B
Brian Hughes
Guest
I received an AngleTech Areotrunk last week. Here's my opinion of it after several days of riding
with it mounted on my RANS Tailwind.
- First off, it's very big, 2850 cubic inches (that's the primary reason I bought it). My old 1250
cubic inch bag just wasn't large enough for my winter commuting. I often carry extra warm clothes
in addition to carrying my work clothes/laundry, lunch box, repair kits, etc back and forth
to/from work-and sometimes I had to use a bungy cord to strap some of my clothes on the outside
of the bag. With the AngleTech Aerotrunk, it all fits inside nicely.
- Second, it does seem to make my Tailwind a little faster. In truth, I really haven't ridden with
it long enough to know if it is just a placebo effect, or if it really does make a difference.
AngleTech's advertisement states their riders were 2 - 3 mph faster with the Aerotrunk. My speed
increase hasn't been that dramatic, about 1-mph (but hey, that's still a step in the right
direction). However, I'll have to ride a bit further before I can conclude that the Aerotrunk is
truly the cause of it.
- Finally, it does look nice on the Tailwind (I bought a red one that matches the paint on my
Tailwind quite well).
- On the negative side, the bag is supposedly designed to hold its aerodynamic shape. There is a
semi-rigid plastic liner material that serves as the framework. Unfortunately, my bag showed up
with a relatively large dent in the plastic, causing a rather ugly dent visible on the side of the
Aerotrunk. I'm not sure what cause the dent: I suspect a shipping accident, rather than poor
craftsmanship. I contemplated sending it back, but ended up fixing the problem by taping a
cardboard strut across the inside of the bag to push the dent back to its proper shape so the bag
looks nice and is in the proper aerodynamic shape.
Brian
with it mounted on my RANS Tailwind.
- First off, it's very big, 2850 cubic inches (that's the primary reason I bought it). My old 1250
cubic inch bag just wasn't large enough for my winter commuting. I often carry extra warm clothes
in addition to carrying my work clothes/laundry, lunch box, repair kits, etc back and forth
to/from work-and sometimes I had to use a bungy cord to strap some of my clothes on the outside
of the bag. With the AngleTech Aerotrunk, it all fits inside nicely.
- Second, it does seem to make my Tailwind a little faster. In truth, I really haven't ridden with
it long enough to know if it is just a placebo effect, or if it really does make a difference.
AngleTech's advertisement states their riders were 2 - 3 mph faster with the Aerotrunk. My speed
increase hasn't been that dramatic, about 1-mph (but hey, that's still a step in the right
direction). However, I'll have to ride a bit further before I can conclude that the Aerotrunk is
truly the cause of it.
- Finally, it does look nice on the Tailwind (I bought a red one that matches the paint on my
Tailwind quite well).
- On the negative side, the bag is supposedly designed to hold its aerodynamic shape. There is a
semi-rigid plastic liner material that serves as the framework. Unfortunately, my bag showed up
with a relatively large dent in the plastic, causing a rather ugly dent visible on the side of the
Aerotrunk. I'm not sure what cause the dent: I suspect a shipping accident, rather than poor
craftsmanship. I contemplated sending it back, but ended up fixing the problem by taping a
cardboard strut across the inside of the bag to push the dent back to its proper shape so the bag
looks nice and is in the proper aerodynamic shape.
Brian