Mention Ortlieb to any seasoned cyclist and they will light up with praise for this top-quality German luggage brand. This set is their first foray into the bike-packing market, rather than their more traditional stronghold of the waterproof panniers and more road oriented luggage. Made of super tough ripstop and waterproof nylon, each part of the kit is roll-top waterproof, with the Seat Pack holding 16.5 litres, Handlebar Pack 15 litres and Accessory Pack 3.5 litres.
Initial fitting is always a learning experience, and it took a while to fit each part to our bikes for the first time - particularly the bar bag that needed some careful manipulation before we were happy with the positioning. Of course this becomes easier each time, and the attachments are very sturdy once in place.
Every bit of the kit is superbly made, with careful attention to detail like bungee cords on the seatpack for stowing wet jackets, bombproof welded seams and reinforced fabric at wear points making them stand out from the crowd.
The double ended Handlebar Pack is superb, with the option of going in at either end of the bag a real boon for getting kit out during the day without disgorging the entire contents onto potentially wet ground. Thanks to it's neat foam block spacers it doesn't interfere with forks or cabling, and it holds it's position superbly with no sagging - we loaded it with some pretty heavy kit with no ill effects on rough ground.
The Accessory pack is well worth the additional investment, holding phones, wallets, ferry tickets, small cameras and all manner of other knick knacks within easy reach on the bar pack, yet protected from the weather.
Wrapped around the seatpost, the Seat Pack positively swallows gear once we adjusted our packing style to accommodate its tapering shape. Force malleable items, like warm campsite jackets or spare clothes, down into the end to make the most of the room available and it works a treat. There is even a clever bleed valve on the side to squeeze air out for maximum compression - ours is sticking, but speaking to others that seems to be a one-off no one else has suffered from. It does require at least 20cm of seatpost showing, but then most mountain and adventure bikes will have this.
This is a top notch set of bikepacking luggage, fully waterproof unlike most sets out there. We did still use thin drybags for sorting kit and unloading in wet conditions but, if careful you wouldn't necessarily need them. A few trips in and they are barely showing any signs of use, and they look to be gracing our overnight kit for a long time to come. Pricey, but worth it to have trustworthy gear when you head into the wilds.
