Ortlieb Waterproof Bags: Made To Last
Ask your cycling contemporaries to recommend a pannier bag or cycling rucksack, and chances are they’d say: Ortlieb.
Intelligently designed, durable and most importantly, waterproof, many a cyclist has entrusted their gear to an Ortlieb bag.
Whether that’s a commuter using an Ortlieb rucksack on a drizzly Monday morning, or a tourer and her Ortlieb back roller classic in a torrential downpour, high in the mountains.
With a revered reputation for longevity, a huge catalogue of spare parts and a five-year warranty it’s fair to say Ortlieb’s cycling luggage is already ticking plenty environmental boxes.
A potted history of Ortlieb
Do bear with us, because this story is worth telling. It’s the kind of story that makes you think: why didn’t I come up that?
It’s 1981. German student, Hartmut Ortlieb had taken time away from his textbooks to ride around Britain. Somewhere in the south of England, he pulls to the side of the road. It’s raining. He’s miserable. He’s certainly not keen on spending the coming night in a soaking wet sleeping bag, with damp clothing. A truck flashes past, the rain peppers the tarpaulin canopy but the goods inside remain bone dry. See where we’re going with this?
On his return to Germany, Hartmut began knocking out his own panniers from lorry tarp and soon he was inundated with requests from friends and family. To keep pace with demand, production is moved from his bedroom to his parents’ garage and through nothing more than word of mouth, sales quickly began to skyrocket further.
Intelligently designed, durable and most importantly, waterproof, many a cyclist has entrusted their gear to an Ortlieb bag.
Pioneering use of high-frequency welding (the process which creates the waterproof, stitch-free seams), the first self-locking mounting system for pannier bags and more than 30 years later, Ortlieb is one of the bedrocks of the cycling world.
There you go, good ‘ol British weather is useful for something after all!
Today’s Ortlieb range is a smorgasbord of cycling luggage. From office and messenger bags for the daily grind, Ortlieb rucksacks, for on and off-bike adventures, a complete set of bikepacking bags and of course, traditional front and rear panniers – all 100% waterproof.
