The Carry Awards :: road.cc Selects…

If you’re a cycling enthusiast you’ve probably visited the award-winning website road.cc before. And if you haven’t, you should. They live and breathe anything and everything to do with cycling, offering insightful reviews and advice on bike gear, along with dishing the details on the latest cycling news. Now bike carry is a niche that requires careful consideration, with designs needing to accommodate for weather changes as well as comfort and load stability on two wheels. So as part of our Fifth Annual Carry Awards (and for a little voter inspiration), we reached out to the cycling experts to share their selections on top bike-friendly bags from 2016/2017… 

Showers Pass Utility Waterproof Backpack

It’s obvious that a considerable amount of thought has been put into the design of this top-end backpack, and the finishing is high quality. Showers Pass use a fully welded construction and tough 840-denier nylon, making it very waterproof and durable. There seem to be pockets and sleeves for everything – hydration bladder, laptops, tablets, valuables, glasses, tools – and fleece lining on the glasses, valuables, laptop and tablet pockets is a nice touch. It has comfortable, easily adjustable straps with reinforcing the straps on the shoulders to help take the weight of heavy loads. This backpack is supremely practical and incredibly well made.

Osprey Tempest 20 Women’s

The Osprey Tempest 20 is a female-specific version of the well-established Talon pack. It is well made, comfortable to carry and cleverly designed to incorporate all the features you could possibly need. Although it’s ostensibly a hiking pack it includes cycle-friendly features – the Lidlock helmet carrier, a bike light loop and hydration reservoir compartment. If you want a multi-purpose pack for your daily life on two wheels and off, this should fit the bill perfectly. The harness and hip belt are both gender specific and Osprey has done its homework to make them just right. There’s lots of neat features too; for example the buckle of the sternum strap has an emergency whistle incorporated into it. It’s a great all-purpose pack.

Slicks Travel System

Slicks touts its backpack Travel System as having ‘limitless possibilities’. And while the possibilities are naturally going to be limited to the sphere of carrying stuff around, it does a great job of that. It’s a modular system; the main bag is made from 600-denier nylon and it can include a suit carrier that’s really effective at keeping your smart clothes looking smart, as well as a travel washbag and wardrobe organizer. You just buy the bits you think you’ll need. The whole thing is beautifully made and built to last. It works just as well as a daypack that you can sling your laptop and lunch in as it does a carry-on for a 2-day business trip.

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If you’re feelin’ any of this stellar recommendations, click over to the Carry Awards and log your vote.