Kriega R30 rucksack review

Kriega R30 | £139 | www.kriega.com | 01829 770767 | Tested by Steve Rose

£139 for a rucksack? Some would say pricey, but based on previous Kriega experience I’d say a bargain at twice the price.

My old Kriega R25 (the number stands for litres capacity) was, er, ‘borrowed’ from a colleague in 2005 and has covered at least 100,000 miles since, probably closer to 150,000. In all that time nothing has broken, nothing has frayed, nothing even looks like it has even worn. It is still as waterproof as it ever was and all the zips, straps and buckles work like new.

That’s impressive because I don’t look after my things particularly well (all in the name of objective testing, you understand). I was going to use some cliché like ‘if Carlsberg made rucksacks’, but the truth is that this is much better than that. Suffice to say that if Kriega made lager it’d probably taste a damn sight better than Carlsberg. That’s how much I rate their kit.

The Kriega R30 is a different design to the R25. The Quadloc buckles are slightly less chunky, but easier to use and the clever design still spreads the weight much more evenly than other sacks, making heavy loads feel floaty-light. This one has a roll top and buckle fasteners to replace the R25’s zip as a way of getting in, which gives much easier access for bulky loads and should be just as waterproof.

So far it’s done a couple of long trips and proved comfy and spacious enough for everything I need. Here’s to the next nine years.