An optimally adjusted bike backpack often makes the difference between a pleasant tour and a painful experience. The correct adjustment to your body ensures that the weight is evenly distributed and that the backpack does not slip or rub while riding. Especially on longer tours or challenging trails, a perfectly fitting backpack is crucial for your comfort.
Setting with realistic weight
Before you start adjusting, you should pack the rucksack with a realistic weight to simulate the actual conditions. Empty or only partially filled rucksacks behave differently to fully packed models and can lead to an incorrect setting. When packing, also make sure that heavy items are placed as close to the back and in the centre as possible in order to keep the centre of gravity optimal. Lighter items can be stowed in the outer pockets. This weight distribution contributes significantly to subsequent carrying comfort and should be done before the actual adjustment of the straps and straps.
Correctly adjust your rucksack in five steps
Step 1: loosen all straps and belts
The first step to optimising the backpack adjustment is to loosen all straps and harnesses. First, adjust the hip belt, shoulder straps and chest strap to maximum length and make sure that all stabilising straps are fully loosened. Now you can shoulder the rucksack and position it so that it rests comfortably on your back.
Step 2: Positioning the hip fin
Now place the centre of the hip fins at the height of your hip ridge and close the hip belt. Correct positioning is crucial here: if the belt is too high, it will constrict your stomach and hinder your breathing. If it is too low, the fins can rub against your groin when riding and cause unpleasant friction. The hip belt should be tight enough to carry most of the weight, but not so tight that it cuts in or restricts your freedom of movement. With bike backpacks, the correct positioning of the hip belt is particularly important as it holds the backpack in the correct position when you are sitting on the bike in the bent riding position.
Step 3: Optimise the shoulder straps and chest strap
Once the hip belt is correctly positioned, tighten the shoulder straps. Make sure that they are not too tight, as the main load should be carried by the hip belt. The main purpose of the shoulder straps is to stabilise the backpack and prevent it from swinging back and forth while riding. Ideally, the shoulder straps should be positioned between your shoulder blades. When adjusting the shoulder straps, you should make sure that there is about a finger's width of space between the straps and your shoulders. Straps that are too tight can impair blood circulation and lead to numbness in the arms, especially on longer rides.
Step 4: Chest strap to secure the shoulder straps
The chest strap is often underestimated, but makes a decisive contribution to stability. It prevents the shoulder straps from slipping outwards and ensures that the backpack sits firmly, especially on technical passages or fast descents. The chest strap on most bike backpacks is height-adjustable so that you can adapt it to your individual anatomy. Position it roughly at the height of your sternum and fasten it so that it provides a firm but not restrictive hold.
Step 5: Stabilising straps for optimum hold
After adjusting the chest strap, the stabilisation straps on the hips and the position adjustment straps on the shoulders come into play. These enable better contact between your back and the rucksack and allow you to ride more safely. You can adjust the hip belt stabilisation straps depending on the terrain and riding style: Tighten them for more load transfer and stability or loosen them for more freedom of movement, for example on technical trails that require a lot of physical effort. The position adjustment straps on the shoulders are not found on all backpack models, especially on larger models.
Special adaptations for different types of terrain
The position adjustment straps on the shoulder straps play an important role in large-volume backpacks, which are often used on longer tours or multi-day trips. These straps allow you to fine-tune the position of the rucksack and can significantly improve carrying comfort.
In easy terrain or on longer climbs where ventilation is important, you can loosen the position adjustment straps slightly. This creates more distance between the rucksack and your back and improves air circulation. On technically demanding terrain, on the other hand, you should tighten the straps to create closer contact with your back. This increases stability and gives you more control over the bike, as the backpack swings less and your centre of gravity remains closer to your body. On longer tours, it can be useful to occasionally vary the load distribution between your hips and shoulders by alternately loosening or tightening the shoulder straps and position adjustment straps. This relieves the strain on your muscles and prevents signs of fatigue.
Adjust the back length correctly
Many high-quality bike backpacks have systems for adjusting the back length. These systems allow you to adjust the backpack precisely to your individual back length, which is particularly important for larger models.
Determine the right back length
The back length is the distance between the seventh vertebra (counted from the top) and the iliac crest. To find the upper measuring point, let your head hang forwards. This will cause the seventh vertebra to arch outwards on its own.
The lower measuring point is located at the upper edge of the hip bone: if you put your hands on your hips, you can already feel the upper edges on the sides - the second measuring point is at this height.
To measure the length of your back, place the end of a measuring tape on the seventh vertebra and hold it there. Simply let go of the other end and grasp it at the bottom at hip bone level. If you have a belt to hand, you can feel your way along it until you reach the centre of the tape measure. Now drop the tape measure at the top, read off the value and find your ideal rucksack!
Recognising and eliminating sources of error
Even with careful adjustment, problems can occur that affect wearing comfort. A common mistake is a backpack that sits too high and the back length is set too long. In this case, the shoulder straps sit too close to the neck and the shoulder pads run under the armpits, which can lead to chafing on the neck and arms. In addition, the packed rucksack tilts slightly backwards, which is particularly problematic when mountain biking as it shifts the centre of gravity unfavourably. Length-adjustable shoulder straps alone are not suitable for avoiding these disadvantages. Only the right length of rucksack offers an effective solution and ensures full freedom of movement for the arms and relief for the neck muscles.
However, if the base is too low, the backpack length is set too short. The shoulder pads then close too early, cut in and slide easily over the shoulders. This can lead to pressure points and an unstable fit, especially on technical descents where a securely fitting rucksack is important.
Stefan Frey
Editor
