Phone and wallet solution when cycling

I am an all year round cyclist. The weather rarely stops me from going on my commute to work on my Brompton, going on long distance cycling adventures or travelling through the night in all seasons. If you take a backpack, saddle bag or when on a Brompton one of the many bags you can place on the front carrier block, you can of course put your phone, wallet and keys in there. However, what happens if you want to go minimalist and not carry everything and the kitchen sink?

Like many of you I have used plastic freezer bags to carry my phone/wallet when the wet stuff is about to fall and there is nothing wrong with that. I have also used those small plastic see-through wallets you sometimes get free in cycling magazines. I have been looking for something else.

A couple of solutions came my way in the post the other day. They are both by Lezyne and both offer protection from the elements for phone, wallet, money, keys etc. 

The first is the Lezyne Phone Wallet. This costs anything from £11 to £15 depending on where you shop and is a very basic single fold wallet that allows you to carry quite a lot.

Lezyne Phone Wallet

• Mobile phone in a a water resistant zipped pocket that has a seam weld and clear plastic panel   allowing you to use the phone
• Four slots for credit cards, notes or combinations of these
• Zipped pocket for coins, keys, notes
• Zip loop so that you can gain entry to the phone compartment easily even when wearing gloves
• Weight 120g
• Dimensions 145 x 100 x 25mm

The phone section allows me to fit my iPhone SE - which is the same size as any of the iPhone 5's but it does fit phones the size of the iPhone 6.

Holing my iPhone SE with ease

Card / note slots

The phone can happily be operated via the plastic screen and does not need to be taken out of  the case for turning on and off.

The wallet can be placed in any jersey pockets and once there is barely noticeable, even when full with all your bits and pieces. Incidentally, I was also able to fit a car key in the zipped compartment. 

Zipped compartment

Large zip puller

The phone compartment is the only part that is fully water resistant but the material of the the case does offer some water proofing.

Having started to use bib shorts more and generally trying to be more and more minimalist in what I carry with me when cycling, I do like the idea of having this wallet with phone, cards, notes etc.., all in one location. Using it on a few rides I barely registered that it was even there. For the moment at least I suspect I will definitely use this wallet a great deal in the autumn and winter when the weather can be unpredictable.

The next wallet from Lezyne is the Caddy Sack. This is a much simpler affair. This is a basic sack that can be sued to hold everything the above can hold. 

Lezyne Caddy Sack

There are two version, small and medium. I have the medium which weighs in at 50g with dimensions of 180 x 130mm. 

The Caddy Sack can hold all of the above and although a little larger when filled, can still be happily stowed in a jersey pocket, offering full water resistance - assuming the sack is closed properly. 

Roll closure

The Caddy Sack is £5 - £10 but if you shop around you can get it for less. 

I used the Caddy Sack on the Ride46 and liked it a great deal for its total simplicity and homage to the freezer bags I have normally used in the past. The Wallet I used at the Bikeathon and didn't notice it was there for the entire ride.

Which do I prefer? If it were a night ride to the coast or longer ride, I think I'd prefer the Caddy Sack. For general cycling in and around London the Wallet would be better for me. Of course I have both to choose from but if it had to be one of the other, I would go for the Wallet.