Road commuting rucksack

[annirak]

Thanks to @vickster, I've now gotten completely indecisive about whether to add a rack to the road bike or buy a rucksack

 

[vickster]

Happy to help

You fractured your neck, check with your consultant or GP but I wouldn't carry a rucksack with a laptop in it of anything solid with sharp corners

 

[Billy Wizz]

I went for a Berghaus Freeflow 20 from a local "outdoors" type shop, half price in a sale. Don't use it everday as I carry clothes in on a Monday when i have to take little one to nursery and the dirty clothes home on a Friday when I also do the nursery run.

However when I do use it it's stable, secure and doesn't get my back hot. Also comes with built in waterproof cover.

+1
Its all i have ever used for the past few years.

 

[annirak]

Happy to help

You fractured your neck, check with your consultant or GP but I wouldn't carry a rucksack with a laptop in it of anything solid with sharp corners

I tried commuting on my hybrid again yesterday. Not only did I not enjoy it as much, but I was significantly slower. Like about 10 minutes over a 35 minute commute.

I'm going to try putting my rack on my road bike tomorrow. We'll see if the position of the load is part of the problem!

 

[vickster]

Is it a hybrid with suspension and fat tyres? Not that surprising I guess especially if hilly

 

[annirak]

Is it a hybrid with suspension and fat tyres? Not that surprising I guess especially if hilly

Nah, It's a Trek FX 7.0 with no suspension (steel fork) and Marathon 35mm tyres.

Here's the before/after.

The ride in this morning with panniers was ~20 kph vs. ~22 kph with rucksack. These are averages over distance, including traffic lights, etc., so there's quite a difference there! It was more comfortable, though.

I really could feel a difference in the handling of the bike. I like how it moves better without the panniers.

So it's the old performance/comfort tradeoff. If I can find a rucksack which offers comfort, that would solve both!

 

[vickster]

Less than 1mph, hardly a lot

 

[J1888]

I've got rucksacks by Polaris and Proviz; my reasons for buying were their visibility and waterproof qualities.

While both are great in terms of sizing and are comfortable to wear, the build quality of both is not great - far, far off the quality of my North Face Recon backpack that I used to use.

My advice would be to go for something like an Osprey, Deuter or North Face, and avoid Polaris and Proviz.

FYI, you can get the exact same bag as the Polaris Aquanought but with 'Lomo' written on it, for around one third of the Polaris price:

http://www.ewetsuits.com/acatalog/Dry-Boxes-dry-bags-uk.html

 

[annirak]

Less than 1mph, hardly a lot

When you factor in waiting for traffic lights and not being able to get around slower cyclists, it's a lot more than 1mph.

 

[annirak]

To further muddy the waters, my trip home yesterday was close to my record time with a rucksack.

 

[annirak]

Happy to help

You fractured your neck, check with your consultant or GP but I wouldn't carry a rucksack with a laptop in it of anything solid with sharp corners

All that my consultant said was "no contact sports for a year." He said he was confident that if I came off my bike again, my injury is now healed enough that he's not concerned that I would be at any additional risk (this was about 8 months ago).

I tried with the rucksack and with the panniers, and I like the rucksack better for a couple of reasons: my panniers aren't very big, which means I always need both. Most panniers I've seen aren't suitable for carrying around when off of the bike, which matters when going to the shops. They have nowhere to store a helmet.

The last time I rode with my panniers, I believed they were water resistant to the point that they were safe to use in the rain. They were certainly sold as such. When I got home, there was a puddle in the bottom of each, and I had a laptop in there.

Suffice it to say that I've got the choice of buying a rack and panniers or a rucksack, and I've been enjoying the rucksack more lately.

I'm now down to a choice between the Deuter Giga Bike and the Osprey Momentum 30. I looked for roll-top waterproof packs, but none of them had anywhere near the feature set of those two bags.