Review: Thule Rail 4 Hip Pack

The Thule Rail 4 hip pack is reviewed as part of our Kit Essentials grouptest from Issue 143 of Singletrack World Price: £89.99Capacity: 4LBladder: Yes (1.5L)From: Freewheel, freewheel.co.ukColours: SlateHoly Toledo this is going to be a hard sell. What can I say? I think this is the best mountain biking hip pack I’ve ever used. Sorry! I wish it didn’t cost ninety quid too. Like a lot of things that are supremely well designed, the design is not visible before purchase. But after having used the Thule Rail 4L a LOT, I feel the design team’s wages are worth paying. It works really well with a bladder too. The hose is one-hand usable; the ‘ReTrakt’ magnetic landing strip system is brilliant. The storage is broken down into a useful number – and size – of compartments. I will unashamedly admit that I love the smartphone storage pouch; I can fish my phone out and put it back again while always knowing it’s going in and out of there properly. Phones are essential. And expensive. I mostly used the pack without the bladder, which doesn’t leave it feeling like it’s too big. It’s a great size bag for pretty much all rides, though proper big mountain rides still need backpacks. The zips are great, the fabric itself is strangely tactile and just nice to feel(!). The waistband with its large overlap hook-and-loop looks like overkill, but in practice the Rail 4 is supremely comfy and impressively stable. Overall This is the...

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