Brooks Dalston Knapsack

The Brooks Dalston Knapsack not only takes its name from the heartland of the cycling hipster in London, it's also styled primarily with that market in mind, balancing style with function. At a price.

The name Brooks has long been synonymous with traditional values, high quality and Britishness. Ignoring the fact that the brand has effectively been Italian since 2003, after being bought out by Selle Royal, it has managed to retain that quintessentially British feel to it, not only through its range of traditional leather saddles but also through its ever expanding (thanks to its Italian reinvention) collection of bags.

> Find your nearest dealer here

> Buy this online here

Handmade in Italy from rugged 'Bluesign' standard waterproof textile and vegetable tanned leather, the Dalston does exude quality and durability. It's available in a smaller 12-litre version too, for £120.

Features in the zip-top bag include heavy duty fabric webbing shoulder straps, and an adjustable chest strap, but I have to say I was disappointed with the way the shoulder straps fitted. Although stiff to start with, they did soften up over time and were really quite comfortable, but their straight up and down orientation, with no capacity to hinge or move, meant they sat oddly proud rather than flush with the body. I wondered if this was a boob thing, but when I asked a man to try it, it sat oddly on him too.

The bag itself is very comfortable and stable, either fairly empty or fully laden, so it did jar slightly that the straps don't look good. After all, looks are a primary focus for this bag.

The fabric of the bag is great, and kept out the rain very well, although I'd have liked a more substantial overlap at the zip to protect the bag's contents in persistent downpours, particularly if I was using the padded laptop sleeve (big enough for a 15in device). On the plus side, the zip is positioned at the rear, so it is quite well protected. The base of the bag is heavier-duty waterproofed fabric, too.

As well as that padded laptop sleeve, there's a large internal zipped pocket, smaller pouch pockets, a capacious front pocket with Velcro fastening, and a stretchy side bottle pocket as well as a non-stretch side pouch.

The side pockets are handy, particularly the water bottle one, and the other one could maybe be used for an umbrella if the bag fulfilled its ultimate potential of being one genuinely useful on or off the bike, as its looks would suggest.

> Check out our guide to the best cycling rucksacks here

There's also a riveted leather strap, which doubles up as both a design feature and somewhere to clip on an LED light. Ideally it would be lower and/or longer, as a flashing LED clipped to it isn't as visible as you'd want, especially if riding on a drop-bar bike. It's also a vertical strap rather than an easier-to-use horizontal loop; a loop of some sort where the smart Brooks metal badge is would have been good, though it is possible to clip a light to the Velcro front pocket.

Although it's a genuinely comfortable and very well made bag, useful and stylish both on and off the bike, the few minor niggles mean it's hard to justify that £130 price tag. Even more so when it's compared with the superbly designed, British made Trakke Findo. Yes that one is £65 more, but the sense of care and attention put into the details of the Findo make it feel light years different.

Verdict

Well made and very comfortable, but a few minor design niggles make the price somewhat offputting