Scott RC Raceday 60 Backpack

Scott's RC Raceday 60 backpack is a near-perfect day bag for the racer or their support team, helping them organise their lives so they can focus on the task at hand. It's not cheap, but it's super-useful and really takes the stress out of packing.

• Pros: Large capacity, OCD levels of organisation, looks cool
• Cons: Expensive (although a good investment, I think), marks up quite easily

Not all backpacks are created equal, that much is clear from my time spent with this backpack. As the name suggests, it has an enormous 60L capacity that should (and does) cater even for the compulsive overpacker (that's me), and does it in a smart way.

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Not smart as in smart technology, but smart as in the way Scott has managed to organise it into – wait for it – 28 individual slots, pockets and compartments to organise your kit for race day, including everything from cavernous spaces to card windows.

Now, you might be thinking that that's overkill, but when you consider all the kit you might need for racing, from shoes to helmet, clothing, accessories and food, it begins to make more sense.

In my time with it, I've not actually raced my bike, but I have raced throughout the day in a rowing regatta – which in terms of bits and pieces required amounts to about the same thing – and taken it away with me on a couple of overnight trips too, one bike related and one not.

You'd be reading this all day if I gave you an exact run down of what's where and why in terms of pockets, but Scott has handily incorporated tags identifying where you should put everything (and to help you spot it presumably).

It really helps you to find what you need, even if you go maverick and use them for different purposes, and it's a real improvement over having a basic holdall.

As Liam rightly pointed out over on our sister site off-road.cc, the only shortcoming is the size of the two small pockets that you might use for Allen keys – only the smallest multi-tool is really going in those – but it's only a small niggle.

What I really like – and I discovered this in the crucible of my rowing racing – are the drybag sections that incorporate a waterproof mat in the front of the bag, as well as waterproof compartments for wet kit and shoes in the base.

Although I'd always choose to, just for the added reassurance, you don't need to use plastic bags to keep water from sneaking into other compartments, and it also features a handy mesh section on the side for breathability. Sure, it won't let your damp/smelly kit truly air and dry, but it reduces the chances of knocking you out when you open it up again to wash everything.

There are spacious main compartments for general kit stashing – I was able to carry two tubs of energy drink mix plus other stuff including a helmet without feeling them pushing into my back, which pleasantly surprised me given their odd shapes. You can even stick a pump in the side pocket, and hold water bottles.

The straps are also very, very good at distributing weight across the back. You can legitimately put 15-20kg of bulk in the Raceday 60 and feel like you might have half of that on your back. There's a good amount of padding in the straps themselves, and you can secure it across the chest and around the waist.

I might argue that a little padding around the flanks of the waist strap would be a nice addition for a little added comfort if you needed to ride your kit to a race, or had a support team lugging it around, but I'm really picking holes here – it never affected me on 8km rides laden down with kit on my way to and from the boathouse.

Build quality is excellent, and the waterproof rubber outer is resilient to rough treatment. The black can mark up fairly easily with dust and grime, which is a shame given how downright cool the bag and Scott RC branding looks when it's clean. A wipe down solves most of this, but I suppose scratches to corners are inevitable given the environments and general lifestyle the bag is going to be used in.

> Buyer's Guide: 14 of the best cycling rucksacks

As Liam also pointed out, the Raceday 60's rivals include smaller products from KitBrix and Castelli at £60 apiece, but Endura's Roller Kit Bag looks like one of the most direct rivals right now at £179.99, as well as Silca's Maratona gear bag for £180.

None of them can rival the combination of almost-OCD levels of organisation, though, and I reckon the Raceday 60 bag looks the best of the bunch too – with quality to match.

Verdict

A super-organised backpack when you need it most – a top piece of kit