Does anyone have any experience with the Salsa EXP anything cradle for carrying a load on the front of your bars while bikepacking? It looks to give really good clearance for all the cables that normally get squashed by the soft harnesses that I normally use. I have also been looking at the Aeroe spider handlebar cradle which is a bit lighter, a ton cheaper, but seems to have less clearance. Also the Aeroe sits quite high so will probably rule out actual aero-bars. Im interested in views on any of these two systems. My application will mostly be for flat bar scenarios.
I have the Salsa. It’s a bit on the heavy side, but it’s rock solid even on rough terrain. Clearance for cables and not having the bag rub on the steerer tube were the reasons for me to go with the Salsa and thats exactly what you get. Would definately recommend it if you prefer this over a super lightweight setup.
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Thanks David. It looks like they are out of stock in most places anyway. My Cactus soft bags almost weigh as much the plastic cradles.
Yeah, it took me quite some time to get hold of one. Are you based in Europe? It’s in stock in some German shops.
I also have one on my mountain bike with OneUp V1 carbon handlebar. I bought the bundle with the side-load dry bag and the front pouch which are also very nice. I have used it on few one-nighters and on one a one-week long trip riding mostly gravel roads and some singletrack. I also bought it because I didn’t want the cables to get squeezed between the bar and the bag.
I happy with the setup but I did experience the gradle sliding down a bit during the last trip. Tightening the clamp bolts a bit more helped. It’s also possible that the bolts loosened itself because I didn’t reapply fresh threadlocker. The packed weight of the dry bag and pouch as about 2.5 kg.
Because of having a carbon bar, I have protected the bar with electric tape and tried to use as little torque as possible to tighten the bolts of the clamps. For the next trip I probably make sure not to overlap the tape and add some friction paste between it and the clamps. I’ll also make sure to reapply threadlocker to the bolts 
One thing to check is to make sure that your bar has enough flat bar next to the stem. On my bar I have just enough straight space for the clamps before the bar starts to raise. You don’t of course want to place clamps on a curved part of the handlebar.
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There is also now the Tailfin bar Cage.
https://www.tailfin.cc/product/bar-systems/bar-cage/?v=0b3b97fa6688
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In New Zealand. 239$ here.
Yes, getting flat bar real-estate is tricky these days for aero-bars too.
I wasn’t aware of that one. Looks excellent.
Dammm, I thought I was on the right track until I saw this… lol.. now it is time to review my plans. (Not a bad thing though.)
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I’ve been using the Salsa EXP cradle on an aluminum handlebar for a few trips now without issue, does exactly what it’s designed to do.
One issue I’ve run into is that it has been difficult to mount lights because anything mounted on the handlebar would be behind the bag. I recently saw a similar cradle that had a built-in light mount poking out above, I think it was reviewed on bikepacking.com but I can’t find it right now… If I were looking to replace the Salsa, I’d try to find something that addresses this issue.
Bela
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I think you are referring to this one:
I was between this and the Salsa and went with the Salsa since it has aluminium mounts and was cheaper. I use it with a Revelate Saltyroll, no issues on the HT 550 if packed tightly. If I had to add lights I would add a cheap accessory handlebar of Amazon.
The Tailfin looks nicer still, especially considering the bag integration. But it is a lot more expensive.
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If you angled the cradle down more would it be too close to the wheel? Typically I use aero bars as well and mount my lights off them (dynamo) and use a helmet mount for slow stuff. Maybe I should be looking at solutions that can use my aero bars as a mount/cradle.
Yeah, too much suspension to angle it down enough. I 3d printed a contraption to mount my lights for the last trip, which was ok but not great. For most trips, I don’t need lights, so it’s all good, and next time I’m doing a long trip where I’m riding into the night I wanted to try an aero bar anyway. So then indeed I will try to mount both bag and light off the aero bar somehow. Haven’t quite cooked up a plan yet…
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If I come up with anything I will share it. A friend of mine uses this method (a bodge), but I am not sure if there is anything commercially available. Maybe there’s a challenge there to come up with something home-made.