Product Review: Detours Mighty Midge Stem Bag

Last week I went into my bike shop looking for a way to keep my cell phone handy while I ride. Since the baby's due date is less than two months away, I'd like to keep the phone some place I can actually hear it ring, and that would not be in my seat bag. Besides, since I switched to the small Banjo Brothers bag that Fatty gave away with the 100 Miles of Nowhere registration, it takes some work to jam a cell phone in there, too.

They showed me two options, one attached to your seat tube and had only enough room for a phone. The other was the Detours Mighty Midge Stem Bag, which, as I said out loud when I picked it up, has room for a digital camera. So I bought the Mighty Midge.

At first, I was a little concerned that the bag might be in the way, being right up there next to my computer and handlebars and all. But once I had it installed, I realized that I never use that area anyways. It did slightly obstruct my view of my cyclocomputer, but unless you need instant feedback from your bike every moment of a ride, this shouldn't be an issue.

The Mighty Midge is the perfect size to hold a camera in the main compartment, a cell phone in the smaller compartment on the flap and a little cash to buy Red Bull and Vitamin Water at a rest stop.


I don't recommend putting much more in it. On my "perfect ride" on Saturday, I discovered that if you overstuff the main compartment by say, putting a handkerchief in it, the flap doesn't close properly and magnets that keeps that main flap shut are less effective.

My only complaint about the Mighty Midge are those magnets used to keep the flap closed. They're a nice idea if you ride on well-paved roads, but if you use this on a mountain bike or if you have some rough pavement you'll find that the flap sometimes pops open. Fortunately, this won't make anything fall out of the bag, since both compartments are held shut with zippers, but it is annoying. Also, I found that if you put change in the clear plastic sleeve it puts some extra space between those magnets making their fastening power even weaker.

That being said, I never realized what a pain using a seatbag is until I didn't have to use it. I don't what the Mighty Midge does to your aerodynamics, but it does make it a lot easier to whip out your cell phone or camera while you're still straddling your bike - albeit at rest, I haven't tried pulling anything out on the fly yet - and wouldn't do so with my camera, but if I needed quick access to my cell phone, I could get it out much easier than reaching back below my seatbag.

I definitely plan to keep the Mighty Midge and use it on most of my longer rides, and any ride that I want to have "better than cellphone quality" photos from. If you like having a camera with you and don't like the awkwardness of reaching into a saddle bag and aren't ready to put a big (freddish) handlebar bag on the front of your bike, you'll find the Mighty Midge to be an excellent third option.

The Mighty Midge is available at REI.