Is Decathlon Gear Good for Bikepacking?

Forclaz Is Now Simond

If you searched for the Forclaz MT900, you will find it under another name. Decathlon began moving its Forclaz trekking range to the Simond label in March 2024, and the 0°C down bag is now listed on decathlon.co.uk as the Simond MT900. Some Forclaz-labelled stock is still on sale, so expect both names for a while.

Four Decathlon labels matter for bikepacking. Simond makes the sleeping bags, pads and trekking tents, and Quechua covers mainstream camping kit. The bikepacking bags sit in Rockrider's ADVT range (one half-frame bag still carries the Riverside name), while Van Rysel and Triban make gravel bikes, shoes and bottles rather than luggage.

Where Decathlon Is Strong: Sleep

The MT900 0°C is why this brand comes up in bikepacking at all. Decathlon says every sleeping bag it sells carries comfort and limit temperatures measured by an independent lab, AITEX, to ISO 23537-1:2022, and for the MT900 those are 0°C comfort and -5°C limit. Enlightened Equipment, by contrast, says the ratings on its own site may not match its EN test results.

The construction is better than the price suggests. Size L weighs 930 g with 495 g of fill: 800 cuin RDS duck down on top and 700 cuin recycled down underneath, where your body crushes it anyway. The shell is 10 denier polyamide with a 30 denier ripstop grid, and Decathlon publishes an abrasion figure for it of 80,000 Martindale cycles.

It cost £169.99 when we checked in early October, and the UK product page lists a five-year warranty. Published fill weight, fill power and an independent rating, at that price, make the strong case for Decathlon, and it is a real one.

Where It Is Weaker: Grams

Weight is where Decathlon gives ground, and it shows when you line its kit up against specialist makers. No single gap below is large, but they add up across a bike.

Job	Decathlon	Specialist benchmark	Gap
0°C sleeping	Simond MT900 0°C bag, size L: 930 g, ISO limit -5°C, £169.99	Enlightened Equipment Revelation 20°F quilt: about 630 g, maker's own rating	About 300 g heavier
Three-season pad	Simond MT900 insulating pad, L: 570 g, R5.4 (ASTM), £119.99	Therm-a-Rest NeoAir XLite NXT Regular: 370 g, R4.5 (ASTM), $199.95 list	200 g heavier, warmer on paper
Seatpack	Rockrider ADVT 900 harness and 6 to 15 L drybag: 724 g, £87.98	Restrap Big Saddle Holster, 14 L: 640 g, $148 in August	About 85 g heavier

The sleeping bag gap is partly a bag-versus-quilt gap, and the two ratings are not measured the same way, so read that 300 g as approximate. If the quilt question is the real one, our quilt versus sleeping bag comparison covers it. The pad gap is cleaner: Decathlon's is warmer on paper and 200 g heavier, at a lower list price.

The Bags: Cheap, Watertight, Particular About Your Bike

The ADVT 900 saddle system is a harness plus a separate 6 to 15 litre drybag, the holster layout small makers charge more for. The drybag is TPU-laminated 600D polyester with welded construction and a purge valve, and Decathlon says it was tested to IPX6. TOUR magazine weighed the pair at 717 g and listed "quite heavy" among the drawbacks, close to Decathlon's own 724 g.

The mount is where it gets particular. Decathlon lists the harness as incompatible with suspension seatposts, full-suspension bikes, oval or rectangular posts, XS frames and any saddle less than 23 cm from the rear wheel. Measure that last one before you order, because small frames are the ones most likely to fall short.

Decathlon's own advice video on bag positions is below. It is useful for sizing even if you buy your bags elsewhere.

Watch on YouTube

The Pairing Trap

Decathlon's MT900 page recommends a pad of at least R4.8 under the bag and says warmth drops below that. The Simond MT500 Air, the cheap Decathlon pad beside it on the shelf, is R1.5 and rated by Decathlon for nights above 8°C.

If you want an all-Decathlon setup, the matching pad is the MT900 insulating mat at R5.4. Putting a 0°C bag on the MT500 Air means paying for warmth the ground will take.

Warranty, Returns And Where You Can Buy It

In the UK, every Decathlon-brand product carries at least two years' warranty for members, and membership is free. Some lines get more: five years on the MT900 bag, ten on Quechua and Forclaz backpacks, and lifetime cover on metal bike frames.

Members also get 365 days to return unwanted items, against 30 days for everyone else. The catch is the word unwanted. Returns must be unused, clean and in the original packaging, so this is not a try-it-on-a-trip scheme.

The US is different. Decathlon closed its last two US stores, both in the San Francisco Bay Area, in early 2022 and kept selling through decathlon.com, where returns run 30 days and warranty length is set per product. When we checked the US site on 6 October 2026, its sleeping-bag collection listed only a repair-patch kit, the MT500 Air pads showed as sold out and the ADVT bikepacking bags did not come up at all.

What To Buy And What To Skip

In the UK and Europe, the MT900 bag and the MT900 pad are the strongest value in the range, and the published ratings mean you know what you are buying. The ADVT 900 saddle system is a fair buy if your saddle clears the 23 cm rule and you are not counting grams.

Skip the MT500 Air for anything but summer. For the rest of a cheap setup, our budget gear list covers what Decathlon does not. In the US, plan around what is actually in stock, because right now that is very little of the range above.