100% Transit Backpack

The 100% Transit Backpack is a well-made and practical backpack with a plethora of useful pockets and enough storage for just about any commuter, though it could do with a raincover, and a chest strap would help stabilise it for carrying heavier loads.

Before lockdown, my daily commute meant that I spent at least two hours every day cycling across London using a backpack. Like many of you, I suspect, my journey to work has gone from a 10-mile blast through traffic to a 10-step walk into the spare room, so to give this bag a full test I had to improvise. Easily done: I simply packed it with my regular commuting gear and for a few weeks rode regularly halfway to the office and back.

> Find your nearest dealer here

> Buy this online here

The defining feature of the bag is, without doubt, the number of pockets it has – 10 by my reckoning. It means you can quite easily keep everything organised effectively and safely.

On the front are two large pockets, one accessed through a top zip, the other a side zip. Then there is the main compartment, which has an additional shoe compartment accessed from the bottom of the bag, plus a large mesh pocket and two smaller pockets within it.

Then there is a glasses pocket on the top, a mesh bottle pocket on the side, plus a laptop/tablet pocket on the back. I *think* that's all of them...

The main compartment is large enough for everything I would need for a regular work day, with the additional pockets letting me keep smaller or more delicate items separate. I fitted shoes, trousers, jumper, T-shirt, laptop, lock, phone, wallet and keys without any issues at all.

On the shoulders, the bag has nice wide straps in a single piece, which means they are almost impossible to twist. They're also comfortable over longer rides thanks to a decent amount of padding, and the inner fabric is mesh, which helps to reduce any heat build-up over the shoulders. One thing the bag lacks, though, is a chest strap; it wasn't too much of an issue, but I do like having one for heavier loads as it helps reduce strain on the shoulders and prevents weight shifting.

The padding on the back is comfortable but firm enough to make sure the air channels remain open to help with ventilation. 100% has made sure that air can flow across the back, and it does a relatively good job, although I have used others that do this job better.

I used the bag several times in moderate rain without any water getting through, but it isn't advertised as being waterproof and it doesn't come with a rain cover. On showery days it's fine, but I wouldn't trust it in a torrential downpour, and it would be good if it came with some kind of waterproof cover for when you are caught out.

The bag hits the scales at 820g which is actually pretty light for a bag with this many compartments and this much hardware within it. Given that it also holds it shape well, whether it's empty on the floor or full on the back, this is particularly impressive.

Its rrp of £69.99 is good for such a practical and useful bag, comparing well with others such as the Evoc Mission Backpack that costs £20 more, while offering less padding and far fewer storage options. The Merida Fifteen II backpack is £20 cheaper and comes with both a chest and waist strap, but there are far fewer pockets and the bag has much less rigidity.

> Buyer’s Guide: 18 of the best cycling rucksacks

I think that 100% has done an excellent job with this bag. It offers loads of practical space, numerous organisational pockets, and enough capacity for most commuters. It could be improved with a chest strap and a rain cover, but aside from that there is little not to like here.

Verdict

An excellent bag at a decent price with a huge number of pockets