My awesome sister in law got me the Ortlieb Office Bag for my birthday. Its a very nice bag that was obviously well thought out and made.
The bag, like all ortlieb gear is waterproof which is essential in steel city where it rains all year. It has room for folders, plus two rows of pockets for pens, wallet, cell. A nice touch over the other ones I have looked at.
It also has four small feet on the bottom to keep the bag off the ground, which is good if the ground is filthy (like my bike rack area…) or whet.
What I carry to work:
-15″ macbook pro in a padded sleeve
– Drawls
– Undershirt
– Cell
– Wallet
– Nathan Reflective LED Vest (review soon)
– Rain cover for my bell metro helmet
– pump and tools.
All of this fit with no problem.
It attaches to the bike with the QLR-2 which is completely adjustable without tools. It fits securely on my Blackburn Metro rack without any shaking or bouncing on my mixed dirt/road commute.
It mounts on an angle to the rack, which gives you plenty of heel clearance.
It closes with the roll top (aka dry bag) style closure with two quick release buckles on the sides.
The front and rear of the bag have large reflective triangles on them for extra visibility.
In the end I would recommend buying this to anyone who needs to carry a laptop to work and lives in a wet place. Comparing this to my short stint owning the Cannondale Cypod shows that Ortlieb really know a thing or two about the pannier business, the mount is better, the closure is better and the construction looks better. Speaking of looks I really like the way this looks in the office compared to carrying around a regular pannier. It just looks nicer.
And an action shot to spice up the ol’ blog.
Ortlieb says:
“Double Wide” Waterproof Brief Case with roll-top closure and ORTLIEB QL2 suspension system. Two partitioned inner pockets keep your things clean and accessible. Great for laptops. Add a padded insert for additional protection.
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Hi,
I’m interested in buying a messenger bag pannier, but I’m never ridden with any type of panniers before. When you load up your Ortlieb office bag with a laptop and all of your other stuff, do you ride with it by itself or do you have to balance it with a pannier on the other side? I’m worried about being off balance and falling over while riding with it! Is this a problem? I would really appreciate the advice! Thanks so much!
Hey Karen – I ride with just one pannier. You won’t notice after you ride for about 30 seconds! Its a breeze. And I ride mine offroad for part of my commute you won’t be off balance, trust me.
Here is a Link about using one pannier from the company Arkel.
If it rains where you are, get this ortlieb bag from REI, otherwise any of the laptop panniers should be ok.
Happy trails,
-Joe
Is your model the 13L or the larger version? Also, how does one carry it as a messenger bag, don’t those clips and mounts bang into you?
Thanks.
Hello Jonathon – I have the Office bag large.
It can work as an over the shoulder bag while walking around the office using the supplied shoulder strap. But it would suck to be used as a courier bag, like you said the rack attachments would dig into your spine.
I think the ortlieb Profi Bag is the same bag without rack hardware.
Sorry to grill you, I know you’re not an Ortlieb salesman or anything I’m just quite new to cycling as a large part of my transport. Would one have to use bungies to attach the Profi bag to a rack?
The spec .pdf says it has no QL bar, I’m figuring that has something to do with it not having the clips?
Thanks for your help. Great review.
Hey Jonathon –
I’m guessing you are carrying a laptop, and if thats the case I wouldn’t use a bungee cord… But if you want to forgo the mounting hardware I’d use a regular bike rack and a wald basket.
Like this one then bungee cord your bag in that.
But if you are doing that, you could get one of the Timbuk2 messenger bags that are also waterproof and look a little cooler than the ortlieb. The ortlieb really shines when you attach it to your rack like a pannier.
thanks for checking out the blog.
-Joe
Hi Robonza,
Nice review but do you know if this pannier would only fit the right hand side of a bike or is it configurable? I notice that the one pannier advice recommends the road side which, for us antipodeans, is the left hand side.
Cheers,
Nick
Ooops, I should RTFM. From Ortlieb:
• Thanks to the rotatable mounting the bag can be mounted on the left (standard) or the right side
• For mounting on the right side: open the outer screws on the bar, remove caps on back side of the
bag, rotate the bar and fix the screws, put caps onto previous no longer used holes
Hi,
I just recently discovered the Ortlieb Office Bag and am considering it for my laptop pannier solution. I noticed you had the large version. I also have a 15″ MacBook Pro and I was wondering if you consider the “large” version of the Office Bag to be just the right size for this laptop and if you’re using Ortlieb’s laptop sleeve (if not, what are you using? I’ve got an incase sleeve.)
Thanks,
Josh
Hey Josh – I use the Incase laptop sleeve inside the large ortlieb office bag. It has enough room to stash a change of clothes and a few tools. I think the medium would be able to fit the laptop and nothing else.
Also i have had it for more than a year and used it every day. It has held up great and shows no wear at all.
Let me know if you have any other questions.
-Joe
Hi all,
To Jonathan: if you carry your bag with the clips to the outside, no problem to carry it as a messenger bag, except people always asking “what is that?”;-)
J.