My route is a combination of pathway and roads, flats and hills, and at this time of year means riding on some roads covered in winter gravel. It also means that on my rides I’m alternatively being buffeted by insane winds, bashed by ice pellets, soaked with rain or scorched by the sun.

Gravel is a pretty significant concern here. Most of the road shoulders are still covered in gravel and other debris left over from the snowy winter season. Road cleaning hasn’t really begun and little pointy bits of rock are on the lookout for nice vulnerable bike tires. So far, the Hutchinson Urban Tour tires have held up admirably. I’ve usually had at least one flat by now but it’s been smooth sailing this past month. The tires have also performed fairly well in the sudden snow and slush surprises we’ve had. I’ve switched to the studded tires a couple of times, but for the most part have ridden safely and successfully with the stock tires.

Comfort and fit-wise, the medium size seems to perfectly fit my 6′.

The hydraulic brakes have worked well. Response is significantly different than the non-hydraulic disc brakes I have on my Kona and Cannondale and whether that’s in a good way or a bad way depends on what you expect. Personally, I prefer non-hydraulic disc brakes. I find them less finnicky in the winter, and good luck trying to do a field repair on your hydraulics… I have Avid BB7s on my Kona and Cannondale and have to say the stopping power is greater than on the Hold Steady. That’s not to say you can’t lock the Hold Steady’s brakes up easily, but there’s a noticeable difference between the two kinds of brakes.

Now to the gearing, which is probably what most of you will be curious about.

The Hold Steady comes with the Shimano Alfine internal 8 speed hub on the rear with a 45 tooth chainring on the front.

I’m not quite sure about the gearing ratios yet. The lowest gear feels like the equivalent of being in the middle chainring and about two down from the lowest on the rear on my Kona. While the hills are certainly doable, I wouldn’t mind some lower gearing on this bike. I really don’t think the gearing is going to be sufficiently low enough for any real winter riding, as you need a good low gear to churn through deep snow or make your way safely through lakes of frozen ice or polished intersections. (Well, I do, anyway…)

In terms of shiftability, this hub works like a charm. I haven’t had any mis-shifts or surprise shifts. Sudden stop / starts don’t pose much of a problem because you can switch into any gear from any gear while stopped.

Fine-tuning the hub is also very simple, and you’ll have to do this eventually if only to accomodate cable stretch. There are two little white pointer lines on the hub. Shifting into fourth gear and turning the barrel adjuster to align the two lines is all it takes — much easier that fiddling with the tuning screws on a derailleur.

Tuning the gears takes seconds using the alignment markers.

Since I started writing this review, I decided to switch the front 45T chainring for a smaller one — a 39T. It’s made a noticeable difference, and in a good way. I did have to lose a link or two off the chain to accomodate the smaller chainring; there’s not quite enough room on the rear dropouts to just slide the rear wheel back. I also had to lose the inner plastic chainring guard which hasn’t caused any problems.

Switching to a smaller 39 tooth chainring brings the gearing down

The old 45 tooth chainring with plastic chainring guard

Tool-wise, the only thing I added to my kit was a 15mm wrench for the rear wheel. Because it’s a horizontal dropout for the rear wheel to keep the chain tension tight, a quick release isn’t installed.

I added a rear rack to the bike for those days when the backpack just won’t fit everything (darn work stuff…) and any rear-disc-compatible rack should work. A standard rack won’t fit, because of the width of the rear wheel’s hub.

Topeak Explorer Tubular rack with disc mounts

While the bike certainly doesn’t fit in the “touring bike” category, all the mounting brazeons are great. The bike has brazeons for a rear rack and mounting points for fenders. The three water bottle cage mounts come in very handy if you’re riding with a little person; after all, they don’t like carrying their own water if dad can carry it for them…

I’ve seen several Hold Steady bikes out and about on my rides to work, including at least two others that park at the bike racks at work. For a good functional, easily maintainable and affordable commuting bike, the MEC Hold Steady seems to be a solid pick.

Then, something strange happened – the Kona started to become my daily ride. The cheapest, ugliest bike I’ve ever bought became my (almost) favourite bike.

It’s the perfect commuter bike — it’s inexpensive (I paid about $400 new), has front and rear disc brakes, 700mm road wheels and being painted a rather metallic minty green, it’s hardly a theft magnet.

Most of the components on this Kona are low end and will get replaced with better stuff as they wear out. However, there were a couple of additional changes I made to improve the daily ride.

Pedals

The first thing I changed were the pedals. I have Crank Brothers Eggbeaters on my other bikes, so it only made sense to add them to the Kona. It was a little strange that the backup bike now had the nicest pedals, but at least I could hop on without having to worry about changing shoes as well.

Rear rack

It’s been years since I rode with a rear rack, as I could never find a good one that would fit nicely on either of my other bikes. Because of the disc brakes, your choices for racks are limited, and even within those there are some good ones and some not so good ones.

Eventually, I settled on a Topeak Explorer Tubular rack with the disc mounts. It fits nicely, installs relatively easily and has good mounting points for my panniers.

Handlebars and riser stem

There was nothing really wrong with the stock flat bars that came with the bike, but they didn’t give me enough hand positions for comfort.

So, I added a set of Salsa Bell Lap cyclocross drop bars, which also required different shifters and brake levers because of the bar’s different tube size. I found a set of Shimano bar-end shifters and went to work swapping things around. After a few hours work and lots of derailleur and brake finessing, it was ready.

I didn’t like it.

The bike is fairly short (front to back) for me and I felt really scrunched when I was riding. Adding a longer stem didn’t help either, and I started getting some nasty back aches. Off came the drops and back on went the flat bars. And off came the bar end shifters and road levers… grr…

I started looking around at tri-bars, but didn’t like the prices and they’re not really (IMHO) a good commuting bar. I also discounted the Titec H-bar simply because of the price. Eventually I landed on a set of Norco trekking bars, also known as butterfly bars. They were cheap — about 1/5 the price of the drop bars I bought — and I could use the original shifters and brake levers.

I loved these bars, but my knees didn’t. Again, because the bike is fairly short and because the trekking bar setup brings the shifters closer to you, my knees would hit the shift levers ever time I got up in the pedals.

A bit of fine tuning on the angle of the bars and the addition of a longer stem and a stem riser helped solve the problem, and I’m now a huge fan of the trekking bars.

Brake upgrade

The Kona Dew Plus came with Hayes MX4 manual disc brakes. They are okay, but when the time came to replace the pads, I found out the pads weren’t overly cheap at any of the LBSs.

Looking online for pads, I stumbled across some Avid BB7s on sale at Performance Bike. They were half the cost they were locally, and only $10 more per brake than simply getting new pads for the MX4s. I have the BB7s on my Cannondale and love them. The ones on sale also had larger rotors than the stock Hayes ones, which means better cooling and better stopping power.

One of the things I’ve always liked about the Avid BB7s is how easy it is to install them. Within about half an hour both front and rear ones were installed and tuned. Sweet!

What’s next?

I’m trying to keep in mind that this There are always things to upgrade on a bike. (Or at least I can always find an excuse to upgrade things.)

Next on the list is:

• An upgrade to the rear derailleur
• A better chain
• Winter tires (Schwalbe Winter Marathon) – this will be my first try with studded 700mm tires

For years, I’ve been searching for a good waterproof backpack that will keep my stuff dry during the nasty wet Calgary winters. While a good drybag, or even a garbage bag, can usually keep things dry inside a regular pack, the pack itself will still end up soggy and smelly, and it’s a pain to dump everything into a drybag.

The Dry Shield line from Deuter is a waterproof line, which includes a cycling-specific pack — the DS Bike 18.

The simple yet functional approach Deuter took with this pack helps keep the weight down by eliminating unnecessary bells and whistles. It also helps keep the pack waterproof by minimizing zippers and seams.

The size of the pack (18 L) is at the smaller end, so you might have a tough time fitting in a lot of gear. However, the small size also means it’s a good comfortable pack for cycling.

Because I’m a bit of gear-nut, I tend to carry quite a bit with me. Each morning, I cram the following into my pack:

• A thermos of chai
• A thermos of oatmeal
• Lunch
• Towel
• Office clothes
• Glasses case
• Various USB cables
• First aid kit
• Bike tools
• Spare tube
• Bike pump
• Other misc bits and pieces (multi tool, Gerber knife, mini flashlight, etc, etc.)
• I also often carry my laptop with me.

All this fit into the DS Bike 18, but only just. On really cold days, I also like to carry a down vest, extra thick mittens and fleece pants in case I break down. Unfortunately, there’s no way these will also fit in the pack. However, if you’re not as much as a gear-pig as I am, you shouldn’t have any problem fitting the essentials into the pack.

This pack excelled in the areas I expected it to perform well in — comfort and waterproofness.

One of the biggest problems with using most backpacks for cycling are the thick, pre-curved hip belts that have sprung up over the past few years. They’re great for hiking, but are extremely uncomfortable if you’re on a bike as they dig into your ribs because of the hunched over position.

The DS Bike 18 has a small soft hip belt, with easily accessible mesh pockets on each side. The pockets on the hip belt zip shut. I have a building passkey in one side and a small digital camera in the other side. There’s still room in either pocket for some munchies, Kleenex or other small items.

I have a few other backpacks that have rain covers — probably one of the most useless features on a pack. They might keep some light rain or a brief dusting of snow off the pack, but they certainly don’t keep the pack, or its contents, dry.

The DS Bike 18 easily held up to snow, road-spray and the “shower test”. During a heavy snowfall, snow can accumulate on the top of a pack, quickly soaking into the material. Rain and snow can also fall down between your back and the pack. And last, but not least, a bike tire kicks up a lot of road-spray, soaking the bottom of the pack. Everything inside this pack stayed nice and dry, not only in the snow, but also during two of three shower tests. For these tests, I stuffed the pack full of newspaper, and gave it a five minute shower.

With the first test, even directly under the heavy shower, not a drop of water made it inside the pack.

For the second test, I removed some of the newspaper, and formed a bit of a dent in the top of the pack by pushing it in. The pack still kept things dry after five minutes under the shower.

When I tried a third time, I let the water sit pooled in the dent I’d made, and some water did seep in through the zipper after about 15 minutes. However, unless you leave your pack out in the rain or the snow, the odds of water pooling and staying on the pack are relatively low.

When I first got the pack, one of my initial thoughts was, “What? No helmet holder! What kind of a cycling pack is this?!” Then, as I was exploring the pack, I noticed the words “helmet holder” on one of the hip belt pockets. I wasn’t quite sure how I was expected to put my helmet into a hip pocket, but it quickly became clear that that’s where the helmet holder was stored. The holder quickly clips to the pack and securely holds your helmet in place.

There were a couple of things I didn’t like about the pack.

While the two mesh bottle pockets on each side are quite large, and easy to access while on the bike, the downside to this easy access is that it’s also easy for things to bounce out of the pockets if you’re riding over rough terrain. I lost a couple of granola bars this way — minor, but I’m glad it wasn’t my camera. I stuffed a bandana in over the granola bars after losing them the first time, and that seemed to fix the problem.

The zippered top access seems really small to me. I still put all my clothes into a drybag, as it’s the easiest way to keep them separate from everything else. The small top access makes it tough to stuff the bag of clothes in and take it out – it’s not quite large enough.

The inside accessory pocket gets in the way when trying to pull something out of a full pack. It should have been fixed in place, rather than being a “pocket flap”.

The outside pocket is surprisingly big. At first glance, I thought it was just a small pocket, but I was easily able to put a bike pump, first aid kit, tools, spare tube, Kleenex pack and other bits and pieces in and still have a bit of room left over. Unfortunately, this eats into the inside space of the pack, as the outside pocket is more of an inside pocket with external access.

The last problem I noted was a lack of loops for attaching a blinkie. This certainly isn’t a problem that’s specific to this pack, however, as I’ve yet to find a pack that has a loop that will properly secure a blinkie in place. I did, however, use the helmet cover loops to attach some reflective ribbon, which is a technique I’ve used successfully on a number of packs.

Overall, I was really pleased with the performance of the pack and its simplicity is what helps keep it waterproof. It’s what I’ve been looking for for years. In addition to that it’s always a treat to find a pack that’s comfortable on a bike, let alone designed specifically for that purpose.

Deuter website: http://www.deuter.com

For the past several years I’ve tried a number of lights and light combinations to make sure I’m nicely visible. Two of the lights I’ve tried are xenon strobe lights, which are much brighter than traditional LED lights.

The two I’ve tried are the Sparky (left) and the Lightman (right).

Sparky

These xenon strobe lights are available in several different colour configurations and are quite compact.

Pros

• Small size
• Decent seal keeps out water
• Multiple light pattern settings
• Multiple blink speed settings
• Decent battery life (several hours at slower speed settings)

Cons

• Terrible mounting bracket — the little wire clamp comes off easily and is too wide to fit into any blinky tabs on ever backpack I tried it on. I ended up using some velcro to attach the light, which works much better.
• Buttons aren’t labeled (although they are different colours) so I can never remember which one is for blink speed and which one is for flash pattern.)

Site
Hmmm — disappeared? I ordered these online, so I know the site existed at one point. If I find it, I’ll update the posting, but check with your local bike store to see if they have them in stock.

Lightman

I didn’t realize how big these were until they arrived!

Pros

• Very bright
• Angled lens helps make the light more visible from the sides
• Multiple mounting methods — very, very flexible system for attaching these to pretty much anything. I now keep one in the truck with both the magnetic mount and the suction cup mount.

Cons

• Poor battery life. I was replacing the batteries about every three days.
• The size of these lights makes them very visible, but on a backpack it also means they tend to hang down because they are so large. When attaching these to a pack, try and make sure they’re attached securely so they don’t “droop”.

Site
http://www.lightmanstrobes.com/xenon.htm

Overall…

Either one of these lights is going to help increase your visibility in low light situations.

If a smaller size is important, go with a Sparky.

If sheer brightness and ease of mounting is important, the Lightman is a better choice.

Most of the time I wear this, it’s underneath my bike helmet when I’m cycling in cold weather. Not just any ol’ cold weather — really cold weather. -25C cold, usually with nasty cold wind on top of that…

Likes

Warm, warm, warm!
This really is one of those things you put on and think, “wow – it works!”

Not overly tight.
Unlike most balaclavas, this isn’t skin-tight. On the other hand, it is a heavy duty balaclava, so it’s not as comfortable as one that’s silk or a silk-weight synthetic.

Decent neck tube length.
Some balaclavas are too long and bunch up uncomfortably under your chin. This can be especially uncomfortable if you have your jacket zipped up tight around your neck, or if you wear it with a helmet strap. Others are too short and let in unpleasant gusts of wind.

Removable face mask / customizable fit.
Not only is the nose-cover/face mask removable, but the entire front can be released on one side. This means that to eat or drink, you don’t have to stretch the opening down below your chin or take the whole thing off. Because the attachments are velcro, the face mask can be moved up or down so it provides a bit of a custom fit. The entire front part can also be adjusted by choosing between two different velcro strips. Most importantly, it makes it easy to quickly peel one side away to launch the infamous snot-rocket while you’re riding.

Good moisture wicking.
The material does a good job of wicking moisture away from the face mask area, so you don’t end up with a soggy mass of frozen breath.

Excellent wind resistance.
With a name like Windstopper, you’d expect this balaclava to be windproof, and it is.

Dislikes

Tough to breath through.
If you exert yourself and breath heavily, the Gorilla can be hard to breath through. It’s also quite noisy inside the balaclava when you’re breathing hard.

Stitching on inside.
This is really quite annoying and I’m a little surprised that Outdoor Research let this go… On the inside of the balaclava, there are are two thick, heavy rows of stitching that come all the way down to the front of the balaclava. If you wear this under a helmet, you’ll end up with two long dents on your forehead…

Overall

If you’re active outside in really cold weather, this will be the last balaclava you ever need to buy.

As a gadget / tool / thingamajigie nut, I always oogle cool looking wallets with neat features (tiny pens, small knifes or screwdrivers, lots of pockets, etc.) This time, however, I took the “simple is better” approach and bought an ALL-ETT, “the world’s thinnest wallet”.

Even after transferring everything I had in my previous wallet, the ALL-ETT is still thinner than the now-empty old one. It’s also significantly more comfortable, and the simple design makes it very easy to organize and access cards and cash.

I have to admit, when I opened the (very thin) envelope it arrived it, my first impression was, “ewww…” After a few days, however, I came to appreciate its simplicity and comfort. Now, I can’t imagine carrying around a big bulky wallet.

Right now, I have 15 cards in it, several receipts and (as usual) no cash. With all of that, it measures in at just under 1/4″ thick. My old wallet was easily pushing 3/4″ thick.

Check them out at: http://www.all-ett.com/

While I don’t really have room in the driveway for an airplane, I do have a number of bikes. T9 works extremely well as a long lasting and multi-weather lubricant for bike chains.

According to the Boeshield folks, “Road cyclists can get about 300+ miles (500Km) per application.  In wet weather riding reapply after half that distance.  For off road riding reapply after one quarter that distance, more frequently if conditions require.  For best performance, ‘apply tonight, ride tomorrow’. ”

Lee Valley now carries the Boeshield T9 in both a bottle and aerosol can.  The bottles are great, as they don’t take up much room in your pack, and a little goes a long way.

I’m looking forward to trying this lubricant in the winter, as Boeing states the T9 lubricant excels in damp environments.

For more info, visit the Boeshield Canada site, or Lee Valley Tools’ site.

First impression

These shoes are comfy! The neoprene internal liner is a nice snug fit, without being too tight or constricting. You should get a pair that are a size or size and half larger than you would usually wear. This will let you wear a pair (or two) of thick warm socks. Trying to cram your foot into a shoe that’s too tight will work against you by constricting the blood flow to your foot. Less blood flow means colder feet.

Additionally, these shoes have a fairly large toebox area, so there’s plenty of room to wiggle cold toes and to add one of those small hand-warmer pads for really cold rides.

Make sure that any pants you’re wearing go over the shoe – not inside it.  Snow or sleet will quickly find its way into the shoe if your pants are tucked in, and that cold wet trickle gets uncomfortable very quickly.

Modifications you should make

One of the first things I did was remove the shoelaces. After about a month, the laces were so shredded from getting caught on the Velcro straps, they quickly became an annoyance. After I removed them, the shoes actually felt better. The Velcro straps are more than sufficient to keep the shoe snug on your foot, and it’s faster and easier to put the shoes on and take them off without the laces.

I also changed the insoles. The ones that came with the shoes were okay, but I replaced them with some thicker felt ones that also had a thin metallic layer that helped reflect some of the warmth back into my feet. These are available from most outdoor or hunting stores. (I paid about $3 for two pairs from Marks Workwearhouse.)

Whether you are riding with cleats or not, be sure to seal the shoe from the outside with silicone or Shoe Goo. Water can easily find its way into the shoe while you’re cycling if there’s no sealant.

I’ve ridden down to -45C with these shoes on. (Not very far… J) While these shoes do a good job of keeping my feet warm down to about -20C, after riding for about an hour, my toes start to get cold. Adding a pair of cycling booties to help make them more windproof made a noticeable difference, as did using small chemical hand-warmer pads on the top of my socks.

After three seasons

Overall, the shoes have held up quite well to the wear and tear of riding through wet, dirty and salty conditions. I rarely cleaned these shoes, so some of the wear and tear might be a result of my neglect.

Calgary weather changes by the second… After a dump of several inches of snow in the morning, it’s not uncommon to ride home in melting slush. These shoes have held up extremely well in wet sloppy conditions. They won’t keep your feet dry if you’re walking through ankle-deep puddles, but even with the odd toe touch down, the shoes have kept my feet dry.

The toe spikes provided with the shoes were almost completely useless in icy conditions, and wear very quickly. Consider replacing them with a pair of Sidi toe spikes (the ones on the left) which are much longer lasting and work much better than the smooth Lake ones.

I also ran into a few problems with toe spike tear-out. If you suddenly have to put your foot down while moving, the toe spikes are going to take the full brunt of your momentum, and the small mounting point simply isn’t strong enough to take that force.  I had the spikes tear out a couple of times. After replacing them with the Sidi toe spikes and using some blue Loctite, I’ve had no problems with them over the last two seasons.

The stitching has completely disintegrated from the backs of both shoes, where the soft boot is sewn to the outer shell. This is a bit annoying, because the shoes now feel “floppy” when riding or walking in them. (Time for a visit to the shoe doctor…)

The neoprene inner shoe is also starting to show some serious wear, to the point of almost being worn through. I think this is because of the snug fit of the neoprene inner – there’s no way to get the shoes on or off without your socks rubbing against this area. This doesn’t seem to affect the shoe’s performance, as the neoprene inner is fully covered and well sealed by the outer boot when you cinch the Velcro straps.

Overall…

An excellent shoe that holds up quite well to nasty winter conditions.  I’m guessing they’ll easily last another few years with a bit of attention and minor repairs. (I wish my chain and chain rings lasted that long!)

Note: This particular model is no longer produced by Lake, but they do have “new and improved” models.

As I was riding along a stretch of hard-packed snow, the light suddenly leapt off my handlebars, bounced along the ground and rolled down a steep hill / cliff. (Do I blame Nite-Hawk, Murphy or Newton for that?)

I spent the next 15 minutes carefully leaping from bush to shrub on the icy hill as I searched for the light. Luckily, I’d had the light turned on, so eventually I noticed the flash and was able to rescue it.

My first thought was that the quick release had simply released, but no — that was still attached to the bike. The connection between the battery pack and the quick release insert had broken. From what I can see, it looks like this connection was simply (and only partially) glued. This only reinforces my theory that NightHawk quickly rushed this light to market without much thought on its quality or usability.

Next step — fire off a snarky note to Nite-Hawk and see what their response is.

Usually, there are at least a couple of things I’d have done differently or that I think could be improved upon.

So, imagine my delight when I came across a backpack that seemed to have been designed specifically for cyclists. I also have a feeling it was designed, not by the marketing department, but by people who actually USE a backpack when cycling. Gadzooks!

For years, I’d been using a commuter backpack from Mountain Equipment Coop (MEC) with moderate satisfaction. It wasn’t overly comfortable, and was too small for winter cycling, but it did the job until the zipper went on it. While MEC would have no doubt repaired the zipper under their fantastic warrantee program, I thought I’d look around for something bigger.

While reading online reviews and doing various searches for cycling-specific backpacks, I came across the Deuter website. Deuter is a German company founded in the late 1800s (yes, 1800s) and has years of experience designing outdoor gear.

I came across the Deuter TransAlpine 30 backpack and was hooked.

The site states that the TransAlpine 30 is the “Most popular, prize winning and best choice bike pack for challenging alpine bike tours.” Well, nice marketing fluff… However, after looking at some of the features, I decided to order one, and here are my thoughts…

Comfort

It is by far the most comfortable pack I’ve ever used while on a bike. While my preference is for panniers, a backpack seems to be better for winter riding, and I can’t fit a rack on my winter bike, anyway. 

Features

Airstripes back
This is what makes the pack so comfy. Two padded ridges lift the pack off your spine and almost massage the muscles on either side. The raised strips also increase airflow between your back and the pack so in hot weather, the pack doesn’t seem as hot. The amount of flow can be controlled with two straps at the top, simply by moving the pack closer to, or farther from, your back.

Adjustable internal compartments
This is a nice touch. An internal zipper lets you create an upper and lower compartment in the packpack, essentially separating the bottom third of the pack. This bottom third can still be accessed from an outside zipper.

Two front pockets
One at the top, and one at the bottom.

Valuables pocket
A small, zippered compartment in the top outside pocket.

Side mesh pockets
Pretty much standard, but angled down towards the back of the pack so it’s easy to get stuff in and out while on the bike.

Helmet holder
Never used this to hold my helmet, but I do stuff all my mucky stuff into it after getting to work.

Stabiliser straps
Top and bottom.

3M reflectors
Very minimal. If there was one thing I could say needed improvement, it would be to increase the reflective patches on the pack. There’s probably less than 2 square inches total on the pack. Having said that, I don’t depend on the pack to be my primary method of being visible.

Mesh wings and compression straps
Yet another good focus on comfort. The mesh wings don’t add the bulk of the overly padded waist strap that a lot of packs have. There are also two little clips on the waist strap. These two little clips are clear evidence that the designers of this pack have actually used it. The clips are used to secure the extra strap lengths (assuming your tummy doesn’t need the full length), so the strap ends aren’t flapping around “down there” while you’re riding. Very simple and very cool. Also, the buckles on the straps are slighly curved. This makes it very easy to release the straps while wearing bulky gloves — another functional element that is appreciated.

Hydration system compatible
I prefer water bottles, but the functionality is there.

Pack cover
I found this by accident. I came across a zipper at the very bottom of the pack one day, and thought, “Cool! Another pocket!” Well, yes and no. There was a rain cover in there that quickly and easily pulls out to cover the backpack. Two little pegs secure the top of it. It’s a lovely bright yellow colour, so will make you a bit more visible in the rain.

Alpine rescue info
I’m assuming you won’t need alpine rescue if you’re only using this on the bike paths, but… In case you do get lost out in the boonies, there’s a handy dandy little info guide on the inside of the pack that tells you what signals to use for alpine rescue.

Possible improvements

I had to really look for any improvements on this pack. Deuter did an excellent overall job with this, so my thoughts for improvements are pretty minimal.

Reflective patches
Increase the size of the existing patches, and implement a couple of stripes on the back of the pack.

Blinkie / lash points
I was a bit surprised at the lack of lashpoints on this pack. However, I didn’t really notice it until I wanted to attach a couple of bike blinkies to the pack. There is one blinkie strap at the very bottom of the pack, but any blinkies I tried to mount would have fallen off at the slightest bump. Likewise, when I wanted to clip something else to the pack, the only real place to attach anything was on the lashpoints on the shoulder straps.

Overall…

I don’t think you can go wrong with this pack. While it’s at the upper end of the price point for smaller backpacks, it’s an excellent pack for cycling, and also works just as well for hiking, skiing or snowshoeing.