Blackburn Outpost seat pack review

Load lugging on your bike normally means racks and panniers – heavy options and ones which many modern road bikes are not designed to accommodate. Blackburn’s Outpost range is designed to address this by providing luggage which can be fitted to a normal road bike.

The Blackburn Outpost seat pack is essentially a massive version of the kind of saddlebag you use to carry a couple of tubes and your keys on a Sunday ride. It’s held in place by two Velcro straps on the seatpost and a clip-fastened strap which goes over the saddle rails. it comes in two parts: the outer nylon casing which fits to the bike and a removable inner which is a large conical dry sack with a capacity of 11 litres. Blackburn suggests a maximum weight of 4.5kg and does not recommend the Outpost for use with carbon seatposts.

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That’s a lot of room, and it’s easy to turn down the top of the Blackburn Outpost seat pack and clip it fast to make it waterproof. I’ve loaded up the dry sack with a complete change of clothing for off the bike use and a second set of cycling kit and headed off for multi-day trips, as well as using it to pack smaller loads for long days out in changeable conditions.

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The outer has a long tongue-like flap which clips over the dry sack to keep it in place, and which is adjustable for different load sizes. It’s got a range of fixing loops on it too, so you could potentially lash even more kit to the back. I used these to fix a rear light, although I found it difficult to get the light pointing in the right direction unless carrying a large load. With only a single compartment, getting at your kit such as rain gear during a ride is a bit fiddly too.

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As you’d expect with a bag of this size, the Blackburn Outpost seat pack rubs against your legs a bit on either side of the saddle, although I did not find this uncomfortable. I did not find that the protruding rear of the bag got in the way either when seated, but you can feel the additional weight sitting high up if you try to ride out of the saddle. It also makes getting a leg over the back to mount or dismount a bit tricky. But protruding so far backwards has the benefit of acting as an Ass Saver if you are riding on wet roads without mudguards.

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The Blackburn Outpost seat pack is a clever solution to add a lot of capacity and flexibility without bolting anything onto your bike and there’s a range of other Outpost bags if you want to carry even more kit.

For more details visit Zyro.