Support road.cc

Like this site? Help us to make it better.

Back to REVIEWS
review
Bags
Altura Aero post packAltura Aero Post Pack

Altura Aero post pack

7
by Shaun Audane
UPDATED Thu, Oct 15, 2015 04:24

First Published Jul 28, 2010

5
£49.99

VERDICT:

7
10
Nicely designed alternative to panniers for training and day riding
Weight: 
717g
Contact: 
www.zyro.co.uk
How we test

At road.cc every product is thoroughly tested for as long as it takes to get a proper insight into how well it works. Our reviewers are experienced cyclists that we trust to be objective. While we strive to ensure that opinions expressed are backed up by facts, reviews are by their nature an informed opinion, not a definitive verdict. We don't intentionally try to break anything (except locks) but we do try to look for weak points in any design. The overall score is not just an average of the other scores: it reflects both a product's function and value – with value determined by how a product compares with items of similar spec, quality, and price.

What the road.cc scores mean

Good scores are more common than bad, because fortunately good products are more common than bad.

  • Exceptional
  • Excellent
  • Very Good
  • Good
  • Quite good
  • Average
  • Not so good
  • Poor
  • Bad
  • Appalling

Altura’s Aero Post rack is something of a handful off the bike but with a substantial (3kg) payload, it’s a keenly priced and well-conceived alternative to small panniers for day riding that doesn’t spoil the clean lines or crisp handling of road/audax, cross and racier mountain bikes. However, dimensions mean it's best suited to machines with at least 15cm of exposed seatpost.

The design comprises of a shapely six-litre wedge pack fashioned from Endura 500 – basically, a rugged, water repellent 500-denier polyester that moulds around bulkier clothing, locks and other belongings. The powder coated alloy frame serves to support the load and locks into the justly revered Rixen Kaul Klick Fix bracket. This accommodates posts from 25.4 to 30.8mm diameters but check the 5mm Allen screw weekly to prevent it slipping and scratching a pretty model. Ours worked fine with carbon but a sleeve fashioned from old inner tube is a sensible precaution.

Drawing back the sturdy nylon strap reveals a capacious, padded main compartment capable of gobbling large U locks, training jacket/spare clothes, food tubes and even folding tyres. While there’s a soft padded base, it’s designed with refinement, rather than protection in mind, eliminating the infuriating jangle over rougher roads and trails. Ours passed my egg-box test with flying colours but cameras and other sensitive equipment belongs elsewhere. Two smaller zipped sections riding shotgun either side are perfect for ready access to keys, wallets, multi-tools and other nick-nacks – even when you're wearing full finger gloves.

Outside, the fetching green/black livery enjoys some excellent detailing including acres of sit-up-and-take-notice night-vision reflectives and an extremely secure rubberised LED tab. The woven polyester construction shrugs at inevitable day-to-day encounters with brickwork and fumbles with aggressive foliage – it looks new after several weeks of continual service. A sustained five-minute soaking from my garden hose hasn’t revealed any obvious weaknesses in the waterproofing while the bag scrubs up beautifully using a soft brush dipped in a bucket of warm water and mild detergent.

Verdict

Nicely designed alternative to panniers for training and day riding

road.cc test report

Make and model: Altura Aero post pack

Size tested: n/a

Tell us what the product is for, and who it's aimed at. What do the manufacturers say about it? How does that compare to your own feelings about it?

"The Aero Post Pack is a neat fitting pack that provides a good load capacity without a pannier rack".

A fair and broadly accurate statement.

Tell us some more about the technical aspects of the product?

Powder coated aluminium frame, bag three compartment, six litre, 3kg capacity. Polyester based Endura 500 water repellent fabric.

Rate the product for quality of construction:
 
8/10

Generally to a high standard.

Rate the product for performance:
 
7/10
Rate the product for durability:
 
7/10
Rate the product for weight, if applicable:
 
7/10

700g

Rate the product for comfort, if applicable:
 
7/10
Rate the product for value:
 
7/10

Tell us how the product performed overall when used for its designed purpose

The Aeropost rack isn't a completely novel idea but one of the most capacious that doesn't turn handling sour. Central to the design's success is the sturdy aluminium frame that clicks neatly into the tried and tested Rixen Kaul seatpost-mounted bracket.

Common to the breed, entry/release requires a little practice before the action becomes intuitive but aboard the bike there's been no unnerving sway-even laden to the three kilo limit.

The bag itself is fashioned from Duratec 500,a hardy, water repellant nylon with three sensibly designed compartments. This has passed my garden hose test with flying colours,shrugged at brushes with brickwork, frisking from foliage and other everyday carelessness so should last a few years-even paired to an mtb/crosser.

Clever reflective detailing and the rubberised LED tab complete the package and a few minor grumbles aside, it's a great day bag for thosse wanting extra capacity without resorting to panniers, or spoiling a bike's clean lines.

Tell us what you particularly liked about the product

Build quality, detailing, nice to use and not overly obtrusive on a lightweight/minimalist machine.

Tell us what you particularly disliked about the product

Nothing, although the zips might prove a long-term weakness and it's a bit of a handful off the bike – walking round town, say – but this is something endemic to the breed.

Did you enjoy using the product? Yes

Would you consider buying the product? Yes

Would you recommend the product to a friend? Yes

Overall rating: 7/10

About the tester

Age: 36  Height: 1m 81  Weight: 70 kilos

I usually ride: Rough Stuff Tourer Based around 4130 Univega mtb Frameset  My best bike is: 1955 Holdsworth Road Path and several others including cross & traditional road

I've been riding for: Over 20 years  I ride: Most days  I would class myself as: Experienced

I regularly do the following types of riding: cyclo cross, commuting, touring, fixed/singlespeed, mtb,

bike bag
Altura bag
Altura
Shaun Audane

Shaun Audane is a freelance writer/product tester with over twenty-eight years riding experience, the last twelve (120,000 miles) spent putting bikes and kit through their paces for a variety of publications. Previous generations of his family worked at manufacturing's sharp end, thus Shaun can weld, has a sound understanding of frame building practice and a preference for steel or titanium framesets.
Citing Richard Ballantine and an Au pair as his earliest cycling influences, he is presently writing a cycling book with particular focus upon women, families and disabled audiences (Having been a registered care manager and coached children at Herne Hill Velodrome in earlier careers)

Add new comment

5 comments

Avatar
amazon22 | 14 years ago
0 likes

I now have one of these to supplement my Vaude 10 + 2 litre bag - they use the same bracket, so its an easy swop depending on the payload. Very nice bag - high quality and looks great. The triangulated frame is much more robust than the Altura Arran and similar, which use a lighter bracket as well. Nice big tab for rear led/s, lots of reflectives and space on the front of the frame to strap a coat or somesuch if required (more than there looks in the photo above). I would have liked a key tab and/or a small zipped pocket in the main compartment, but that’s a minor point, especially as it can be had for around £40.

Avatar
Simon E | 14 years ago
0 likes

And I think it's made of Cordura 500 fabric, not Endura (inadvertent plug for rival brand there 3 )

Avatar
amazon22 | 14 years ago
0 likes

You have the fixing bracket pictured upside down - I have a similar bag by Vaude that uses the same bracket and frame. Its excellent in most respects except it doesn't have an LED tab. It claims to be 10 litres plus a 2 litre zip expansion to give a 4 kilo payload. It’s a bit too big for day rides - this smaller version looks ideal.

Avatar
John_the_Monkey | 14 years ago
0 likes

It's the sort of thing the rack-shy are always asking about, for some reason, not everyone likes Carradice. (The fools!) 4

Avatar
DaveP | 14 years ago
0 likes

That could be good for the commuters amongst us.. 1

Latest Comments