’t that a lot of a problem, and the added consolation and stability are usually definitely worth the few additional seconds it takes to place them on.

Each kinds of belts are adjustable to suit a spread of waist sizes and hold them cosy when in use. The designs differ considerably, after all, however most are fairly simple to regulate and keep safe whereas driving. The really helpful waist dimension ranges additionally differ among the many fashions we examined, with some fashions just like the Thule Rail 4 and USWE Zulo 6 becoming waists between 31 and 40 inches in comparison with the Osprey Raptor 4, which is claimed to work for waists between 25 and 50 inches.

Air flow

In comparison with hydration backpacks, hip packs cowl solely a small portion of your again and are inherently higher for staying cool and managing sweat. That stated, they nonetheless make contact along with your decrease again, which may grow to be fairly sizzling and sweaty. Nearly each hip pack makes some try at managing moisture the place the pack makes contact along with your physique by using breathable mesh supplies or extra superior air flow programs, however they don’t seem to be created equal.

The 2 Evoc packs, the Hip Pack Professional 3 and the Hip Pack 3L have among the greatest air flow among the many fashions we examined with their Air Movement Contact System. The again panels characteristic raised, channeled foam blocks which can be coated in an open mesh materials that enables for superior breathability. The Airscape again panel on the Osprey Raptor 4 ventilates on the same stage.

Moreover, Evoc’s Venti-Flap system permits the person to shortly loosen the higher a part of the pack and create a spot between your again throughout climbs or different occasions you need to enhance airflow, then shortly cinch it again down for the descents. The remainder of the fashions we examined do a commendable job of selling breathability and are usually a lot cooler and fewer sweaty than sporting a full-on backpack.

Worth & Worth

Like anything in mountain biking, hip packs differ fairly extensively by way of value. The extra fundamental designs and those who carry bottles are inclined to price a bit much less. Once you add a water bladder or fancier waist belt, the worth goes up a bit. Nonetheless, they’re among the many extra inexpensive equipment you should purchase, and most will final for a few years.

Price range

On the decrease finish of the worth vary, hip packs are usually a bit less complicated in design, and most carry water bottles, in the event that they carry water in any respect. The Patagonia Grime Roamer ($69) is a superb instance. Not solely is it inexpensive, but it surely’s well-made and it occurs to be our favourite bottle-carry pack, too. Different fashions on the low finish of our value vary are the Bontrager Fast Pack ($68), the Fox Commonplace Hip Pack ($70), and the Out of doors Analysis Freewheel 2.5L, all of which have comparatively small capacities and carry water in easy bottle sleeves.

Mid-Tier

Across the $100 mark, hip packs start to incorporate water bladders. Whereas these packs are nonetheless fairly easy, bladders and hoses alone can price within the neighborhood of $25-ish, so having them included drives the worth up a bit from the finances fashions.

Fashions just like the Dakine Scorching Laps 5 ($100) and the Osprey Seral 4 ($90) are each easy and efficient designs that embrace water bladders for simple hydration on the fly. They lack the bells and whistles of the premium fashions, however they’re completely purposeful and nice choices for loads of riders.

Premium

With solely a slight leap in value, we get into premium hip pack territory round $125. On this value vary, most hip packs include bladders, and lots of boast bigger carrying capability or options that intention to boost consolation. Evoc’s Hip Pack Professional 3 ($150) neatly organizes as much as 3 liters of drugs, carries 1.5 liters of water in a bladder, and has a brilliant snug overlapping stretch waistband and among the best again air flow programs we’ve seen.

On the less complicated aspect, Excessive Above’s Enterprise Pack ($135) is made within the USA from tremendous sturdy supplies. Home manufacturing merely prices greater than doing it abroad, and including cool options like Fidlock buckles — and the choice so as to add a Fidlock bottle — contributes to the upper value. Fortunately, a lifetime assure additionally ensures that you just’ll get your cash’s value after which some.

Incessantly Requested Questions