[Closed] Back pack destroying soft shell

Use panniers instead?

I should imagine that the thousands and thousands of tiny movements of the pack against the pertex are enough to do it. Wouldnt say bad design though.

Obviously no excessive movement of the pack or anything though?

 thousands and thousands of tiny movements of the pack

This is what they do.

I have been commuting with  back packs forever,I just accept it as part of the wear and tear of my commute.*

* I hate panniers

Commuting is tough on clothing - Ive found it better to stick to cheaper clothes or just deal with the wear and tear - if you can get by with water resistant as opposed to 'waterproof' proper then maybe go for a Polartech Powerstretch type garment - very resilient to abrasion - Or just go for a cheap syntetic sports top and if its colder put other layers on underneath - Very liberating accepting that getting soaked through is no big deal . .

Thanks feedback - it just seems that this brand of back pack has a rougher / tighter mesh than previous packs from berghaus and lowe

My Osprey Axis pack has been fine on all clothing over a couple of years.

I’d say you have an unfortunate combination, it’s not that the jackets or bag are badly designed- far from it - but they aren’t designed to work with each other.

All the cliches aside, this is why you do see a lot of commuters wearing Aldi/ Lidl stuff. Reasonable quality, pretty cheap and not too annoying when this sort of thing happens I suppose?

Plus the hundred other things that can damage bike clothing used daily**.Lol

**A massive exaggeration. 😊

Ive been commuting with a Dueter EXP Air Race rucksack for 5 years ( averaging 5000 miles a year) with no wear to my clothing

As long as its strapped tight to my body there is very little movement

I have an osprey synchro 15 backpack that I use for commuting, its the one with the air gap and works really well at reducing sweaty back syndrome. But the mesh back is destroying my rab vapour rise pertex and gore active soft shells. I can’t feel any obvious rough points but the mesh is pulled very tight due to the frame design. Am I expecting too much out of these fabrics or is my back pack (which is lightly loaded ) not the greatest design

The lightweight pertex equilibrium on the Rab VapourRise (especially the Alpine version) is not that abrasion resistant.  I've had a few, and they are great bits of kit, but the fabric does get ugly (pilled and abraided) where pack straps touch the fabric.  My experience it that most lightweight fabrics suffer in this way (I've got a Paramo Velez adventure light, and Marmot Driclime at the moment that are suffering in a similar way, but the damage is largely cosmetic*).  I find that lightweight pack straps are more likely to cause damage (more minimal design, not as padded), and lightweight materials are more likely to get damaged.  If you want to keep using a pack, it's worth looking for slightly heavier, more robust kit.  I just accept it, and see it as another opportunity to buy shiny new kit when the old stuff wears through.

* other than looking ugly when the straps are not covering the worn areas, I suspect the water resistance is compromised in these areas.  If the material is worn, the DWR is going to be non existent.

I would agree about a lot of kit now designed for light weight, not durability and long term functionality and comfort. I avoid daft light, unless silly cheap (lots of running gear is cheap and good quality)

Thanks for all the advice. I think the rab vapour rise lite is such a good bit of kit that I’m going to try a different pack before giving up on pertex and back packs ( but no panniers ! ). Why don’t RAB do bike gear, vapour rise breathes so well when compared to windstopper

Pack fabrics vary a lot. Some of Montane's packs specifically use low-abrasion fabrics to make them more lightweight clothing friendly at the main contact points, so might be worth a look. Try rubbing the pack fabric against the skin on the inside of your wrist for a rough test. Oh, and I'd avoid spacer mesh and trampolene back systems, mesh tends to be inherently abrasive ime.

My original VR Lite Alpine looks like it's been dragged through a thorn bush repeatedly, but despite lots of bobbliing, still hasn't (quite) holed anywhere.

As for Rab and bike gear. I guess you could look at it a different way and ask why outdoor brands often use better fabrics than bike brands. Some of it, I think, is a price-point thing. Cyclists seem more cost conscious when it comes to clothing than outdoor people. Maybe...

Norrona - s**** Norwegian outdoor brand - does some nice mountain biking kit, it's their Fjora range. 7-Mesh, again expensive. Some of the Arc'teryx trail-running stuff. None of it's cheap. I don't know a bike brand that uses Pertex Equilibrium - the stuff on the outside of Vapoour-Rise. It works by sacrificing some windproofing for better breathability and wicking.

I’ve wondered why Montane don’t do bike gear before too.  Rab, Montane et al kick the proverbial out of ‘bike specific’ clothing in every aspect including at price point.

Thinking about the other comments on commuter durability though, now I think about it, I normally use Decathlon compression shorts and running tee unless it’s belting down and then add a waterproof... my Axis pack does get worn and carried a lot off the bike too though in a variety of clothing and hasn’t damaged any of them.

Montane have dabbled in bike clothing, maybe they didn't sell well enough to pursue further.