Product Full Name: Race Face Rip Strip

Retail Price: £39.99

Available from: Silverfish UK

No fannying around with this bum-bag

For those rides when you want to carry the bare minimum, a bum-bag (or a fanny pack, if you’re from the other side of the pond)  is a pretty good idea – but it can be hard to get a good one that holds weight well and can be worn comfortably.

The Rip Strip lumbar belt from Race Face is a brilliant solution to the age old bum-bag, and is especially good for summer riding when you want to be wearing light weight shorts – which usually struggle in the pocket department.

It’s not a bum bag, or fanny pack. More of a utility lumbar belt. Perfect for a spot of bare-back riding…

Feel the breeze

Whilst a riding pack carries everything you need for medium to long rides, they are easy to overfill and can hamper riding style. Every rider loves riding without a pack –  feeling the breeze on their backs. Especially in the hot weather like we have right now.

But it can be hard carrying the basics you need – like keys, wallet, loose change and perhaps a multi-tool.

The Rip Strip is a padded belt with wide elasticated hook and loop strap that sits on your hips and has three stretchy mesh pockets and three zipped pockets. The middle zipped pocket has a waterproof zip, and is ideal for storing a phone – the others can be used for loose change or car keys.

The two outer pockets can be used to hold water bottles, though we stuffed ours with inner tubes and other tools – instead mounting a water bottle to our bike instead. There is a middle pocket shaped to hold a mini-pump too – so you can carry enough bits to be self sufficient.

As with all Race Face kit, the attention to detail is lovely – and construction is great.

Even when fully loaded, I found the Rip Strip really comfortable, and despite getting a little sweaty on the lower back – was far cooler and less restrictive than using a riding pack.

Even when loaded up, the Rip Strip lumbar belt was really comfortable and didn’t move around on our backs

I found that if you over load the Rip Strip or over tighten the belt strap, the plastic loop that the strap passes through can move – which although is unnoticeable in use, bugged me. If the plastic buckle was mounted at an angle this wouldn’t happen. I’ve sorted the issue on our sample with a crafty zip tie to keep the plastic loop from moving.

 We say

The Rip Strip lumbar belt is a great way of carrying the stuff you need for a fast blast, and the padded back is enough to keep tools from prodding in to you on those inevitable tumbles. I wouldn’t want to carry a pump on it – instead I’d prefer to have a bottle cage mounted pump and bottle, and use the Rip Strip for other bits.

I’ve used the Rip Strip for lunch time rides virtually every day since it arrived in the Factory Jackson office – and have found riding with a pack has become a burden – it’s a great idea and works well for short to medium rides. Not too pricy either – and a perfect companion for carrying money and hip flasks at festivals…

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