Hi! I own a trek domane and I am planning to use it for bikepacking. I am rather short (frame size 54) and the rough distance between saddle and seat stay is around 14,5 cm.
I haven’t been able to find a saddlebag option that would fit a decent amount of stuff and also fit the bike just yet.
Does anyone have any suggestions on saddle bags or would it be a better option to go for a rack? I appreciate any advice, thanks!
by chrollover
4 Comments
Your bike has mount points for a rack. Why not use them? Look at Tubus racks, I’m running the Vega evo.
(Those big saddle bags were invented for bikes without rack mounting points. Now everyone wants them, even though they’re not needed.)
You should definitely look at a rear rack. I prefer a saddlebag, personally, but you’ve got such a small amount of clearance below your saddle that you might not be able to get a secure mount on the seatpost and there’s a real chance of the saddle dropping onto your rear tire.
Even with a rack you may use mostly panniers due to the limited space from rack to saddle.
https://preview.redd.it/re1zrcp14dve1.jpeg?width=4080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e5b90a66d86045645ef347c4c23824efa9a71bbe
Short person Domane with rack. Size 49 frame!
First off, a 54 is not a SMALL frame by any means… It’s dead smack in the range of the Domane.
If you do ride with that low a seat you are likely to be a frame size too big (or two!) but without at least a full view of the bike it’s hard to say.
This said, the frame has rack mounts. Either that or try a seatpack craddle.
You can easily make your own if you want to test out some configs\possible solutions\what is requried before committing to buying somethign that may\may not work: [https://bikepacking.com/gear/upcycled-seat-harness-guide/](https://bikepacking.com/gear/upcycled-seat-harness-guide/)