Tailfin Aeropack 3000 km Review

[@huntos83]

I don’t know if you realise, but you have fitted the rear arch back to front. You can tell because of the steep angle of the pannier mounts

[@holgerssonoutlander]

Perhaps why the snaps are hard to open aswell...

[@rehview]

So refreshing to have an honest review on youtube

[@memeose]

Little tip: Compress your sleeping bag and down jacket and you'll fit twice as much in the aeropack.

[@The_Tortoise.]

The video was obviously a ‘quick pack’ - it makes little difference even if I pack both tightly. Thanks for viewing

[@memeose]

@@The_Tortoise. it makes a huge difference, I mean just your sleeping bag can be compressed to the size of a cup. I literally fit my whole tent, a bigger Sea to Summit sleeping bag, big sea to summit sleeping pad, decathlon down jacket, small pillow + towel from sea to summit and my medi kit + bathroom kit in the Aeropack. And I still have a bit of room to put things in it. You throw a bivy, sleeping bag and a down jacket in it and say yea look you cant get much more in it.

[@TimothyReinoehl]

Great review. I hope Tailfin sees this and considers improving on this pack with at least some of your suggestions. One tip for removing the rack, as I had the same issue as you with cold fingers and the tiny release pin. First, squeeze the tip of the latch part, at the front of the axle, against the stay and THEN pull the pin. It makes it so much easier to pull the pin back and release the latch.

[@freeforester1717]

Maybe they just need to improve their fitting instructions?

[@cycnerd3617]

Very good overview! I agree with you on the "22 l marketing volume" and also on the form factor. But I also decided against a normal seatpack and got the tailfin. Yes, the price is hefty, but it is worth it for me, as I can use it on a road bike and a full suspension MTB. I did a three-week tour through the Highlands with the full sus without any issues - the tailfin worked superbly!

[@jonmathias6159]

Disagree with most of this. The volume - yes, valid. I’ve never had a problem attaching and detaching the axle clips and I’m 61 with arthritis in my hands. You can use the stacking straps to attach tent poles, helmet etc. The useable capacity does depend to some extent on how much seat post you have exposed - the more the better. I run a small frame and, even with the extender piece, it does need careful packing, lower at the front. As for taking the “whole unit” into a hotel, what’s the issue? Fold up the arch, fasten it to the bag with one of the stacking straps and carry the bag using the top fold as a handle. This guy just hasn’t put in the effort to understand the system. He hasn’t even assembled it correctly as the arch is back to front.😂

[@samuraioodon]

Were you able to get the bag level? It looks a little goofy to have it tilted like that, prefer it level or pointed down toward post. I have a small frame but about 17cm seatpost. Tailfin says I should get extender, did you? I’m concerned about ability to open bag. I didn’t notice until you pointed out the arch. The panniers mount is a dead giveaway. I hope he fixed that.

[@jonmathias6159]

@@samuraioodon I run a small frame so I got the extender piece. It does give you a bit more stack height with the bag. As the arch is a fixed length, the bag does not sit level but points slightly downwards to the front. I can live with it.

[@Moseley_Engineering]

You can't stuff things like in a seat pack so try pre stuffing your down things to fit more in. Attaching it further down your seatpost with the shorter attachment will help with another 2 of your complaints - reducing the gap and raising your rear light.

[@The_Tortoise.]

I understand your feedback. I don’t disagree but then you can’t get into the bag on the fly as the bag is too far under the seat. If the bag had an option to open from the rear, as opposed to the top, that would work nicely - but that’s not an option at the moment.

[@pietroravioli445]

Hi, I did about a third of your distance with my Tailfin behind my back. I do strongly agree with your comment on the form factor, that could be optimized. I do, however, use it a lot for commuting as well, and to have a straight bag really helps with stuff such as notebooks and so. Where I disagree is the difficulties with the unmounting, which never caused an issue for me. I would recommend to go for the top stay though, so you don't have to fully remove it every time, but can just clip in your bag onto the rack. But overall, good review, thanks a lot for sharing

[@nickgoogle4525]

Very good overview, thanks for sharing! I have a Tubus Vega rear rack and now look for a good bag to put onto. The Vega is not much heavier than the Al Tailfin rack, but more stable, can not be stolen so easily and is more versatile I think. Just trying to find one or different sized bags (for different use cases) to match. I even thought about buying the AP20 trunk bag from Tailfin and strapping that to the Vega. But when I hear your experience I think a simple drybag might be as good or even better?

[@StephanBechert]

THX. You have to use a compression pack for your sleeping bag and your down jacket.

[@robertadair6612]

Why are you fitting the mounting to the seatpost and not the frame just above the toptube??

[@rajibjoshi9647]

why not get bike with carrier? And use regular backpack? use bungee cord to strap it on

[@bengt_axle]

On a road bike, saddle bags would probably be preferable. They put the weight at a lower center of gravity, provide more volume and cost much less. There are adapters for traditional racks that allow you to attach it right to the axle, if you have no mounts (see Axiom bags). The other thing I like about light weight aluminium is that you can strap anything to it. But if you don't like the aero losses of saddle bags (how much could it be at 25 km/hr?) a compression bag or a trunk bag costing maybe $50 (one eighth of a Tailfin) and some Voilé straps are all it takes.

[@RoryM07]

What size is your bike? Wondering about the extension you added for the seat post mount. Thanks

[@The_Tortoise.]

56 frame. Thanks for watching

[@huntos83]

The big thing with the capacity is that it is not easy to compress items in the aeropack. Your seat bag will be quite a bit smaller physically, but it’s easy to stuff things in nice and tight with an end opening bag like that. The top opening tailfin doesn’t really allow much compression of your gear. I don’t think the volume is wrong, it’s just hard to make good use of it

[@WattZurHölle]

You can put your whole weight on the Aeropack and can compress it as tightly as any seat bag, probably even more. The volume is right and you can easily fit at least twice as much in the aeropack if you pack it correctly and not like the reviewer did here.

[@huntos83]

@ I have had both the aero pack and numerous seat packs, I did a direct comparison and I could take all the stuff out of a full 20L aero pack and easily fit it in a 12L seat pack (assuming it’s all compresssible stuff like sleeping gear and clothes). There are a lot of great things about the aero pack, but it’s not as space efficient as a rear entry bag. Hence why many of their sponsored riders are using the new smaller rear entry version.

[@WattZurHölle]

@@huntos83 cool, I could fit way more in my aeropack than any saddle pack. Many of their sponsored riders use a smaller version of the aeropack because they do ultra races and want to be as light as possible and dont need much room to pack. The reason they use it instead of the normal aeropack is BECAUSE its so big and gives so much room, if you going ultralight you dont need that much.

[@esavirtanen6418]

Totally valid and useful feedback, since I'm looking to get one myself, thanks for that. Regarding the saddle taking up some of the bag space, couldn't you lower the attachment point a bit on the seat tube so the bag gets more under it. But I agree, I've seen that same problem on other bikes also. Also, does the pannier mount interfere with the mounting bolts? Could you for example attach a tailfin cargo cage without the pannier mount being in the way? To me it looks as if they interfere with each other because they are so close. Thanks again and great review!

[@The_Tortoise.]

Thanks for the message. You can definitely lower the seat attachment, which does create an angle, but doesn’t solve the space issue. It’s also very tricky to open the bag if the bag sits too much under the seat, as the saddle gets in the way. I can’t comment on the pannier mounts as I never used that detail. I hope that helps.

[@vincenthesselink]

Is it really true that the volume is 15 liter instead of 20? I'm planning a 4week trip through Spain and Portugal and absolutely need 20 liter!

[@The_Tortoise.]

Good luck with 20 litres.

[@vincenthesselink]

What do you mean? You said that the volume is more like 15 liter in the video. Before buying I'd like to be sure that It's the full 20 Liter.@@The_Tortoise.

[@The_Tortoise.]

@@vincenthesselink I think you’ll struggle with 20 litres. I’d aim for 15 plus another bag

[@kovar2344]

great honest review, thank you. Yeah considering the premium price the lack of accessories is pretty bad. This is meant for bike packing and to not include the back light adaptor as a base is kinda weird and dishonest from them. Especially since they charge 20 bucks for that piece of metal if you want to buy it.

[@just_jay7078]

Surprised you did not get the version that has the removable bag while the rack remains???

[@The_Tortoise.]

The Aeropack was a tad lighter and less expensive.

[@just_jay7078]

Would that setup I mentioned be more useful or more of the same

[@The_Tortoise.]

It would have solved the ‘taking the bag into the hotel’ issue

[@WattZurHölle]

I like reviews where the reviewer just showcases that he doesn't know how to use the product, you even assembled the arch the wrong way. The bad thing is that people actually take this serious.

[@StephanBechert]

and you can clamp lower on the seatpost

[@The_Tortoise.]

But then you can’t open the bag very easily!!! I wish the opening was at the back of the bag to avoid the seat getting in the way.

[@enigma1000]

For a pure road bike it looks like the rack is higher than it needs be and the pack sits higher and further back than ideal. The gap between seatpin and bag is too big for optimum.

[@JakexBluexThomas]

Roy hodgson soundalike

[@iantosh4898]

More R&D required

[@kasperpaisa4245]

Overpriced system

[@sfdint]

Thing is it's so much better than all the other options.