Waterfield Designs Cycling Ride Pouch Review

Recently I picked up a rather cool cycling organizer known as the Waterfield Designs Cycling Ride Pouch (https://www.sfbags.com).  For those that cycle a lot, carrying your tools and miscellaneous items (keys, license, credit cards, money and a phone) can sometimes be rather annoying.

For most of my life I have used either a saddle bag or a plastic ziploc bag stuffed in my jersey pocket or a combination of both.  Saddle bags are great for carrying tools, but they aren’t as good for quickly accessing money or credit cards.  Plastic ziploc bags are good for carrying all those items, but they fall apart after several uses and everything is sort of jumbled together.

The Cycling Ride Pouch includes a main compartment for tools, an inner pocket for ID or other tool items, an front pocket for a phone and an easy access rear pocket for a wallet, keys and cash.

This year I decided I wanted to be a bit more organized, so I started looking around to see who made cycling organizers.  My criteria was to find some type of bag that could fit in the center jersey pocket and carry all my tools, plus a few other items.  I wasn’t as concerned about carrying a phone, because I usually don’t ride with one.

The Wallet or Pouch would need to be at least 6.5 inches long to accommodate my 6 inch pump, a spare tube, tire levers and a patch kit.  It would also need to have room for keys, money, credit cards and a license.  Room for a phone would be a bonus.

As it turns out Waterfield Designs specifically made the Cycling Ride Pouch with people like me in mind.  They got together the folks at ELEVEN vélo in Australia to collaborate and design a pouch for cyclists.

HISTORY OF WATERFIELD DESIGNS

Gary Waterfield launched San Francisco based Waterfield Designs in 1998.  His passion drives the company to use high quality materials and create items to meet specific needs, rather than create a lifestyle.  Gary proudly stands behind the “Made In The US” label with current production being done at the San Francisco office.

Some of the materials include ballistic nylon, durable waxed canvas, and premium full grain leather. Waterfield also uses more reliable self-locking zippers that don’t break easily, strong D-rings, and oversized magnets to keep flaps in place.

THE CYCLING RIDE POUCH ARRIVES

After talking to Heidi from Waterfield Designs about our desire to review the Cycling Ride Pouch, a package arrived a week later.

The Waterfield Designs Cycling Ride Pouch package arrives.

The Pouch came in a plastic bag with a nice post card.  If I were to give any advice, I would change the packaging to make more exciting.  Something to do with cycling.  If you have ever bought anything on Etsy, a lot of time sellers will do a great job packaging their products.  One idea could be to wrap it in a cycling cap.  It might add more to the cost, but that would be rather cool.  Just saying.

Here is the Cycling Ride Pouch next to an old Ziploc baggy.  Notice all my tools are all jumbled together.  Which would you want?  A plastic baggie that you have to continually replace or something that will last many seasons of cycling.

Here you can see the tools are a bit more organized and are positioned so that the pouch flap can easily close.  The 270 degree YKK Zipper is nice and makes getting to the tools really easy.  Yes I have already had to change one flat and access to the tools was super easy.

Here is the pouch next to the center pocket of the Jersey.

This is where the Cycling Ride Pouch hangs out when I am cycling.  I find the pouch is super comfortable and you really don’t notice it.

Word of Warning.  The leather part of the pouch will bleed and stain white and other light clothing if you pour water on your shirt or because you have a high sweat rate.  The good news is, the stain comes right out after a wash.  I am assuming that the leather will eventually stop doing this after extended use.

On the back side of the pouch there is a pocket where you can store things like cash, keys and credit cards.  Waterfield Designs includes a micro wallet to store all these in, which certainly helps in the organization department.  I have used the micro wallet quite a bit and thus far it has kept my cash from getting damp with sweat.

Waterfield Designs Cycling Ride Pouch Specifications

All our products are crafted locally in our workshop by the most skilled sewing team in San Francisco.

Material:

• Black or brown premium leather border and flap with ballistic nylon body
• Gold liner in main compartment
• Premium YKK self-locking zipper
• Play-through plastic screen for phone compartment

Dimensions: 4 in. length, 1 in. width, 7 in. height

Weight: 4 oz.

Features:

• Main compartment has a wide surface area for arranging tools for a more comfortable ride
• Main compartment opens flat on the ground so you can arrange your tools and quickly see what you need. Makes it easy to pack up, too.
• Mini wallet is included for storing cash, keys, ID and stored in the back mesh pocket
• Leather flap closes over the back mesh pocket
• Front pocket play-through screen lets you do basic phone functions without taking out the iPhone 7

Retail: $79

WATERFIELD DESIGNS CYCLING RIDE POUCH | BOTTOM LINE

Waterfield Design has built a real winner with the cycling ride pouch.  The bag/wallet fits perfectly in a typical men’s cycling jersey’s middle pocket.  It holds a ton of items with ease and looks fantastic.  If you’re still going old school with Ziploc bags, you will be transformed once you make the switch.  At $79 retail, the Cycling Ride Pouch is something that is quality made and will last for years to come.  Being made in the US certainly gives it Kudos from us.

Check out Waterfield Designs(https://www.sfbags.com) for the Cycling Ride Pouch and other cool bags.