BOMBER STRAP REVIEW

MAGNETIC MEGA BOMBER

Review by Marissa Krawczak

The Bomber Strap is a minimalistic tailgate pad that works with any truck and any bike. It is meant to be a mini version of the traditional, full-length tailgate pad designed to maximize the owner’s options for carrying non-bike equipment in the bed as well as offering an unobstructed view from the backup camera. Although they have been in production for a few years now, they recently introduced their new Magnetic Mega Bomber. Since its magnetic fasteners and wider interface seem, well, bomber, we were interested to see how it would perform on our commutes to the trailhead.

THE LAB
The Magnetic Mega Bomber Strap is made from high-quality nylon canvas put together with super tough stitching, for long-lasting durability on all your future commutes to the trailhead. Its slim design holds one bike and prevents any blockages of the tailgate handle and the backup camera that a large bulky tailgate pad might. The strap fastens together around the tailgate with a thick piece of webbing that feeds through an anodized aluminum buckle that clamps together for locking securement.

This tailgate pad features a down tube strap and a fork strap, each with magnetic fidlock buckles for smooth and quick fastening and releasing of your bike. They can be adjusted via canvas rungs depending on your bike size. The Magnetic Mega Bomber Strap also comes with an elastic rotation control strap that goes around your top tube and handlebar grip to really secure your tire angle over the tailgate. When not in use the control strap can be stowed in the zippered pocket on the face of the Bomber Strap.

THE DIRT
The first thing we said about the Magnetic Mega Bomber Strap was, “What about our friend’s bikes?” This of course can be remedied with the purchase of additional Bomber Straps which could be a good option if you like to have your backup camera and tailgate handle unobstructed and have the money to purchase more than one tailgate pad. Although newer tailgate pads on the market do feature a cut-out for backup cameras and will end up costing less than individual bombers in the long run. We could see the Bomber Strap being a good option to your traditional tailgate pad if you are doing solo-rides and do not like to have your tailgate pad on all the time. We ended up liking the ease of installment and removal of the Bomber Strap when we were not biking, which was not often, but it is nice to have options on rest days.

All the clips and buckles held the bike well, and the grippier material on the inside of the Bomber Strap was a nice addition compared to other tailgate pads and helped with any movement of the strap on the tailgate. The rotation control strap feature that goes around the handlebar and top tube seemed easy to lose as it is totally unattached to the pad itself. The control strap is a nice measure to reduce the chances of movement and reduces the likelihood of the front wheel rubbing on the tailgate. We did try to run the set up without the control strap but found the front wheel rub on the tailgate as a downfall. Also, if we forgot to grab the control strap out of the zippered pocket before loading the bike, it was hard to get to because we would have to try to access it through the spokes of the front wheel.

The magnetic buckles on the down tube and fork strap smoothly and quickly clipped and released and are cleaner looking and more durable than traditional Velcro closures on other tailgate pads. The straps themselves were hard to tighten down when attached and needed to be adjusted before attaching the magnetic clips. This was not a problem for the down tube strap, but we found the fork strap hard to access through the front wheel if it needed to be adjusted. The canvas adjustment rungs for the down tube and fork straps were also a bit tight to just feed the strap through, so the buckles did need to be removed if adjustments were required for different sized bikes. We found adjustments did need to be made often on the Magnetic Mega Bomber Strap from bike to bike and ate up more time compared to standard tailgate pads. This probably is not a huge issue for people who only own one or two bikes instead of testers who are constantly swapping between bikes with varying sized tubes.

The canvas material and detailed construction of the Magnetic Mega Bomber Strap truly is bomber. It has a military-inspired aesthetic overall with dark camo print and a Velcro American flag feature, adding to the overall toughness in quality and construction. Overall, in our opinion, Bomber Strap leads the pack in quality construction and materials compared to other tailgate pad options on the market but has too many little moving parts that need to be adjusted or placed for securement.

The Wolf’s Last Word

The Magnetic Mega Bomber Strap from Bomber Strap would be a great addition to your traditional tailgate pad if you like to have options when transporting your bike, especially on those solo days, or if you just have one bike and use your truck bed space for hauling other things simultaneously. If you often shuttle rides with buddies, a traditional tailgate pad would be a more suitable option for you, but if you’re the one with the tiny truck that always jumps in the bigger truck for shuttles anyway, then a Bomber Strap would be something to look into. Although one bike always looks a bit lonely, hitting the trails is always fun and quality of the Bomber Strap is worth the investment if you have a place for a minimalistic option in your gear quiver.

Price: $138.00
Website: Bomberstrap.com