Ortlieb Vario Pack

Is it a pannier or is it a rucksack? The first thing you notice about the Ortlieb Vario, aside from its Ninja friendly good looks (it does come in two colours other than post-industrial mat black- red/black or lime green/black) is that it’s got all sorts of complicated looking bits and pieces attached to it.

Setting these aside for the time being, it’s a well made and sturdy fully waterproof pannier style bag with an effective and simple roll-top closure. It fastens securely to a rack with Ortlieb’s standard Quick-Lock2 fastenings (anti-theft locks are available as an extra) much as a normal pannier. It’s both left and right side compatible. Ideally sized for commuting, the bag will easily take a 15.4” laptop in protective sleeve as well as a change of clothes, although that’s pretty much the lot.

The bag consists of a single main pouch, with a small zipped mesh pocket inside and a stretchy neoprene pouch pocket on either side on the exterior. The main point of difference for the Vario, though, is its ability to transform quickly and easily into a rucksack, making it ideal for extended carrying. A discrete zipped stretch fabric compartment on the front of the bag houses the rucksack harness which simple clips on to eyelets on the back of the bag with sturdy and secure clips, without needing to do anything at all to the Quick-Lock2 clips. The harness itself is robust and well padded, offering good wear comfort, but is a little tricky to put away again, as the front stretch pocket is quite neat in size.

A nice extra is a simple but effective helmet strap on the front of the bag, which can easily be removed when not required, but works well with the bag when employed as a rucksack.

The only thing I’d have changed is added a little extra reflectivity. Two fairly small reflective patches are present, but certainly with the black version, a little more would have been preferable. A strap is available as an optional extra to secure the bag at the bottom, to prevent banging off the frame (this wasn’t a particularly bad problem anyway) but it would have been good to have this as standard.

The price isn’t bad considering how robust the build quality is, the fact that it’s a fully waterproof pannier (or rucksack), is smart and versatile enough to be used as an office bag and that it’s of a size to be genuinely useful on a daily basis.

Verdict

A well made, nicely featured, versatile fully waterproof commuting bag that doubles as a comfortable rucksack.