Deuter Bike One Air EXP 16 backpack

The Deuter Bike One Air EXP 16 rucksack is a well-built bag that keeps a gap between your back and your luggage. It has nice touches like a built-in raincover, a helmet holder and the ability to carry a water bladder as well as a couple of bidons in its side pockets. Perhaps best suited to an overnight bike trip, it also works well for commuting – as long as you don't need a laptop compartment.

• Pros: Versatile, well made, less sweaty on the back than some
• Cons: No padded laptop sleeve; there are cheaper...

The Bike 1 bag is based on a design that the German company has been selling for 25 years, updated and refined for today's market. Its features include comfortable padded shoulder straps and hip pads, with waist and sternum straps to keep everything from moving around when the route gets bumpy; side pockets and a big valuables pocket on the back with several compartments; a built-in rain cover; a built-in helmet carrier; and the ability to carry a two-litre hydration bladder and expand the main compartment for larger loads.

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The bag feels like good quality, with tidy stitching and good zips that never felt sticky or likely to jam. The padded shoulder straps connect to similarly padded zones at the top and bottom of the main bag, providing cushioning for your shoulder blades and hips respectively.

Between these two padded zones lies the Deuter 'Aircomfort System'. This is an arrangement of two crossed wires that provide shape and structure to the rear of the bag by running from corner to corner and so holding the rear of the rucksack away from your back when you are wearing it. Despite initial scepticism, I have to admit that I really did seem to be getting to my destinations with a drier back than I have with other rucksacks. It's not perfect, and you're still going to have some sweat, but it did feel like an improvement.

With rucksacks, you generally want the contents as close to your body as possible to avoid changing your centre of gravity too much. Thankfully, I never felt that the Aircomfort System had this effect, despite the gap it introduced between me and the bag. Even with a few kilograms in the bag, everything felt planted and stable. There are side compression straps for if you have the bag part empty and want to cinch the load closer to your body.

Inside, there's a single main compartment which can be expanded by opening a zip that runs around the outside of the bag. The main compartment is a single space except for a tall vertical pocket that sits on the interior face closest to your body. This is for holding a water bladder, which can be suspended inside the pocket from a Velcro loop that sits above.

The exit port for the drinking tube is cleverly designed to let you run the tube right or left as you prefer, and both shoulder straps have elasticated bands to hold the tube in place on its way to the sternum strap, which seems the most likely place you'd clip the mouthpiece. A flap of fabric sits over the exit hole at the top of the bag and should prevent rain or dust dripping down the vent when you're in action.

On the back there is a valuables pocket containing a main pouch large enough to hold, say, a phone, wallet and a toolkit all at the same time. Behind this pouch there are two mesh pockets for storing small items and a zipped compartment with a key holder.

What the bag does not have, it has to be noted, is a separate compartment for a laptop. This is something that might or might not affect you if you're looking for a bag for commuting. As long as you don't need laptop protection, or are happy to use a standalone padded case for your computer, this bag would be fine as a commuter option thanks to its ability to manage a change of clothes, set of shoes and a packed lunch easily. I commuted a few times with a laptop in a sleeve and it worked fine. If you're not carrying a water bladder, that pocket could also be used as a holder for wet kit – as long as you've not got too much of it, because it only stretches out so far.

What it's like to use

This is a comfortable bag. The padded straps sat nicely for me and even when I had about 5kg on board I wasn't bothered by the load when I rode.

The bag has two zipped pockets on the outside – one on the back and one on the bottom. The former has a label saying 'rain cover', but actually holds a little net that can secure your helmet to the back of the rucksack when you're walking around. I tried this several times, and walked a few miles in total, without my helmet ever wanting to come loose.

The other pocket, which does not say 'rain cover', holds the rain cover. This is a nice piece of kit. It has a big reflective logo printed on the back and is a shockingly high-vis green. In my testing, the rain cover's elasticated edges stayed put just fine and it didn't show any signs of wanting to pop off. Were it to do so, it's permanently anchored to a strap inside its pocket so you wouldn't lose it anyway – a nice touch.

Speaking of reflective details, there's also a thin retroreflective strip on the left shoulder strap and a big one running diagonally across the valuables pocket on the back. A companion who was walking behind me at night described this as being very effective.

The bag is rated at 16 litres, but that sort of number is always difficult to visualise. I found I could get a change of clothing, a pair of shoes, and a rain jacket into it without having to open the expansion zip. It could very easily carry whatever you might need for a day's riding (which is what Deuter markets the bag for) or an overnighter.

Summary

A lot of thought has gone into this bag, and it feels like the mature product it is. Perhaps best suited for day rides or an overnight cycle trip, it's also big enough for commuting – as long as you don't need a padded laptop sleeve (and if you do, have a look at Deuter's Giga Pro). With features like its water bladder capacity, it would also be good off the bike, when hiking or skiing.

> Buyer's Guide: 13 of the best cycling rucksacks

There are other bags that will hold things on your back for less money – the Upso Rivington at £65 is well worth a look, and if size isn't so much of an issue for your commute there's Oxford's 12 litre Aqua V12 – but if you want a bag for the long-haul then consider this.

Verdict

A neat bag with some nice features; a dependable companion for day rides and maybe even longer trips