First Look – Camelbak Kudu and Palos Hip Pack
The boys at Zyro have been kind enough to send us a couple of the latest products from Camelbak. Here we take a quick first look at the Kudu and the Palos
The Kudu is a bag designed for enduro racers who want a combination of back protection and a lightweight pack.
The Kudu come in two sizes, 12L (the one we have on test) and a larger 18L, both sizes have various colour options.
The Kudu has one pocket on each side of the waist belt, the left hand side is a zipped pocket for extra security, the right hand side has an elasticated pocket for easy access on the fly.
In terms of ventilation, there are vents in the back but in order for the protection to work correctly, it has to sit close to your back. For this reason, the vents aren’t quite as deep as you find on other Camelbak bags. To keep the pack good and secure, as well as the waist belt, there are also two chest straps to hold it all in place.
These chest straps can be adjusted vertically to help get a better fit. Time will tell if the addition of an extra chest strap is necessary.
The back protection is held in it’s own sleeve in the reservoir compartment. In the case of the Kudu, the protector features a multi layer thermo-elastic duel density foam. This is designed to mitigate impact yet still be flexible, lightweight and low-profile. The protection insert exceeds performance levels for EN 1621-2 Level 2 standards, first impressions are that it does feel light compared to others I’ve seen and it’s construction does allow it to be quite flexible.
As you can come to expect these days, the Kudu comes with many internal pockets for sorting your items, resulting in easy retrieval on the trail. Along with these pockets comes the included tool roll. The tool roll is a handy extra that enables you to keep your essential tools in one place. As I’m sure you can agree, it’s quite annoying trail side when you’ve got an issue and all your tools are loose in the bottom of your bag.
The Kudu is available now (without reservoir) at a cost of £139.99 (12L) and £159.99 (18L)
The Palos 4LR
To carry fluid on a ride you basically have two options, have bottles on the bike or carry it on your back. Not all bikes have the facility to hold bottles and not all riders like to carry packs with their drinks in. For when those two situations collide, you have the Camelbak Palos. A hip pack that holds 1.5L of fluid while keeping the your back free and the weight low, over your hips.
The Palos does not include a separate tool roll but it does have this ‘flip out tool organiser’ to keep everything in check. It’s good and handy, located on the exterior of the pack for easy access on the trail.
With a 1.5L reservoir, equivalent to two standard water bottles, it will keep most riders going for a decent amount of time. I’d say it should be just about ideal for either shorter rides or longer rides if there are water stops along the way.
Camelbak have introduced this new feature to the Low Rider range, pulling the cord at each side keeps the reservoir tight against your back. The theory also suggests that this should also help you get the last few drops of fluid from it too.
Obviously, with no shoulder straps, where do you keep your drinks tube? These neat little magnetic tube traps solve that problem quite neatly. They easily and quickly accept the tube and hold it in place firmly. To release the tube again it has to be pulled out in one direction only. I’ve only tried it while stationary so far but first impressions suggest that it should work very well.
The Palos will be available late November at a cost of £69.99
Watch this space for a more in-depth review coming soon.
