TESTED: 76 Projects Spares Solutions
76 Projects are a small brand out of the UK. The two owners have turned their skills from industrial design to designing and manufacturing high quality problem solving products. They have an extensive list of unique products to solve all kinds of problems, from Garmin or Wahoo mounts for all manner of locations to a variety of on bike storage solutions.
The Piggy utilises the standard water bottle bosses on your frame to mount both your water bottle cage and your spares, with a strap to hold your multi-tool, tube, tyre lever and CO2 and a dedicated spot for a master link all in the one design. It does this with a long plastic strip with rubber which mounts to your frame. This relocates the bottle cage slightly higher on the frame which allows room for spares underneath on a moulded piece at the end of the plastic strip.
This neat little design ensures a sturdy fit to the frame without the use of a strap which can wear through paint. There is little to no movement of your spares with this design which drastically reduces the risk of things coming loose. It further keeps the weight of your spares relatively low and central which means balance and handling of the bike isn’t impacted.
Fitting the Piggy to your bike depends on a few key factors such as; bottle cage type (side entry vs standard), frame size (larger frames or frames with more room inside the front triangle is preferred) and rear suspension layout (if applicable).
As the Piggy moves the bottle cage higher up in the front triangle you may find the need to switch to a side entry cage to maintain the size bottle you typically run or switch to a smaller bottle if this is an option.
You may run into issues mounting the Piggy into a small frame but this depends on the design of the frame. Which leads me to rear suspension layout. If you have a large frame but have a shock with an extra piggyback oil reservoir then your overall space within the front triangle will be reduced and you may also have issues with mounting the Piggy. For reference I have a large Giant Reign which has generous front triangle space, but due to the shocks piggyback oil reservoir I had to switch to a side entry cage and a 500ml bottle to fit the Piggy into my frame without clearance issues.
While the setup process can be a tedious process of trial and error to find the right spot, 76 projects have included excellent instructions with all their products as well as all necessary mounting hardware including rubber spacers and a silicon band to hold all your spares together which make the overall assembly and install of the Piggy much easier.
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Once fitted the Piggy is very much set and forget. Since having it installed on my bike I have had no issues of my spares, bottle cage or the whole product coming loose. Moreover, it certainly makes getting ready for rides easier, knowing I have everything I need on my bike already before rolling out saves me time on rummaging through my duffle bag looking for a spare tube without a hole in it.
While the Piggy is certainly a high quality product the $49.95 price may be a bit steep for some. Although when compared to the price of buying a pack to carry your spares on rides, the price seams a lot more affordable. In my opinion, integrated storage systems in bike designs are the future, but until all bike manufactures adopt this design products like these certainly have their place in the market and come in very handy at times.
I would recommend the Piggy to all those riders who like to be prepared for any and all situations on a ride. Those looking for more on bike storage, rather than on body storage. Such people as Gravel, Marathon or Enduro riders and for even your road bike riders (if that floats your boat).
Hits:
- Sturdy
- High Quality
- Great Design
Misses:
- Fiddly setup
- Could be considered expensive
- Doesn’t fit all Mountain bike designs
RRP: $49.95
From: fullbeam.com.au
