While everyone seems to be making nifty little straps for attaching a few essentials to our frames these days, there is one brand whose offering truly stood out from the crowd. Occam Designs is a Denver, Colorado based manufacturer who utilize a BOA adjustment dial, rather than velcro for a frame strap. Recently they were kind enough to send us a sample of their “Apex” strap to tend to all of our on-frame stowage needs. Read on for the full review…
Details
- 26 grams
- BOA fit system for quick adjustments
- VX Diamond ripstop fabric
- Shock cord preload straps
- $35.00 USD
Starting on the inside, Occam uses a honey comb pattern rubber material to keep contents from slipping…
Then, elastic shock cords with rubber hose fittings keep the items in place.
The rubber hose also works to prevent the package from slipping on your frame as well as to prevent firmer contents like a CO2 from damaging your frame’s finish.
The BOA closures lace guide is open, which is necessary for taking the strap on and off.
Once fixed, the system provides a tough, sturdy fit on anything from skinny to fat tubes.
At a rather scant 26 grams, the Apex strap certainly doesn’t add much weight to your rig…
In use
I typically carry a Tubolito S-Tubo on my bike to save weight, and this meant that with the Apex strap, I had more than enough room for a tire lever, full size CO2 and a dynaplug racer kit. It was good to see how the Apex fared with a relatively small load – it was fine, but as you can see in the photo below, the BOA cord extends to be quite long. This leaves room for loads of stowage, regardless of how fat your spare tubes are…or your frame tubes for that matter. Regardless, I found it really easy to get a nice secure fit, while distributing pressure over the bulk of the stored parts nicely. With velcro style frame straps, you have to really harp on them and that can cause the contents to get unsettled and/or squished in certain areas. Regardless, using a BOA dial for this application was a brilliant move.
Another aspect of the Apex that proved to be quite handy was the fact that it’s really easy to have just one kit of spares prepped and ready to swap from bike-to-bike. Keeping everything together and moving the contents from my short travel bike, to my enduro, to my e-bike was a breeze. Lastly, it’s also worth pointing out the highly durable stitching and the VX Diamond Ripstop fabric, which is tough as hell. I’m well familiar with the material from its usage on Mission Workshop’s super high end apparel and bags, and there are few materials like it.
All in all, while the Occam Apex strap might not have a bunch of partitions and pockets, its simplicity and the fact that it leans on BOA for closure earn it high marks. It’s hands down the best frame strap I’ve used to date.
