The Pizza Rack and Bag

Specialized Pizza Rack and Bag – $90

The Pizza Rack and Bag derive its name not from the payload size of its top platform, which is a size small pepperoni only, but rather from its packaging. The top platform is a separate piece from the two sides, which ship disassembled in a pizza-shaped box. It goes together with a handful of screws and is adjustable to mate with a wide variety of bikes, as long as they have mid-fork eyelets. I used it with the Tumbleweed Prospector reviewed in this issue. One nice feature of this design is that it doesn’t require eyelets near the dropouts, which these days are often cast aside in favor of more complex axles and dropouts. Even some carbon fiber forks have mid-fork eyelets these days, including the one found on Specialized’s own Sequoia.

Built from aluminum with 13 mm tubes, I can tell you from first glance this rack isn’t something you’re going to want to use to drag the entirety of your belongings on an around-the-world expedition. It is, however, just fine for light-duty and it’s rated to 33 pounds, which is enough to make you rethink piling that much stuff on the front end of your bike.

The side panels have rails for attaching small panniers, but the emphasis is on “small.” These won’t be mistaken for proper low-riders. It works great with the Pizza Bag, but I would have liked to see Specialized add those small nubs on the underside of the rack to prevent bungee hooks from sliding off. If you want to secure a cardboard box, for example, you have to be crafty with your hook placement.

The Pizza Rack is a simple and less-expensive option for folks looking to get their toe into the flat-rack lifestyle. I wouldn’t recommend it for expedition use, but for around- town grocery-getting’, it goes just fine.

Specialized Pizza Bag – $100

Designed specifically to pair with the Pizza Rack, this boxy bag is held on by big Velcro straps that keep it stable and secure. It retains its shape thanks to some internal padding, and its slick, urethane-coated exterior kept my contents dry when I used it in extended rains. I wouldn’t call it waterproof, but it’s certainly “weatherproof.”

The roll-top design helps here since there is no zipper to leak. Just close the opening with a single snap then secure it with the large Velcro strap across the top. I wish this strap was a bit longer to facilitate overstuffing the bag, but I could see how you could easily get carried away. It was long enough to shove a jacket under it when the bag was closed, which is handy. It also held an ax I found on the side of the road, but I don’t really think it was designed for that.

The features here are pretty spartan, with a mesh inner pocket and two exterior pockets. The vertical webbing on the front is reflective, but I would have rather it been horizontal like a traditional MOLLE webbing so you could strap things to it or hang a blinky light on it. I’d also love to see a shoulder strap so you could detach it and bring it with you.

In fact, this has been one of the big hangups for me in terms of the “philosophy of use.” For touring or adventuring, it’s a nice way to keep items handy or carry bulky items like stoves, food, or tools, as long as you don’t overload it and make your steering a nightmare. For around town, it’s far too much of a theft magnet, and with no way to remove it and bring it with you easily, I would much prefer a basket.