For the bikepacker or long-distance commuter, the Topeak VersaCage mounts to your fork, downtube, or elsewhere to hold important round-shaped gear like sleeping bags, sleeping pads, tents or big water bottles.
Mounting & Weight
The Topeak VersaCage, which weighs in at a scant 4.5 ounces, comes with buckle straps and includes three VersaMount clamps just in case your forks don’t have braze-on’s or your bike lacks other areas on which to mount it.
Comparison with Blackburn Cages
Because not every cage is equal, I compared the Topeak VersaCage to the Blackburn cages I already own. Certainly, the Topeak VersaCage works for my gravel bike much better because the braze-on’s and screw holes are an exact match. That’s not the case with the Blackburn cages so I have to put it on the uppermost 2 braze-on’s or it won’t fit.
I do like the rounded shape of the Topeak VersaCage and I love that it comes with the VersaMounts. This would have been ideal for the last tour I did in Puerto Rico and when I had a bike that didn’t have fork braze-on’s. If that is your case, the Topeak VersaCage is for you and will help you get the braze-on’s you need.
The VersaCage’s straps are 27.25″ long, making them a little longer than Blackburn’s straps, which are 24″. With the longer straps of VersaCage, I was able to carry a larger sleeping pad with a 23.5″ circumference–something I couldn’t carry with the Blackburn straps. With that said, I could have still used a little longer straps.
Improvements
The one advantage the Blackburn had over the VersaCage was the no-slip texturizing in the straps. This could be an excellent added feature for the VersaCage in order to keep sleeping bags and the such from sliding as their straps are just material and nothing prevents slipping. If you have the straps around something larger, as I did, it can slip. I had to stop once to fix this on one occasion with a larger item in the VersaCage.
