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rapha roll top backpack

rapha roll-top backpack

a commuter is generally defined as one who travels some distance to work on a regular basis. it is, i think you'll agree, a rather lax definition, open to some considerable (mis)interpretation. for starters, while it's possible to google an online conversion for kilometres to miles, or grams to ounces, try as i might, i couldn't find one that would allow me to convert 'some distance' to any meaningful or useful set of numbers. each monday morning, i arrive at the office, and occasionally, someone will ask how far i cycled at the weekend. assuming it to have been an equitable couple of days, my answer will generally be north of 100.

rapha roll-top backpack

since everyone else travels to work by car, i reckon they would find half my weekend perambulations to be more than 'some distance'. having covered only a few kilometres on saturday, cycling out for a collective lunch, the monday morning answer is likely to be a tad less than hoped for. you will notice, however, that while the definition includes at least some affectation towards kilometreage, there is no mention whatsoever, of location. i would take minor exception to the notion that commuting expressly concerns travel to and from work, but i think we'd both consider that to be nit-picking.

the general implication is, however, by regular usage of the word, that the archetypal commuter inhabits an urban, or inner-city jurisdiction. in the mind's eye, we can picture a fleet of disparately hued waterproof jackets on bicycles, heading in the same general direction, surrounded by a phalanx of motor vehicles intent on carrying out the same journey. when the word 'commuter' is mentioned, that hypothetical picture rarely, if ever, conjures up open fields of golden barley, itinerant sheep and lambs crossing the road and farmer john, in his john deere doing whatever it is farmers do with john deere tractors.

rapha roll-top backpack

yet those of us in the rural idyll also have need of commuting; city life scarcely holds a monopoly on regularity or the daily travail.

sadly, having carefully constructed this idyllic picture of country life, i must excuse myself from its reality. for i live but a matter of minutes from the office and it would surely take longer to remove the bicycle from the shed, than it does to walk. if i were to commute to work by bicycle, it would be a rather redundant exercise, though it would allow a certain level of collateral to inhabit the moral high ground.

rapha roll-top backpack

so why, then, do i have need of rapha's new roll-top backpack? framed in the strict definition of a commuter, i don't suppose i do, but like many a modern-day cyclist, i have occasional need of transporting stuff from a to b. wednesday evenings, for example, i regularly pedal a round trip of four kilometres to teach at the community pipe band, a trip which requires that i carry the tools of the trade. since contemporary, high-tension pipe band snare drums, feature woven kevlar drumheads, cranked far tighter than any self-respecting kit drummer would ever dream of, a standard rubber practice pad bears no comparison to the drum head on which the aspiring percussionist will eventually be called upon to perform.

rapha roll-top backpack

therefore, i have a 14" diameter pad with a similar kevlar surface on which to practice my paradiddles; it's not small and it's hardly what you'd call lightweight. it is accompanied by one or two drumsticks and beaters, along with a drum key or two and some exercise books. all the foregoing fitted comfortably into the backpack to be ergonomically and safely transported by bicycle to the venue in which noise-making takes place.

the backpack's substantial internal space is divided into two discrete sections, one of which is padded to cosset up to a 15" laptop. when used as a pedestrian means of transport, it swallowed my 13" macbook air with ease, even when held inside a rapha for apple padded cover. the larger part of the division, floored with fluorescent pink to ease internal identification of items, also allows access to a smaller, zipped pocket into which documents may be placed for safekeeping. you'd scarcely want your ef education first professional contract to be crushed by a 14" pipe band practice pad, now would you?

rapha roll-top backpack

i thought it odd that the ergonomically shaped shoulder straps were bereft of the almost mandatory chest strap to keep everything in place while challenging for the king of the mountains jersey, but only a few ascents over a few kilometres were sufficient to note that such a strap has been all but rendered unnecessary, by the carefully shaped and padded backpack shoulder straps. for ease of access to keys, wallet, passport or other documents, there is a capacious zipped pocket on the lower rear section, negating any need to continually open the roll-top in poor weather.

rapha roll-top backpack

the closure buckle is similar in function to that employed by brooks on its roll-top backpacks, where a thin 'spike' slides laterally into a cordura loop, placed midway between the strap tops. the buckle and strap is retractable and does so automatically every time the roll top is opened. the bag also features a fabric handle for ease of carrying. there is a central fabric strap affixed to the outer panel of the backpack, running from top to bottom and featuring a number of loops into which a d-lock might be fitted for carrying purposes.

this constituted the one, simple failing in the backpack's constitution. though truth may be that the majority of commuting cyclists possess the archetypal d-lock, my own, seldom used, bicycle lock consists of a heavy length of chain, fitting into a tube-style lock. the loops incorporated into the strap are too small to allow the chain to fit through, so i'd to loop the chain through the closure strap. this meant, of course, that everytime the bag was opened, the chain fell to the ground. it would have required only one of those loops (and there are half-a-dozen of them) to be double-sized, and owners of locks such as mine, would be able to carry them in a similar manner that of d-lock owners.

rapha roll-top backpack

art lies in the details.

the outer fabric feels rubberised, offering a measurable degree of waterproofing, at least partially tested while riding along the less than pristine farm track leading to gartbreck farmhouse, at one time destined to be the site of yet another islay distillery. the potholed track was rife with muddy puddles, the contents of which were liberally sprayed onto the backpack by my bicycle's rear tyre.

whatever type of commuter you figure yourself to be, there will always be a time when stuff has to be carried, safe, sound and comfortably. there are many reputable backpacks on the market capable fo achieving the latter, amongst which rapha's version ranks as one of the best, despite a prevalence for d-locks.

rapha's roll top backpack is available in a 25 litre size, in black/pink, dark green, or black. retail cost is £100

rapha roll top backpack

sunday 16 june 2019

twmp ..........................................................................................................................................................................................................