Silca Maratona Minimo Gear Bag: Quick Review – by Guitar Ted
Traveling to an event, or even if you have to just haul your bike to a trailhead or to the outskirts of the city, requires you to be somewhat organized and intentional about your gear packing. Cycling specifics such as helmets, shoes, apparel, and accessories like pumps and bags, often have to be gathered for the short, or long haul. Don’t forget your nutrition, or the after ride apparel and whatnot. How one goes about organizing a potential tornado of ‘stuff’ is probably going to vary a lot. That said, I found a great tool that helped me a lot in this endeavor and it is called the Maratona Mimimo Gear Bag by Silca.
What It Is: the Maratona Minimo Gear Bag is Silca’s smaller sibling to their Maratona Gear Bag, which is a bag that strikes me as a more typical example of a cyclists gear bag. The Minimo, by contrast, is more the “overnight” bag to the regular sized Maratona’s “Samsonite suitcase” sized, vacation-type of an affair. That said, the Minimo just might be enough for many of us. Plus it has a customizable interior which can be configured to suit the user. Here’s what Silca has to say about this piece:
“The Maratona Minimo is a highly structured travel bag designed for customized gear organization and protection. The Minimo is a compact counterpart to the standard Maratona, with specialized pockets and adjustable dividers designed to separate and protect all of your expensive gear.”
The Maratona Minimo is a stately piece of gear organizational baggage. It looks like something a lawyer would be toting, and it is made very well, by all appearances. Water-resistant zippers, well stitched seams, and plenty of pockets on the bag that allow for various things to be stowed. Electronics can go into a fleece lined pocket and there is even two roll top “ditty bags” for shoes or worn items you want to keep separated from everything else.
The Maratona Minimo Gear Bag sells for $175.00. Here are the features, as listed by Silca, of this bag:
- Water-resistant TPU coated 600D construction with black reflective graphics
- Water-resistant external YKK zippers
- Two soft-lined external side pockets
- Configurable/removable internal divider
- Roll-top shoe and vented garment bag
- Internal water bottle storage loops and mesh storage compartments
- Removable shoulder strap
- Dimensions: 46cm x 33cm x 23cm (Meets airline size regulations for carry-on luggage)
The bag can be partially unzipped and opened as you might expect, but it also can be opened even further for even better access to the interior, or, presumably, to air it out easier after a trip. The interior has two mesh, zippered pockets on the underside of the “lid” and one open mesh pocket on one side. Two water bottle straps and the removable, configurable dividers make up the rest of the interior, which as you can see, is a rich red color.
In Use: I received this bag on a Monday after a weekend when I was supposed to have gone to a gravel ride in a city 80+ miles away from me. Unfortunately, I had forgotten to take my cycling shoes, and was not able to participate in the event. Now, I cannot claim that the Maratona Minimo Gear Bag would have prevented my forgetfulness, but I am thinking it would have helped me out in that way. It would have been quite apparent if my shoes weren’t in the bag. One look would have been all I needed to tell me something was amiss, since the Maratona Minimo is such a good way to organize gear. It definitely would have been easier to check the interior of the bag using the Minimo than with my old messenger bag I had been using.
After my disappointing weekend, I made a couple of shorter trips in the local area for testing other items for the site which I used the Maratona Minimo to stow my shoes, helmet, and eyewear in. The gear inserted into the available divider spaces like a glove, and it was super easy to carry the bag using the shoulder strap, which is removable. That strap is no cheapo, poor nylon strap thrown in as an “extra” either. It has a good, padded area for the shoulder and that bit is embossed with the Silca insignia. Pure class all the way.
Finally, I had an event 300 miles from home and the Maratona Minimo was an important part of the organization of things I needed for this event. I got all my cycling gear into the Minimo with ease and room to spare. This made last minute checking a breeze and organizing my kit also made getting suited up the day of the event a lot less stressful.
At The Finish: It is true- one could get any old bag and organize their stuff. I mean, one could just “get by”. That said, the Silca Maratona Minimo is attractive, seems durable, holds its shape, and does all that while also organizing your gear very well. So, essentially there are no compromises with the Minimo, unless you need more space. (Then there is the larger Maratona) I liked the minimal size, (it is carry-on sized for air travel) which limits my “taking too much” tendencies. There are plenty of places to store things, and I also liked that you can completely remove the divider, which would make cleaning out the interior of this bag a snap.
Besides all of that, the Silca Maratona Minimo just looks boss, as many Silca products do. One takes some pride in ownership of their products, and that is matched by the performance, in most cases. The Maratona Minimo is one of Silca’s better efforts, and if you could use a smaller gear bag, look no further. The Minimo is top notch.
Note: Silca sent over the Maratona Minimo Gear Bag to RidingGravel.com at no charge for test and review. We were not bribed, nor paid for this review and we strive to give our honest thoughts and impressions throughout.
I was impressed by that bag when you were here last weekend. Silca has a lot of good stuff going on right now…
$ilca.