Tesco/et al, do small rucksacks, pretty cheap.

Strap the rucksack to the pillion seat when riding, use bungees/spider.

Meldrew wrote:

Taipan wrote:Depends on the accident. A guy crashed and slid off his bike and hit a stud/bolt thing sticking out of the road with his backpack and it ripped through the back pack and part of a manual he had in there. If he hadn't been wearing the backpack with its contents, it would have been his spine that took that injury!!

Is that a fact or varation of the tales about some old soldiers pocket watch or hip flask stopping the enemy bullet that would have killed him.

Anyway it's all the more reason to always wear a back protector of some type too. I usually have a courier type bag or rucksack with me when out on the Silver Wing, but I don't wear it when riding because I have a 55 litre top box. My Dutch push bike has a Givi 30 litre cycle top box for the same reason

Then of course it's a common sight to see riders wearing large 50 litre rucksacks on their backs as load carriers, or alternatively long suffering girlfriends perched bolt upright on the pillion seat pad of the boyfriend's bike with even larger rucksacks

Lol, no, it was a post on visorodwn or BCF some years back. I think there have been more than a few instances where the padding of a back pack has saved from a (spinal) injury, after all it stands to reason. But then the straps could snag, or as has been said, something of an odd shape in the rucksack could cause damage. Point is, crashing is bad we can all agree with, but I don't think you can say wearing a ruck sack is going to make it worse.

Any outdoors shop will have small rucksacks. Forget about waterproofing or riding with it on, just sling it under the seat or in the topbox. That's what scooters are good for.

steve_h80 wrote:Any outdoors shop will have small rucksacks. Forget about waterproofing or riding with it on, just sling it under the seat or in the topbox. That's what scooters are good for.

Why would you want to put the rucksack in a topbox? If you've got enough room in the box, then a Tesco plastic bag will do.

True, but if you are walking about a bit after you've stopped a rucksack is a better bet than a tesco bag

steve_h80 wrote:True, but if you are walking about a bit after you've stopped a rucksack is a better bet than a tesco bag

That makes sense, my cheapo rucksack rolls up into a little ball and lives below the seat with my waterproofs, torch, binoculars, toolkit, towel and a few other odds and sods. If the towel gets wet, I can lay it out on the bottom of the storage area and it will dry in no time.

I need a rucksack because ive now got a bike not a scooter
ive a Kawasaki ninja 400

these are very good but not the cheapest.
https://kriega.com/riderpacks/

I have a couple or three Kriega doda's and as Mark says, they are good but NOT cheap...my bike packs come with a carry strap.
Lyn.

I have a Kriega 20L and it is very good. However my view is that their high cost is only really justifiable if you go on long rides or tours because their comfortable fit matters much more. If you never go out for more than say an hour, then as others have said more or less any backpack from an outdoors store will do, of a sufficient size to carry what you need. No need to get a bike-specific one.

From experience I suggest that you get one which has a waist strap in addition to the shoulder straps as this helps to keep it tight against your back and less likely to flap about, which is undesirable.

As you now have a proper bike instead of a scooter, a useful alternative to a backpack might be a tail pack or tank bag which sits on the bike rather than you. That's because ultimately no backpack is ideal for biking in my view, much better and a lot more comfortable if you can to put your stuff on the bike rather than yourself.