Altura Heritage 16L Pannier

The Altura Heritage 16L Pannier is excellent. It's very well made, very weatherproof, and very versatile – you can use it up front on a lowrider rack or fit it at the back, in any weather, or even heft it as a shoulder bag.

Like the Heritage Bar Bag I've also been testing, the pannier is very good quality – just one end of the piping is left raw and slightly scruffy looking, but I'd say that's deliberate. I really like the old school look.

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It's made from the same 12oz waxed canvas as the bar bag, and although Altura only describes it as water resistant – perhaps because the zip on the 'lid' isn't waterproof – but it's being quite modest. The fabric is very good at repelling rain; like, all-day rain.

Where the bar bag is aimed at commuting and shopping rather than touring, the pannier is a good size for the ride to work (stopping you taking too much unnecessary stuff) and for front racks when touring.

It fits easily and securely to rack tubing of varying dimensions – you can adjust the Rixen & Kaul Vario clips to suit. You can't move the clips horizontally, though; ideally I'd have moved them slightly for the bespoke rack on my Paulus Quiros, but the small size meant it didn't interfere with my pedal stroke despite being slightly further forward than I wanted.

You can adjust the lower bracket – slide it along, or slide it all the way off and turn it around. I was expecting it to be a bit rattly – there's a fair amount of space here, on my rack – but it wasn't, at all, even on some quite rough tracks.

There's also a little clip to make doubly sure the pannier won't bounce off and can't be swiped if you leave it unattended for a moment – or at least, not without some fiddling.

With a capacity of 16 litres, it's just the right size for my 13in laptop, some clothing and sarnies. (A 15in laptop will also fit.) I'm very bad at paring back what I carry in a pannier, so I really like that the Heritage forces me to. Particularly when I'm halfway up Hinton Hill...

It's padded at the bottom but not at the sides, so you'll want to add protection of your own for a laptop.

A slim open pocket hanging from the top seam is the only internal organising, while externally there's a zipped pocket within the 'lid', complete with a detachable keyring, just like you get with the bar bag.

What the pannier has over the bar bag is somewhere to mount a light, which pleases me – in fact it has six places, three at either end. This means you can use the pannier on either side and still attach a light.

All good on the bike, then – and you can carry it off the bike fairly comfortably, using the grab handle or by attaching the included shoulder strap.

Value

It's not the cheapest option – you can buy 'standard' (and fully waterproof) panniers for less. In fact you can buy a pair of Oxford panniers of the same size for the same price, but you can't use them singly.

But against similar options it's pretty good value: the Carradice Super C A4 Pannier is a similar design, made from waxed cotton duck, and also costs £55 (up a fiver since Iwein tested it); it's 18 litres but also weighs 990g, according to Carradice. And it doesn't have anywhere to mount a light.

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The Ortlieb Vario pannier doubles up as a rucksack and Lara loved it when she tested it a few years ago. It's bigger than the Altura at 23L and is fully waterproof, but it costs £135 and weighs 1.16kg.

Conclusion

Overall, I think the Altura Heritage is excellent. I really like the look, and the fact you can use it as a shoulder bag. The fabric is tough and weatherproof, it's a great size, and it includes light-mounting loops – a bugbear of mine with the bar bag.

You can buy cheaper 'I'm a pannier' panniers, but if you like the heritage looks and shoulderable versatility, it's well worth the money.

Verdict

Excellent, very weatherproof pannier that's a great size for commuting or for use up front on long hauls