Review: Revelate Designs Pronghorn

It is a harness system. So it is a handlebar and bag clamping system. Any bag can be used, even the one you already have at home, but it should be noted that Revelate does not supply a mount separately, only the bag can be purchased separately.

The clamping system is made of the notorious VX21 material and weighs 165 grams. Don’t look for anything complicated on it. Just a handlebar mount with spacers, two straps to attach the bag, a neck attachment with a soft protective pad, and two additional clips designed to attach an additional bag (these do not need to be fitted).

There are four spacers on each side, so you can adjust the distance from the handlebars to your liking. The neck attachment can also be adjusted in three positions. Attaching to the handlebars is quick and easy. The first time you’ll play around a bit with the placement of the bovdens and tubing, it takes a bit of practice, but there’s always a solution. I do have one minor reservation about the handlebar mount and that is the instability of the attachment. During the day, if I was riding off-road, the straps would come loose and I was forced to stop and tighten the straps several times. Eventually I sorted it out on the hog. I tied the two ends together with a knot and the problem was over. Here’s where I kind of fail to understand that the manufacturer didn’t use the same system as on the strap used to attach the neck strap. There is, in fact, a small lock that snaps when pulled. The stability could be improved a little more.

The complete opposite is the bag attachment system. For this purpose, there are two, sufficiently long straps, which are equipped with buckles that you clip into each other, tighten and click the lock and lo and behold, nothing will ever come loose and you can go out in the field with complete ease. The attachment of the additional bag is just as stable as the tightening is equipped with a safety lock. When I use the additional bag, however, I choose carefully what I put in the additional bag and usually choose things that I want to have on hand after the ride is over, or that I want to have with me at night.

The reason is simple. You simply can’t take the bag off without unzipping the additional bag. And believe me, you’ll get very annoyed within a few days. So I opt for the option: sleeping bag, sleeping bag, and sleeping gear in the bag. In the additional bag, a power bank, cables, toilet paper, food and other small things that I want to have on hand at all times. I think I’ve exhausted all the information about the harness and now let’s focus on the bag itself.

It is customary for Revelate Designs to use bags that are accessible from both sides. This is not the case with the Proghorn drybag. It only has access from one side, it’s hard to say why this is the case, but I suspect it’s to reduce weight. It is a whopping 93 grams, and that’s, get this, in size L, with a capacity of a respectable 23 litres. It is also possible to get the drybag in 7.5 and 11 litres. The bag is made from Revelate’s exclusive UHMWPE fabric Stratex 400 and I can’t tell you more about the material. The only thing I can share with you is that it is waterproof, ultralight and highly durable. There is a video on the manufacturer’s website about the durability of Stratex 400, but I didn’t have the courage to run these tests on my own test equipment, so I’m putting this video here for you.

The bag is also applicable for other harness systems. Due to the presence of only one opening, packing is a matter of moments. Fill the top of the drybag, which I have never been able to do with a 23 litre capacity, squeeze out the air, roll it up, snap it shut and you’re done.

As I mentioned above, the stability and tightness of the bag’s fit is perfect, and that’s mostly due to the locks that prevent the tightened strap from coming loose once it’s buckled.

I travelled most of the roads with the Revelate Designs Pronghorn handlebar bag last year and even after less than a year of intensive use it shows no signs of damage. Except it’s dirty as hell. Currently, the Pronghorn is one of my favorite pieces of gear and if I had to decide again whether to get this bag, the answer would be yes, except I’d choose a smaller size.