Revelate Designs Wedge Frame Bags: Choss and Sandur Review

Anytime I see someone out on the trails wearing a hydration backpack, there’s a part of me that wants to flag them down and try and talk them into trying a frame bag. Taking the weight of ride essentials off your back and moving it to a low center of your bike is a game-changer for everyday rides. It also makes snacks, layers, tools, and a spare water bottle or hydration bladder easier to access than they would be in a hip pack or backpack. In fact, I can’t remember the last time I wore a hydration backpack on a day ride. And while full-triangle frame bags are great for both day rides and bikepacking, there’s no better gateway to a lifelong frame bag addiction than a simple wedge. These small triangular-shaped bags are available off the shelf, fairly straightforward to fit on just about any bike, and usually work with more complex frame triangle shapes.

Alaskan bag-maker Revelate Designs just made finding an option even easier with two new wedge bags designed for gravel bikes and mountain bikes, each in two sizes. Like the relatively new Rifter frame bag I reviewed back in July, they’re both made in Seattle, Washington, from 100% recycled X-Pac fabric. We had the chance to try the Sandur gravel bike bag and MTB-specific Choss ahead of today’s launch for this review.

Revelate Designs Choss Review

I dig the name of Revelate’s latest mountain bike specific wedge frame bag. Choss is a word that’s often used to describe unstable rock, but it’s also a colloquial term for chaos, which is fitting for the menagerie of contents that can usually be found in my frame bag. Don’t let this alternate meaning fool you, however. Revelate always does a great job integrating organizational features into their bags.

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The Choss comes in two sizes and was designed for use on most mountain bikes, but it appears to be most useful on modern full-suspension bikes and hardtails. This is the result of the bag’s obtuse triangle shape featuring an overtly acute angle at the front of the bag that can easily squeeze into the tight wedge shape commonly found on such bikes. I was excited to see that the smaller of the two fit the large Transition Smuggler I had on hand like a glove. The larger version seems to fit a couple of size large hardtails I have, and it leaves plenty of room for two water bottles on the seat tube and downtube. Note that a bag like this doesn’t jive with a split-triangle full-suspension bike such as Virginia’s Ibis Ripley AF, but it should work with fullies that have a lower shock linkage or vertical shock. You can see how the two sizes lay out below.

As mentioned, the Choss is made from the same fabric as the Rifter I reviewed a couple months ago, and it’s also constructed using the same materials and techniques. Those include full-perimeter padding, big zippers, and Revelate’s unique stretch panel placed below the zipper—a feature that prevents the main zipper from failing when the bag is overstuffed.

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The Choss also comes equipped with a few useful details, such as the pull tab positioned behind the zipper at the back of the bag, which provides a little leverage when opening it. It also has a small mesh pocket at the bottom of the main compartment, a Hypalon zipper-garage with a hydration port, and a thin coating of silicone on the underside of the smaller hook and loop straps that keep them from moving around and abrading the frame. One of my favorite features is the handy flat left side pocket. I was able to stash my OneUp pump there, and the flat design prevented it from rattling around. That pocket also has a Hypalon wire port.

• Model Tested: Revelate Choss (Small)
• Weight (Small): 190 grams (6.7 oz)
• Volume (Small): 2.7 liters (165 cu. in.)
• Weight (Large): 222 grams (7.8 oz)
• Volume (Large): 3.4 liters (205 cu. in.)
• Place of Manufacture: Seattle, USA
• Price: $120 ($155 with Hydration accessory)
• Manufacturer’s Details: Revelate Designs

Revelate Designs Sandur Review

The Revelate Sandur is a partial frame bag designed with gravel bikes in mind. Like the Choss—and many other Revelate bags—it’s named after a rocky geological feature; a sandur is an “outwash plain” formed by meltwater from glaciers that kind of resembles gravel from afar. Despite the naming convention similarities, the Sandur is shaped in a completely different orientation than the Choss. It’s patterned with more of a tear-drop shape that’s larger in the front with a much shorter bottom panel that sits on the downtube. Essentially, it’s designed to work with two bottles, larger head tubes, and the wider front angles that are commonly found on gravel bike frames.

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The Sandur also comes in two sizes. The small is indeed very small and didn’t really work on any of the bikes I had on hand. Let me rephrase that, it worked, but just left a lot of unused space. The large actually fit the Black Mountain La Cabra perfectly and was the ideal shape for its atypical bottle cage configuration. Most gravel bikes have the seat tube cage mounts placed further down near the bottom bracket and the down tube cage positioned more toward the front. The Sandur works with that bottle configuration too, but it leaves a little unused space at the upper-rear of the triangle. I could see a third size XL bag that’s longer at the top to fill in that space on bigger gravel bikes.

The Sandur is constructed with the same materials, big beefy zippers, stretch panels, and full-perimeter padding as the Choss, and it gets an HDPE insert within the top panel that adds structure to the bag; I’m convinced this was integrated to help it maintain its form when strapped to thin steel tubing. It seems to accomplish this when fitted to the Black Mountain La Cabra, as evidenced in these photos.

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Like the Choss and Rifter, the Sandur has a spacious single main compartment with a small mesh pocket at the bottom. It also gets a Hypalon hydration port on the right and a thin side pocket that takes up the full height of the bag on the left side. The side pocket is slightly more feature-rich than the Choss as it has two smaller organizer sleeves stitched into it. These barely fit an iPhone in the vertical position. It also has a Hypalon wire exit port.

• Model Tested: Revelate Sandur (Large)
• Weight (Small): 215 grams (7.6 oz)
• Volume (Small): 2.0 liters (120 cu. in.)
• Weight (Large): 241 grams (8.5 oz)
• Volume (Large): 2.7 liters (165 cu. in.)
• Place of Manufacture: Seattle, USA
• Price: $120 ($155 with Hydration accessory)
• Manufacturer’s Details: Revelate Designs

Revelate Hydration Accessories

As you may have noticed in the pricing grids, Revelate also released two hydration systems. The standard accessory that’s available with any of these frame bags for a $35 upcharge includes a custom Revelate x Hydrapak 1.5 liter water reservoir, their new Barnacle handlebar clips, and a “Plug n’ Play” hose that allows it to be easily removed and attached for refilling. The bladder has a zip opening and is relatively minimal and light. We haven’t tested it yet, but it looks promising.

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In addition to the standard 1.5L accessory, Revelate announced the Seeker 2L Hydration Kit. We’ve reviewed the larger Seeker and really like it, so we’re excited about this addition to Revelate’s lineup. The Seeker bladder seems a little more durable than the standard 1.5L bladder, and the kit includes everything you need to get started with frame bag hydration: a 2L bladder with solid top, a Hydrapak Plug n’ Play quick disconnect cap, a Hydrapak Plug n’ Play hose with bite valve, and the Revelate Barnacle 2-part magnetic handlebar hose clip system. Find details on the $52.50 Seeker 2L kit here and the $19 Barnacle accessory here.

Further Reading

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