City Slicker
Registered user
For anyone who is familiar with Kriega’s waist packs and bike packs, the bag itself will present few surprises – a roll top waterproof main compartment that, rather disappointingly, seals by rolling then joining the buckles at either end, as opposed to the more space-saving method applied to the bike packs where the buckles secure to the sides of the bag.
Externally, the bag is devoid of anywhere useful to attach functional items such as keys, flashlight or modular packs. I wanted to avoid the kind of bag with molle attachment points all over the shop, but one or two of these would have been welcome and useful, particularly on the sides of the bag.
The shoulder strap is obviously where the designers have gone wild, with luxurious black, milled aluminium fittings, tactile vinyl and grippy rubber. The attachment buckles are unusual and not unpleasantly over-engineered.
Where I have my main issue with the bag is the strap. It measures a massive 80mm wide and 10mm thick, comprising of a fairly solid foam sandwiched between stitched rubber nonslip and suede-like vinyl. It’s stiff and inflexible around the neck to the point that it interferes with the free movement of my head when on the bike.
There seems no adjustment on the length of the sling that prevents the padded part of the shoulder strap from causing this discomfort. The waist belt (which is currently useless unless you were falling out of a plane) provided no relief for the problem that the strap is too wide and rigid to comfortably follow a path vertically over the shoulder and then right (or left) across and down the body.
Other manufacturers of active sling bags (such as LowePro) address the tendency of sling bags to attack the neck with webbing from the bottom of the bag opposite to the sling anchor point and joined with a buckle somewhere along the sling around the sternum. I carried out a little experiment to see if such a strap would help for this bag, The answer is, most definitely. Sadly though, the modification on its own would be unsatisfactory, and leaves a nasty kink in the webbing.
Kriega have tried to create a bag that will sling across either shoulder. The result is a bag that cannot be comfortable in any direction. This flat broad strap has to be curved to take account of the body shape and path of the strap across and down the body. A hip to sternum strap adds stability when required and obviates the need for a waist belt.
Its not my business to make bags, but if it were, I’d spend my time on ergonomics and a little less time on designing aluminium buckles. I contacted Kriega to share my thoughts with them but they weren’t interested in this feedback.
