I loved every minute of using it and never had many worries or concerns about scuffing it. Obviously it being an Ortlieb it comes with a heritage of 'I last a very long time'. Wieght was 205g lighter than the Spinelock but the material felt slightly more sturdy. I think I got it in 2016 which coincided with my first ever bivy ride. Still looked good when I've moved it on and it carried alot of gear without any sway when trying to pedal hard.
Revelate Spinelock, no pressure then to be and remain, 'a good boy' then! First thoughts on the Spinelock are as follows:
1. You might have noticed I've called it 'The Swallow'. Thats cos' I got the 16L version and it appears to have swallowed all my gear. Bought so I could maximise carrying ability and it's certainly taken that in its stride Alhamdulillah (All Praise to God).
2. It's eye wateringly expensive and £169 at Pannier.cc was the cheapest I found. Not only did Stefan give me a tiny discount but also free delivery, so thanks for that. Normal RRP being £185 for the 'swallow' version and the Spinelock adaptor if bought seperate is an extra £50ish
3. Although the buckles feel alot stronger than the Ortlieb, the material actually feels ever so slightly flimsier. At the same time it's 205g heavier but carrying has been optimised so we can let em off for that.
Before you get bored, some pics...
As you can see the red goes well with the beautiful wallpaper, so well done Revelate.
The metal strap-buckles, though stronger looking than the Ortlieb, seem to be too rugged for the material they're tugging at. Time will tell but I'll try and be gentle and maybe add some posh gorilla tape.
The contact point with the seatpost, though reinforced, still looks like it might become worn over time. Might be me being OCD but I plan to maximise my investment and pop some posh (version of) Gorilla tape there. Maybe some tubeless tyre (I know, sorry) patches.
Optimised capacity has its downfalls. As you can see I'm gonna have to once again rethink the rear bike light.
Though Revelate have added some rear-light webbing, it would appear they never expected anyone to actually use it to full capacity. All is not lost though and I've managed to add the light to the rear strap for the mo. This has it's downside for me in that the rear light can't be easily assesed - for whether it's still running well - whilst on the move.
The fifty-quid spinelock bit. I've managed to apply it to my carbon rails, but just gone down on the torque from the 7nm suggested to 5nm (uncalibrated tiny wrench but I also used the calibrated finger pinch method for good measure). It wouldn't allow me to use the second hole which would level out the back end, but I reckon on a standard saddle the positions/angles could be modified.
Wrapup from 2 days of ownership. Aside from having to almost sell the clothes on my back to be able to invest, I reckon it's a really good investment. Doubt I'd be able to use on the mtb with a dropper (and Karl adaptro type thungy) but I'm impressed and happy at the purchase. It's done what I needed it to do, which is carry a small face (well, ok, a big-face sized visor thing).
Happy as happy can be and really am thinking to getting the 10L version at some point. That would mean I had 2 spinelock adaptor brackets to play with, without spending the eye watering £50 for the bracket on its own.
To be continued...
