Ortleib's Rolltop panniers - the best?

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Kit Test - Ortlieb Rolltop Panniers. 

Imagine the scenario, you're on tour, say somewhere out of the way like mid Wales on a Sunday. It's
nine o'clock, it's been chucking down with rain all day, but being well equipped you put up your tent
and drag in your panniers. Now you pull out that beautiful down sleeping bag you paid a king's
ransom for, all ready to bed down. But what's this matted lump of goose feathers? Yup an ex-
sleeping bag - your panniers have leaked... 

Now after a few years camping you learn to pack your gear in plastic bags as all nylon panniers leak
like seives in really heavy rain. Ortlieb have the answer, pioneers in the field, now much copied,
they produce nylon panniers with wealded seams and "canoe" type rolltop closures that are totally
waterproof, and recently the nice people at Ortlieb have sent me a set to play with...

As advertised these are as waterproof as you can get, you can use them as water carriers after you
reach a campsite, they're that good. However as most experienced campers use waterproof lining
bags anyway (Ortlieb make them too) if they were poor panniers then the sealing would not be
enough to recommend them alone. Thankfully these panniers, in my case a full set of front and rear
Roller Light's with matching frontbag, justified their high cost with excellent design combined with
very classy construction, and yes the two don't always go hand in hand...

All too often the a good design will be let down by poor build or "penny pinching" when it goes into
production. With the Ortliebs you get the impression that they have been manufactured with money-
no-object. Every fitting, hook and strap is as good as you can get and it all works so well together.
the rack hooks for example automatically clip onto the rail with a satisfying click and release just as
easily. The Jack Wolfskin panniers I tested recently had a similar system but the quality, though
adequate, was much lower. 

The Back Roller's are 40 l a pair, but seem bigger as all the space is in one compartment, and the
Front Roller's 25 l, quite a lot for front panniers, and again all one compartment. To close the
panniers you simply roll the top over itself and fasten a couple of clips, they are a bit of a fiddle to
get neat at first, but as the material eases and with practice they look very slick. The strap that closes
the bag doubles as a shoulder strap which is surprisingly handy. The Ultimate 2 frontbag is of
similar quality, totally waterproof with a classy clip system. It also comes with an Ortlieb map case,
which as any orienteerer will tell you is the best in the business with a rubbery feel, but it's clear and
doesn't split... At 5 l it's a reasonable size, ideal for cameras and valuables, and of course being
watertight will keep everything safe.

Niggles? Well having one compartment means that there are no handy pockets to put waterproofs in
(and out... and in...) and the feel of the inside coating is a bit rubbery making sliding things into an
already full pannier a bit tricky, but otherwise they are hard to fault. The full set runs at about 250
pounds which isn't cheap but cetainly the quality justifies this and I'd much rather pay the extra few
pounds than have corners cut to meet a price point. If you are a serious tourist and will use them
long and hard I think you will find it very hard to better Ortlieb's Rolltops.

Highly recommended 9/10

©Geoff Husband