Decent rucksack for a laptop while commuting?

Leodhasach

As it says on the thread! Something padded and comfy would be good. Preferably armour plated too owing to the fact that motorists in Inverness seem unable to spot the 5'11" lump in bright orange, astride a bike festooned with many, many lights!!

asprilla

I carry everything in my Ortleib Velocity.

Importantly for papers and a laptop, it's completely adn utterly impervious to water, no matter how bad the conditions get.

I don't think many bags will protect your laptop in the event of an accident, certainly few manufacturers are going to claim that anyway.

Stevo_666

Check out the Camelbak Hawg. Carries my laptop and associated gumph comfortably without being too large and has some nice padding for your back

ride_whenever

I've got a crumpler, works pretty well but then i only have a netbook.

Beware, if you've got a larger notebook you might end up cracking it over your back in a rucksack.

There are some very very good laptop panniers though.

Norky

I've got one of these: http://www.targus.com/UK/product_detail ... u=TCB001EU it's big and padded, it's also comfy for walking but on the bike I find the weight a bit much, especially when I've got all the work stuff that I often carry in it. Also, the integrated rain cover has been blown off the bag (it's still attached by an elastic cord) and gotten caught in my rear wheel before. Which was fun. Both bag and cover are day-glo black/carbon, and almost completely obscure my 'lovely' hi-vis yellow jacket.

These days, if I must cart about a laptop on the commute, I'd use panniers, maybe with a laptop sleeve in a carrier bag for the reasons Asprilla mentioned . I don't enjoy playing packhorse every day though so I usually carry as little as possible on the commute

Regarding armour, while I think you can get bags with metal panels in them to protect laptops, in the event of a collision bad enough to break a computer through layers of normal padding and bag, you'd probably have bigger problems than a smashed laptop...

londonbairn

DHB elstead, the 30L one. I treat it like crap, fill it with everything from suit, t-shirts, laptop, lunch, spares, shoes etc etc and it feels like nothing on my back.

Leodhasach

Cheers folks, the armour comment was a bit tongue in cheek to be honest! :-D

The Targus looks good, I think one of the guys at work has one of those.

cjcp

I have a standard, large Kathmandhu backpack. It fits the laptop (when packed in a padded carrier), work papers, clothes and bike tools. Not for everyone though. And because it rests against the back, it tends to hum a bit in the summer...so Febreeze is worth buying.

asprilla

cjcp wrote:

so Febreeze is worth buying.

I had to burn my previous pack; it wouldn't get damp from the weather, but from the foam padded back acting like a sponge against my back. Nice.

Norky

Leodhasach wrote:

The Targus looks good, I think one of the guys at work has one of those.

Indeed, it's a good-quality well-made thing, but as I said, I don't like riding with it. It's great for tossing in the car or carrying on trains and trudging about town, but on the bike I'd use panniers instead. The weight is better on the frame than my back and it's less sweaty that way too.

Also, there are two sizes. I went for the large, not knowing what size of laptop I'd want in it. On reflection, I probably should have bought the small one.