Vulpine City Backpack

The Vulpine City Backpack is comfortable, carries lots – possibly more than you should be aiming to – and comes with a detachable rain cover. I think it looks good and apparently it'll get better with age. I'll have to get back to you on that. It does have a few flaws in the design, though.

In our guide to the best cycling backpacks (linked below), we recommend a maximum capacity of about 20 litres for comfortable carrying. The City Backpack can go up to 26 litres when unrolled, 18 when rolled. That's a generous amount of space, and if you're happy to lug that amount of stuff around on your back, this is a stylish way to do it.

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There's a laptop section inside – it swallows a 15in laptop easily and will take bigger – but that's it for internal organisation. As it's quite a big bag (and there are no side straps for cinching it in) things can get a bit lost inside, so be prepared to spend time rummaging.

There are three pockets on the outside, though. One is open, and good for sliding things in without worrying too much about shape and size... until it rains.

A second, smaller pocket sits on top of it and fastens magnetically (and very securely), while inside this is a zipped pocket of about 16x16cm. It's good for stashing things like your wallet, phone, keys and so on, and lets you save all your rummaging in the main compartment for later.

As with many backpacks, the laptop sleeve can be accessed through a side zip without unrolling the bag, but cleverly, a second zip in the inner laptop divider lets you into the rest of the bag, too.

Not so cleverly, the bag seems to want to be accessed from the top because it doesn't stay rolled very well, especially if it isn't completely full. Even when unrolled it's fairly secure because it's such a long 'flap', and if it's raining heavily you'll have the cover over it anyway. Although the fabric is very good at repelling showers...

We haven't been blessed with any rain during the testing period (I'm very worried about my new hedge), so I've had to use a hosepipe to test the bag's water resistance.

Without the raincover, water beads off the waxed fabric well – beyond the point where I'd have deployed the cover in 'real life'. With the cover on, everything stayed dry.

However... that open pocket not only lets rain in, but beading water runs down into it and can't escape, as there are no drain holes. I didn't leave water to pool for long – a matter of seconds once I'd turned off the hose – but the tissue paper telltale in the adjoining magnetically-sealed pocket was already damp.

Water running into the open pocket is free to soak into the other pockets too – and from there, potentially, into the main compartment. On the one hand you can easily avoid this by fitting the waterproof cover, but on the other it undermines the point of the roll-top design and waxed fabric in the first place.

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

The first time I used the City Backpack, riding home from the road.cc office with not a huge amount inside, I found it quite uncomfortable. The straps were too close together at the top, and rubbed against my neck – it doesn't have the 'yoke' design of my old Rapha pack, for instance, to keep the straps apart no matter how tight you pull the shoulder straps.

On subsequent rides I didn't hoick the Vulpine pack up quite as high, though, and it's been perfectly comfortable since – both on the shoulders and sitting slightly lower on my back. It helps with quick over-the-shoulder checks too, as less bag gets in the way, though I still get a slightly restricted view. An adjustable chest strap helps keep it in place.

The padded mesh back doesn't stop my back getting a little sweaty, but it's not a huge issue, even on longer weekend rides.

Above the outer pockets are two tabs for attaching a D-lock or lights. I found that lights can hang downwards if the bag isn't full, because the fabric isn't that stiff, and if the flap unrolls and hangs down it can interfere with them.

Also, some designs end up sitting too close to the top of the open pocket. If you use smaller square or round lights you shouldn't have a problem, but the bottom of my Knog Plus kept catching on the pocket, making me worry it'd get knocked off.

If you don't have lights on, there's a decent-sized reflective strip along the bottom, and the two triangles where the straps attach are reflective too.

There are a couple of potentially useful mini-straps on the front of the shoulder straps to hook further stuff to as well.

The grab handle at the top is handy for carrying and for hanging the thing up on hooks, or if you're really determined, for attaching yet more cargo to...

Value

At £100, the Vulpine isn't a cheap option – though we've reviewed much more expensive bags, such as the Chrome Barrage Freight, a 34/38-litre monster at £200 (and 2,450g).

Many bags of a similar size are a fair bit less, though, and some offer better waterproofing – the 20-litre Oxford Aqua V 20,  for example, is waterproof and £54.99, though you don't even get a laptop sleeve inside its roomy main compartment.

Ortlieb's Velocity 17 is a little smaller than the Vulpine, but a tenner less at £90 and waterproof. The same firm's 21-litre Commuter Daypack City backpack is closer in capacity but £125, though it's also waterproof and has a five-year warranty.

Perhaps its closest rival – in price and style – is Rapha's Roll Top Backpack, also £100, with 25 litres of capacity and a water-resistant outer.

Overall, if you're looking for a stylish backpack for 'refined commuting', as Vulpine puts it, the City Backpack looks the part and lets you carry large loads comfortably. A few tweaks to the design could make it a lot more practical and versatile, though.

Verdict

Comfortable, weatherproof and has plenty of room – but room for some improvement, too