Musguard Handlebar Harness Turns Simple Roll

Mar 15, 2024

Musguard have stamped out something unique with their simple and lightweight new bikepacking-style Handlebar Harness to securely carry more gear on your bars, then roll-up out of the way when not in use. Based on a simple sheet of recycled plastic like their fenders, a basic set of loops hang it off your bar, but it’s the single cam strap that secures your gear in place off of the stem that makes for secure and easy-to-use gear hauling.

Much like the Slovenian company’s roll-up fenders, MusGuard figured they could stamp out and roll-up a simple and ultralight solution to carrying gear in a bar bag for bikepacking. Their Handlebar Harness takes the classic bikepacking harness+bag concept and pares it back to the basics.

The harness doesn’t really have to carry the load itself. Instead, Musguard’s solution can work by simply cradling whatever you want to haul, and let their single strap looped over your stem distribute the tightening force AND keep the loaded harness from moving over bumpy terrain.

What makes the EU-made Musguard Handlebar Harness unique is its lightweight simplicity.

The key is a classic 2-loop design that mounts the lightweight roll-up plastic harness to your bars, kept off the bar so there is room for your finders on the top with a set of foam spacers like many bikepacking bar bags & harnesses. But that’s not what secures or stabilizes your gear.

Instead, a long single strap winds its way through slots on one side of the harness, then loops over your stem, then the loops on the other half of the harness, then looped under your stem from the top before finishing in a locking ratchet and buckle. At first, it seems kind of like a convoluted solution to use one strap, but it makes for a really simple, super secure setup. (In fact, the over-under stem-loop stabilization is the same concept as on the more complex QR bar bag from Ortlieb that I really like, once I figured out its stem straps.)

Ride as hard as you want off-road over bumpy terrain, and as long as you have that one strap secured, your gear shouldn’t bounce, and won’t hit your headtube or your front tire!

The whole harness setup weighs just a claimed 148g. There’s no bag included in that, but the 350mm wide harness x 400mm in wrap-around length is designed to haul all types of bike adventure-ready gear. Stick a tent bag, a sleeping bed roll, a stuff-sack, or even a bundle of firewood in there – and pedal away.

The harness itself is made of 0.8mm thick recycled polypropylene (PP) plastic with a few extra holes to help secure your gear. But it is the 173cm long heavy-duty strap that gives it the heavy load capacity. Musguard says they haven’t quite found the weight limit for their new Handlebar Harness, since it’s more of a volume limit – that strap length means you can carry about a roll of about a max 25cm in diameter.

A G-shaped aluminum hook on the end makes it easier to loop in all of your gear, and a nylon locking cam buckle helps you make it all secure. Plus, when you don’t have anything to haul you can just roll it all up and ride with a much smaller frontal profile.

The made-in-Slovenia Musguard Handlebar Harness sells for 49€ in black only for now. But they’ve also shown us an orange & a blue version to match some of their gravel fenders, and we can imagine it would be too long until they offered other colors, if you ask nicely.

That includes the recycled plastic harness, 2x silicone backed loop & 4x 1cm EVA foam spacers to mount it to your bar, and the 1.73m long strap & buckle to secure your bundle. Musguard does not have a stuff sack / roll-top bag to offer with the harness yet, but one is apparently in the works.

Musguard.com