Old Man Mountain Manzanita Cradle Review

Over the last few years, it seems Old Man Mountain has moved beyond its original focus of making rugged, off-road-ready racks. More recently, their sights appear to be set on completing a comprehensive cargo system. With a variety of new products launching recently, the Manzanita Cradle is the latest in that longstanding project. Here, I detail my thoughts on the design and how it fits into that larger idea. Watch the full video below, followed by a transcript of my thoughts.

History

Old Man Mountain’s history has always been rooted in off-road riding and bikepacking, dating back to its original axle-mounted racks designed to carry gear on bikes that weren’t designed to run racks. That foundation still feels relevant today, but the brand’s modern era of bags, cargo cages, axle-mounted systems, and modular storage has solidified its place in the bikepacking world.

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What started as a clever way to add carrying capacity to oddball mountain bikes has grown into a full cargo ecosystem for the kinds of bikes we actually ride off-road. I’ve reviewed their Elkhorn, which is a great rack, and earlier this year, I covered their unique FLiP Cage system, where they’re opening up the cage design to other brands and makers so they can create their own compatible bags, which is pretty neat. Now, they’ve added a completely new addition to their lineup, a handlebar cradle.

What’s New?

The Manzanita might look familiar to some, and that’s because Old Man Mountain worked with Salsa to license the Anything Cradle. It was one of the first handlebar cradle systems on the market, launched in 2016 and rebooted in 2020.

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I’ve used that system before, and it worked great. It was a simple setup that let you keep the cradle attached to the bars and just remove the dry bag for ease of use. This has become one of the main ways to run a handlebar setup, and frankly, outside of a big front-loader bag that can fit a dry bag inside, I wouldn’t consider a handlebar system that requires you to pack your belongings while it’s still attached to the bike. Salsa, Old Man Mountain, and countless other bikepacking manufacturers have based their designs on that concept over the last decade.

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The Old Man Mountain Manzanita is essentially a modernized take on the now-discontinued Salsa Anything Cradle. The Manzanita Cradle offers the same general idea, with the same load rating, handlebar compatibility, and bag-mounting logic, but with more accessory mounting points, integrated features, and a design that feels a little more current for today’s bikepacking setups.

Manzanita Specs

The cradle consists of three main parts. Two rigid aluminum arms clamp to both 31.8 and 35mm bars through four bolts. Unfortunately, there are no shims for 22.2mm bars with the Manzanita Cradle. The aluminum arms mount to a nylon cradle and can slide about 45mm to adjust the system’s angle using four bolts and a sliding bracket.

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Then, there’s the bag. Offered in two sizes, there’s a 9-liter top-loader and an 11-liter burrito-style option with a two-sided opening. The welded and waterproof dry bag connects to the cradle via two nylon straps that weave between the cradle and tighten with cam-lever buckles at the ends. Both bags have two slits for the straps to pass through, which still allows access to the full-length mesh front pouch for extra gear or quick storage. This mesh pouch is found on both the 9 and 11L bag options.

The bags are fully waterproof and made of a similar material to what’s used in their Atlas and Hemlock bags. They also have Hypalon reinforcement in high-wear areas and a purge valve to help remove all unwanted air from the system, making it easier to compress everything into a compact package. A neat feature of this bag-and-cradle system is the small loops that let you hold the bag in place before tightening everything down. It’s a similar idea to the “third hand” that Logan dubbed on the new Tailfin Bar Cage bags, just executed in a different area of the system.

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The cradle and arms also have a total of six accessory mounts: two on the cradle spaced 64mm apart and four on the arms, spaced 70mm apart. These can be used with Old Man Mountain’s accessory mount, and the arm mounts are spaced for bottles, so, in theory, you could add a bottle or something similar up there. Mind you, the total weight limit for this system is 3.6 kilograms (8 pounds). All told, the 9-liter bag weighs 248 grams, and the cradle weighs 416 grams. That brings the total system weight to 664 grams, with an extra 17 grams for the accessory mount.

Installating the Manzanita Cradle

The installation of the Manzanita Cradle is simple, though I struggled to understand it at first. I initially thought the whole system should be mounted upside down. It’s designed so the arms sit higher on the bars, while the cradle supports the dry bag below. Though it’s unconventional-looking, it helps with clearance and separating the system from cables.

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If the cradle comes disassembled, the first thing to do is simply attach the arms to the cradle. It’s as easy as threading the four bolts into the cradle arms with the cradle sandwiched between them. The important thing here is that the two small dry-bag hooks should face up on the cradle, and the logo or the longer portion of the arm should also face up. I usually bolt everything loosely into place so it’s tight enough to hold together and still allow the cradle to slide up and down.

From there, I install the arms onto the bars. They are set up for 31.8mm bars, but Old Man Mountain includes a small shim that can be removed without fully undoing any hardware, just like the previous Anything Cradle system. Once those shims are out, the clamps can be installed directly onto 35mm bars. It takes a little effort the first time to get those shims off, but once you figure it out, it works well.

The bar clamps use two M5 bolts, the same as bottle cage or rack bolts, on each arm, which you loosen to place the arms onto the bars. The bolts are held in place with rubber O-rings, which help keep them from dropping onto the ground, rolling under your workbench, and disappearing into the same void as many other bolts have in the past. From there, you lightly tighten those bolts on each side. In my experience, the system is awkward to tighten due to its upside-down orientation, which may interfere with the frame.

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At this point, I like to play around with the setup. While this isn’t a full dual-axis system, there is one axis of adjustability at the bar, plus a good amount of adjustment at the cradle. That makes it relatively easy to work around cable housing and the head tube. My goal is always two things: to create enough space to reduce cable rub on the head tube while keeping the weight as close to the bike as possible. The closer the load is to the bike, the better it’s supported and the less awkward the front end feels. That was probably my biggest issue with the original Anything Cradle. There was just so much distance between the load and the handlebars that the front end could feel pretty uninspiring. That and the overall weight. This system helps bring that in a bit more, although it’s still not lightweight. But it is relatively universal, and that counts for something.

Once I’m close, I like to loosely tighten everything down and install the bag to make sure the fit is right. This is where I check for ample tire clearance, room for fork compression if you’re running suspension, and enough space between the bag, cables, and head tube. Once everything is in place and you’re happy with the fit, tighten all the bolts to 5Nm using the same 4mm bolt-head screws. From there, it’s time to ride.

In the Field

Once the whole system is installed and tightened down, it’s easy to use. On trail, the system does not move around much, and the two nylon straps do a good job of holding everything together. Even on singletrack and rougher terrain, they help compress things nicely and do a good job of staying put in the cradle itself when not tightened down, which is always a nice feature. The system’s feel will vary a bit from bike to bike. On the slacked-out Surly Sorceress, I could certainly tell the weight was up there. I’m not sure whether that was due to the bike’s geometry or to the load being positioned higher than in most systems. Still, I could definitely feel the added weight extending from the bar, at least more than I could with the Tailfin Bar Cage, Rogue Panda Blue Ridge, or, to a more extreme extent, the Kaibab. Those systems aim to keep weight low and close to the bike, while the Manzanita has a slightly more top-heavy orientation.

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But on the Sklar PBJ, it felt much better, and that weight was not nearly as noticeable. All told, I think most people will get used to the way this feels pretty quickly, and I don’t think it’s necessarily a reason to steer away from it, even if there are lighter systems that are less top-heavy. What I love is how this system works day to day. I think Chris mentioned that they prioritized livability, and that comes through here. While I never used the flat-bar version, the top-load drop-bar bag fits between the drop bars just fine and works great on flat bars. Honestly, I think that would be my pick as the one-bag solution to do it all.

A big reason is how easy it is to get items in and out of the bag without removing the bag from the bike. But when you do take it off, it’s a nice way to keep things organized at camp. You just unclip it, unroll the top, and everything opens up in a very usable way. Packing it back up is just as easy: roll the top, purge the air, clip the ends, shut the air purge, and you’re good to go. The extra features on the bag are useful as well. The black mesh pocket adds a bit of quick-access storage for extra food, a drink from the store, layers, or, in my case, trash and wrappers that I wanted to stash until I found the first trash can.

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The additional front mount is a nice use of space, since the system occupies most of the mounting area on either side of the stem. Those clamps are not adjustable in or out; they are fixed in place with 53mm of clearance between the inside of each arm, which gives you good clearance around the stem and keeps the system centered. So having that extra mount on the front gives you a spot for a light, GPS, or another small accessory without having to fight for bar space.

• Model Tested: Old Man Mountain Manzanita Cradle
• Actual Weight: 681 grams (with accessory mount)
• Place of Manufacture: Taiwan
• Price: $240 at Old Man Mountain

The Manzanita is priced at $240 for the cradle and your choice of the 9 or 11L dry bag. Unfortunately, the cradle isn’t sold separately. Old Man Mountain sells the 9L and 11L bags for $110 each, so in theory, the cradle itself is worth about $130. That makes it comparable to the Salsa Anything Cradle when it was sold as a standalone product. I would love to hear your thoughts on the Manzanita, so please let me know in the Conversation below. I sure do like the name, too, as it makes me want to listen to some Tony Rice…

Further Reading

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