This backpack is Osprey’s first mountain bike specific pack with an integrated spine protector. At present, it only comes in this 18 litre option, and it only comes in black – Osprey might expand the range if this one shows the demand is there.
The back protection comes in the form of a lightweight D30 insert, and meets all the standards you need to do some enduro or downhill races. It’s been designed with enduro in mind, with input from Tracey Mosley and other Trek riders. As well as the back protection, you get plenty of space – and a LidLock attachment – to carry a full face helmet or chin bar, plus pads, in an external flap. This joins to the main body of the bag with stretchy net pouches and straps, which can be tightened up to compress the pack if you’re not using its full capacity.
The bag’s storage sections are divided into an upper and lower compartment, plus a goggles pouch. The goggle pouch isn’t fleece lined, but it is properly capacious. In the upper compartment, you should have no trouble fitting in all the jackets and snacks you might need on a big day out. However, while the upper section does extend the full length of the pack thanks to a narrow pouch behind the lower tool section, it is not big enough for a large flat item like a laptop, for example – which can limit the flexibility of use for this pack. It’s designed with enduro in mind, not hiking or commuting – or even, perhaps, general trail riding.
The lower compartment contains an integrated tool roll, which you can remove if desired, or just unzip the pack and let the roll…unroll. The hip strap starts with two lightly padded zippered pockets made with stretchy mesh – perhaps offering a little protection if you have your multitool in there and crash. The hip straps continue into a webbing strap with metal fastener. A magnetic chest strap holds the main pack straps in place.
Latest Singletrack Merch
Buying and wearing our sustainable merch is another great way to support Singletrack
Three things I liked
- there’s plenty of space to carry pads and full face
- it’s light and comfortable to wear
- it’s easy to fit a bladder (if you want to drink from the right)
Three things I’d change
- the metal waist fastener is too fiddly
- the bag layout doesn’t really offer convenient access
- the pouch and tool roll layout could be more useful
Members only content continues…
On the trail
I have no complaints about the comfort of this pack – it’s lightweight and comfortable to ride with, and there’s ample room to carry all the gear you might need on a big ride or in an enduro race in the mountains. The Airscape ventilation system looks like it should provide decent airflow to your back, but since much of my testing has been done with a waterproof jacket on this isn’t really a feature I have been able to test. The protective liner is flexible, but it’s a mystery to me how they got it into its zippered pouch – it is supposed to be removable. Perhaps it needs a really warm day to make the D30 extra soft and bendy to get it out, but I wasn’t about to ruin a backpack by forcing the issue. It doesn’t come with a bladder, but if you want to use one it slots in next to the D30 liner and routes inside a zipper over the right shoulder – there’s no left handed/mouthed option here. This zipper system is super easy to use, however, with no tricky routing of tubes through loops and holes as with most other packs.
While it is comfortable, I have found the Osprey Raptor Pro very faffy to use as a general trail pack. It does seemed to be geared up to those who need to carry a bunch of stuff just in case, but aren’t going to actually take it off other than perhaps at the end of a transition stage or in dire mechanical emergency.
The metal waist strap fastener is fiddly and difficult to operate, especially in winter gloves. It does offer plenty of adjustment, since you can loosen or tighten the strap from either the left or right hip, however actually threading the metal clasps through one another requires close attention – you can’t do it by feel like you can a standard clip. Also, if you tighten it up so it’s really holding the bag firm, you need to loosen it to undo the clip and remove the pack. So, it holds everything down nicely, but it’s a bit like putting on a Duke of Edinburgh expedition pack – once it’s on, you don’t want to remember you still need to add your keys to the pack.
It seems like a nice idea having the separate tool section at the bottom of the pack, however I found that this meant I did actually need to remove the pack in order to get to my tools. In a normal pack I’d quite often just slip my shoulders out of the straps, turn the pack around on my waist, fish out what I need and then twist the pack back into position. If you’ve used the bottom tool storage section, you can’t do that with this pack, and so then you have to undo the waist clip. Which as I’ve already said, I found fiddly.
Having got to the tool section, all your tools unroll neatly out in a nice display….or not. The tool section isn’t big enough to easily accommodate the length of my shock pump, and the roll itself doesn’t have a space in which to store my pump. It does have two elasticated loops that look like they would store a pump – but it would have to be of the skinny roadie variety. Maybe it would store a couple of CO2 canisters, but if you’re using CO2 you’ll likely be seriously cursing the time it’s taken you to get to them. If you’re enduro racing, I think you’re going to want the things you’ll likely need strapped to your bike, and save this section for the real disaster situation kit, like spare mech hangers, 3rd and 4th CO2 canisters, chain breakers and quick links, and so on.
The upper section does have three small pouches inside it. The middle one doesn’t extend the full length of the pack, so was too shallow for my shock pump, while the side ones go all the way down, but don’t come up as far as the middle pouch, making them too short for my shock pump too. But maybe it’s only bike journey that carry shock pumps? The side pouches were the perfect size for my (tyre) pump – which should really be in the bottom tool section, or maybe strapped to my frame. In any case, I think you’ll likely want to use these pouches for any snack bars, because if you just chuck them in the main section they’ll work their way right down so they’re tucked in that lower part of the main section that hides behind the lower tool compartment. There is also a zippered pouch in the top of the main section with handy key clip, so there’s no digging around at the end of a ride for them. I think it’s also worth noting that before you can really get into that main section, you’ll have to unclip the full face holder/compression straps, because they clip over the top of the zip to the main section.
All in all, I’m unconvinced that the layout of this bag is much more accessible and easy to navigate than having multiple pouches inside a main section, as offered by my Evoc and Camelbak packs. The helmet and pad carrying space is good, and the bag stays in place well, but for me the layout and fastenings result in a bag that’s difficult to use in a rush. It’s a bag I’d perhaps consider for a big mountain stage race akin to the Trans Provence, but for trail rides where you’re likely to want to dip in and out of your pack I think there are better options.
Overall
The design of this pack seems quite specific to a certain purpose: big mountain enduro racing. For convenience, you’re going to want to strap key equipment to your bike, and carry the things you hope never to need in the pack. If you need to carry quite a lot of stuff just in case, but don’t actually ever want to access any of it, this might be the pack for you. If you’re looking for a pack for more general trail riding and frequent access, I’d look elsewhere.
