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review

Ventoux The Training Camp Bag

8
£95.00

VERDICT:

8
10
Great bag for transporting your training camp gear, or pretty much any other gear
Weight: 
4,500g

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You'll not be surprised to learn that Ventoux's Training Camp Bag is designed to get your gear safely to a training camp. And if that's what you want to use it for, it's hard to imagine a better bag. It's a good all-round hold bag for more general travel too.

The bag is mainly constructed from heavy duty 400D ripstop nylon, with beefy zips and a rigid base. There's a bottom compartment for shoes, pedals and other bits and bobs while the cavernous main compartment will swallow kit, clothes and helmet with ease. At one end there's a standard pocket for more guff, and the other is waterproofed and insulated for your bottles and gels; there are three bottle holders. At the back there's another zip: it expands into the same space as the main compartment but it's separate and waterproof, so good for your smelly worn kit.

Eurobike isn't technically a training camp but I was carrying the same basic gear: normal clothes, riding kit, helmet, shoes, pedals and other assorted bobbins. The massive Ventoux swallowed them all, plus 20 road.cc T-shirts for the show, 25 pairs of socks to hand out and an assortment of electrical cables. In fact, until you've put a week's worth of stuff in it the Ventoux won't even really keep its shape. The ends fold down flat into the base for easy storage and it takes a lot of kit to make the bag full enough to get them vertical. The bag has a 114 litre capacity, including end pockets. That's a lot.

Once loaded up to the Swissair maximum of 23kg the Ventoux was an unwieldy beast to carry, so it's good that it comes with decent wheels and an extendable handle. I found that the bag rolled well but because it's a lot taller and narrower than a suitcase you have to be a bit careful on the corners and kerbs if you don't want to find yourself dragging it along on its side. It's a skill you quickly learn though. At 4.5kg empty it's no lightweight, so it might not be the best option on airlines with a draconian hold policy but with a standard 20kg limit you should be fine with a week's worth of training camp kit.

Overall I think the Ventoux bag is an excellent tool for the job it's designed for. It's not cheap but it's exactly the bag you want for a training camp and you'll probably find yourself drawn to its many useful compartments next time you're packing for a family holiday too. It's built to last and easy to spot on a carousel. I like it.

Verdict

Great bag for transporting your training camp gear, or pretty much any other gear

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road.cc test report

Make and model: Ventoux The Training Camp Bag

Size tested: n/a

Tell us what the product is for, and who it's aimed at. What do the manufacturers say about it? How does that compare to your own feelings about it?

Our new wheeled Training Camp Bag.

This is a large multi-functional bag. Primarily aimed as a travel bag designed to hold all the personal and cycling kit you will need for that training camp, but it also retains the Ventoux trademark insulated cooler-bag end pocket to allow the bag to be used for those BIG events. The 52L main pocket will swallow all the kit you can throw at it and more, and with a 35L base, it's ideal if you need that extra space for wetsuit / running kit as well as all your cycling kit.

This bag is so large we've added wheels!

Store all your clothes in the cavernous main compartment.

Plenty of room for helmet, shoes and lots of clothing in the zipped base compartment.

The expandable waterproof rear pocket will keep all your wet clothing safely separated from clean kit.

Keep your energy and recovery drinks cool all day in the insulated cooler-bag end pocket suitable for up to 3 x 750ml bottles and surplus room for ice-packs or more bidons!

Lockable main zips.

Key Features:

Made from heavyweight materials with reinforced base.

Large insulated cooler-bag end pocket.

Very large main pocket plus large, zipped flap pocket.

Padded end pocket.

Expanding waterproof wet pocket.

Designed entirely in-house to our unique specifications

Size: 700mm x 370mm x 450mm

Volume: 114L

Material: A combination of 1640D waterproof Polyester and 400D rip stop nylon

Weight: 4.5Kg

Rate the product for quality of construction:
 
8/10
Rate the product for performance:
 
8/10
Rate the product for durability:
 
9/10
Rate the product for weight, if applicable:
 
7/10
Rate the product for value:
 
7/10

Tell us how the product performed overall when used for its designed purpose

It's an excellent bag for its intended purpose and just travelling generally

Tell us what you particularly liked about the product

Capacity, organisation, build quality.

Tell us what you particularly disliked about the product

A bit unstable on its wheels when fully loaded.

Did you enjoy using the product? .Yes

Would you consider buying the product? Yes.

Would you recommend the product to a friend? Yes.

Overall rating: 8/10

About the tester

Age: 41  Height: 190cm  Weight: 102kg

I usually ride: whatever I'm testing...  My best bike is: Genesis Equilibrium 853

I've been riding for: 10-20 years  I ride: Every day  I would class myself as: Experienced

I regularly do the following types of riding: commuting, club rides, sportives, general fitness riding, fixed/singlespeed, mtb, Mountain Bike Bog Snorkelling, track

 

Dave is a founding father of road.cc, having previously worked on Cycling Plus and What Mountain Bike magazines back in the day. He also writes about e-bikes for our sister publication ebiketips. He's won three mountain bike bog snorkelling World Championships, and races at the back of the third cats.

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