Specialized/Fjällräven Coolcave Pannier

The Specialized/Fjällräven Coolcave Pannier is a pannier box that attaches to your bike and enables you to take any bag with you, provided it fits inside its 20-litre capacity. It's well built, fits securely and looks great. But it doesn't come with a waterproof cover and it's a bit weighty.

Buy the Specialized/Fjällräven Coolcave for £71 from Specialized

One of the most interesting pieces in the recently launched Specialized/Fjällräven (S/F) luggage collaboration is the Coolcave: a rigid plastic pannier box capable of carrying up to 20 litres of luggage. You can mount the Coolcave to any pannier rack, as far as I can tell, and it's attaches via two KlickFix mountings that you can adjust to suit.

It also has an adjustable hook to prevent lateral movement. It comes in several colours, including Ochre, Ox Red, Green and Navy.

It's an interesting concept: because the Coolcave is essentially an open box, it'll house any bag you like – provided it fits. S/F sells several bags that are specifically designed to work with the Coolcave, including the Cave Pack, Cave Tote and Cave Drybag. These are fairly expensive options, so you might just prefer to use your own bag.

S/F also sells the Cave Lid Pack, a fabric lid that attaches to the top of the Coolcave, and keeps everything inside in place, as well as protecting the contents from the elements. It has a handy six litres of storage in its zippered compartment, and you can also remove it and use it as a sling bag on or off the bike.

Again, this is a pricey option, and one I feel should have come with the Coolcave in the first place. Thankfully, you do at least get a bungee strap included, which keeps things held in place if you have several loose items inside the pannier.

If you're wondering why you'd bother with the Coolcave and accompanying bag over a regular pannier? The main benefit is being able to take your backpack, tote or whatever with you when you get off, and leave the pannier on the bike. I've carried panniers in the city before, and they aren't comfortable to wear over your shoulder for any length of time.

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The only downside I can see with the idea is if you do leave the Coolcave on your bike, there's always the risk someone might take a fancy to it and take it off your bike. Because I thought of this in advance, I always locked it to the bike with a Hiplok Z LOK, which does the job without getting in the way of whatever you're placing inside.

If you're really worried about where you're leaving it, you can always remove the Coolcave, although I found it took some effort to disengage the KlickFix mountings, which seemed to be quite stiff, and the plastic handle built into the box is uncomfortable to hold onto for longer than a minute or so.

If you do leave it in place, and the heavens open, you can rest assured you won't come back to a bucket full of water thanks to the drainage hole in the bottom of the Coolcave. You'll have to remember to remove the rubber bung first, though.

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The other benefit of using the Coolcave is that your bag gets some protection from standing water, as well as general road grime, although as mentioned you won't get any protection from the elements unless you use the Cave Lid Pack.

In use the Coolcave feels very sturdy and there's no obvious movement – provided you strap the contents down securely. Though it's quite weighty, and obviously even more so when you add stuff inside, I didn't find this a problem once on the move.

It also looks very smart (especially on a city/commuter-style bike) and feels like it's an integrated part of the bike rather than tacked on. The only possible downside I found is that it sticks out a little more than a regular pannier, though I never managed to come into contact with anything.

Value and alternatives

At £70, the Coolcave feels a bit expensive when you consider you're not getting any kind of bag included with the price tag. Then again, it's a well-built box with good fixtures (if a little fiddly to remove), and you can either use it as is and just chuck your things in it, and/or use your existing backpack.

Interestingly, Specialized sells the exact same thing on its website, minus the Fjällräven link, for £25 less. It's only available in black, though.

Dave reviewed Ortlieb's Downtown 2 GL3.1 pannier, which seems like a decent alternative to the Coolcave, simply down to the fact that it's designed to look good and feel a bit more normal off the bike. That said, the back section doesn't look like it'd be hugely comfortable against your back. There's also the small matter of the £145 price tag...

Lara rated the Altura Thunderstorm City 20 Pannier highly when she reviewed it. This offers the same storage capacity as the Coolcave and is also fully waterproof, and though it's not particularly cheap at £100, you can find it for much less.

Conclusion

The Coolcave is definitely a good idea for those who are tired of lugging heavy panniers around, and I like the flexibility it offers – allowing you to take your backpack when you need luggage off the bike, or of just using it as a sort of glorified shopping basket. The optional S/F bags do add significantly to the cost, but obviously you can use your own bag. You might also want to consider locking the box to your bike if you're worried about theft.

Verdict

A neat alternative to a regular pannier, allowing for greater flexibility and better comfort off the bike