In the Bag!
Subtly adding so much to the ride
Perhaps it’s because I don’t like emptying them, or maybe it’s because I think that they’re ugly and take too much from the style of a bike, but I really dislike top boxes. Rather, the rucksack is, in my humble opinion, always the way to go.
It stays with you. Nothing ‘settles’ or moves about in one. I tend to empty mine quite frequently and as such I very rarely carry anything that I don’t really need on the day that I’m carrying it.
Another reason to use them is the airport and the short trip away. Getting through security without it being a massive production relies, in a large part, to having ones act together upon arrival at security and again at the gate. Packing a bag in the carpark from a top box doesn’t even bare thinking about. Put the belt, the jewellery, the money and the passport in one outside pocket, throw the bag into the scanner and wait for it to reappear on the other side. Re acquaint yourself with the afore mentioned bits and off you go. Life at the boarding gate is a breeze as it's never going to be deemed to be oversize.
Not too sure about that helmet...
A good rucksack has to meet a number of different criteria. It needs a number of pockets. These should be, no must be, functional. Internal pockets help me to organise myself so much better. A sleeve for a laptop, a small indiscrete pocket for an airtag, external ones for water bottles. And at least one for quick access, perhaps for keys or a wallet. A place for everything and everything in it’s place works so well for those of us who have an ‘artistic’ outlook on organisation. The other thing that isn’t up for debate. It must be waterproof. In a country where the weather forecast reads like a politicians promise this last one is incredibly important.
One of the cool things about this job is being presented with new stuff that meets all a riders requirements and meets a few more that I never realised that I had. For the last few weeks I’ve been using the new Studio Rucksack MK3. My old Kriega had many, many more miles on it than I was ever prepared to admit and while I was reluctant to move away from something so well proven I needn’t have worried.
A perfect fit
Having used a number of other pieces in the Knox range I’ve always been impressed with the quality. The new bag is no different. The outer is made with a 600 denier fabric. This basically means that the fibre weight and thickness has a working compromise between strength and weight. A layer of waterproofing is built in internally. This makes for a ‘bag within a bag’ and works very well since that in order to impact the waterproofing I’d need to have worn through the outer fabric.
Using the bag, if that doesn’t sound overly complicated, is simple. The roll top closure has its own buckle and cover which makes it incredibly easy to fill or load. With a 28 litre capacity it can take a hell of a lot! The two handles on either side of the roll top are so simple yet so practical!
There’s a single padded pocket for my laptop that sits against the back of the bag which is also padded. This makes for a perfectly safe ‘envelope’ of sorts. The rest of the bag is one piece but the base, and I really like this bit, is like the sole of a bike boot! It’s designed to absorb all the wear and tear of placing the bag on the ground.
Along with the Tor jacket, it's enough for a short trip away
This does two things. One it keeps the bag in one piece, and two, it protects the luggage from damage. Then, brilliantly, the designers decided to use their own Micro-Lock body armour as an additional internal liner on the base of the bag. It's a shock obsorbing rucksack. That nausea that I feel when I drop my kit bag with my MacBook in it seems to be lessening...
On the outside there’s a mid mounted pocket with a vulcanised YKK zip. It’s the only zip on the bag and it has just enough space to squeeze a paperback book into. Therefore it meets my requirement to have an outer and easily accessible outside pocket. On closer inspection it also holds a very clever helmet bag, that when used correctly provides the helmet with three tie down points onto the rear of the bag. And as my spiritual advisor, Louis C, would say. “You’re always going to need three points of contact.”
And then there’s a very clever packing cube. This allows me to pack a bag within a bag. It makes using the rucksack easier as I don’t have to dig through my clothes to find a piece of kit that I might need during the day.
No topbox needed
The body of the bag is really easy to clean. A simple polyester canvas, it responds well to a wipe of a wet cloth when it comes to getting rid of road dirt. Cleverness such as the subtle branding and the reflective strips that are ‘hidden’ in the design are easy to appreciate.
One of the big tests for me was always going to be the wearability of the bag. There are three straps; The shoulders the chest and the waist.
The shoulders are adjustable when they are both on and off the rider. Each side has a number. Match the numbers for a perfectly balanced load. Ingenious! Add a simple elasticated stay to keep the rest of the strap from flapping about and something that I had never thought about suddenly becomes something that I couldn’t, ever again, do without.
Unobstructed riding
Add the same adjustability to the waist and chest straps and any rider, even me, can get the perfectly fitted rucksack every time. This not only makes it comfortable to wear, it also spreads out the load to make it seem weightless. A padded ‘spacer mesh’ on the back of it makes an effective second layer of protection for the unfortunate laptop and aids the wearers efforts to remain less sweaty and by association more socially acceptable.
here in Ireland