New Look Postino Office

Designed in the Netherlands, the New Look Office Postino has that decidedly utilitarian, yet stylish feel synonymous with that cycling nation. Made from a rugged weather resistant canvas/faux leather fabric, it's a 16 litre satchel doubling as a pannier, which has some implications on the bike, depending on riding style... but more on that later on.

Lifting the porch like storm flap you're greeted with a genuinely tardis like and well-organised layout. The outer wall has a Velcro closure strip and a medium sized outer pocket, segregating spare tube, tools, lunch or indeed, that office jar of coffee and milk ration, swooped from the supermarket en route.

Delving into the main compartment, this is basically the nerve centre, comprising of a 40x23cm string vest type section, ideally suited to holding a smart phone, A5 stationary, lights/blinkies, pencil cases, and similar goodies. It also has a nifty little sibling, this time with an elasticated cuff, perfect for keys, money/similar valuables you wouldn't want the pocket dippers getting their hands on.

Laptop sleeves are something of a must have for many, so the two elasticated parallel straps came as something of a culture shock but do a surprisingly good job of restraining smaller (15inch) laptop and tablet computers. That said; padding at the base isn't overly generous, so I've lined ours with some medium-density foam and slipped my computer a in waterproof sleeve just to be on the safe side. The remainder of the main compartment is less open plan, expanding outwards to entertain textbooks/manuals, A4 pads/folders, middleweight armoured cable locks and even office trousers and shirt for good measure.

Reflective strips are sewn into the outer, thus offering some peripheral visibility but that outer flap makes a sturdy mounting point for blinkies, reflective stickers here would rather defeat the object of a formal satchel. Flipping it over to expose the back/belly reveal another compartment, which houses the two mounts and Velcro tie for securing the bag to a carrier. This is neater than most briefcase types since it won't snag on clothing off the bike.

However, while seemingly universal on most diameters of rack, the hardware seems happiest on those with really beefy diameter rods. Standard alloy racks had the test version slide annoyingly fore and aft, nudging my heels like an impatient Labrador and it was even ejected while negotiating a lumpy section of road at a distinctly pedestrian 10 mph. Worn messenger style, the absence of a waist strap means it has a tendency to slide about when you're wearing it, thus precluding fast riding in traffic. On a brighter note, weather resistance is pretty good, resisting three-minute garden hose torture testing from thirty centimetres, snow, sleet and pretty much everything else we hadn't bargained for in March.

Verdict

Great looking bag with some good design touches but needs a waist strap and to move less when fixed to a rack