If you’ve never heard of them, then you should know that Wrenchmonkees is a Danish custom motorcycle workshop, based in Copenhagen. They’re known for the most awesome motorbike projects, and they often partner with other well known companies to collaborate on something other than motorbike builds.
Sandqvist, if you’ve never heard of them either, is a Swedish company who’s very well known for their quite huge range of bags and backpacks etc.
The Wrenchmonkees x Sandqvist Leather Pannier is designed to fit a normal rear rack, on a motorbike or bicycle. It’s constructed from heavy duty black canvas and a high quality, soft black leather. Inside is a compartment for a 15″ laptop, a smaller zipped pocket on the front side and the main compartment itself, all constructed from a grey fabric material. Embedded in the rear side is two aluminium plates that run the length of the adjustable leather fittings and give the bag a vertical rigidity, meaning you don’t ever feel obliged to fill the bag up for no reason just to be able to attach it to your bike. The buckles and fittings are chrome plated and high quality too. The bag has an internal zip across the very top, and it rolls closed and is then buckled on both sides as well as across the top of the bag itself. This may seem a bit of a faff, and you’d be right, but it does also provide security both from theft and from accidental spillage when riding. Finally, there are two external pockets on the outside edges of the bag.
The bag is convertible into a backpack, and this is probably the primary reason that most cyclist would look at this bag in the first place. It enables this by having a full sized rear compartment with a zip enclosure which conceals the shoulder straps of the backpack. The pull out of the back and then attach by small clips to some D-rings at the edges near the bottom. When not in use, they tuck back away into the compartment easily.
The nag attaches to your rear rack by way of two (included) leather straps fitted with chrome buckles, like two small belts. They pass through the leather fittings on the rear and then around your bike rack before finally cinching each one like you would a belt. This can be a bit of a fiddly process depending on your model of rack, but perhaps you’d get used to it over time.
The materials that make the bag up are exceptionally high quality and both beautiful to look at and substantial to touch. I can only imagine how this bag will age over time and look even better as the years pass.
The capacity of the bag is very generous too. You can easily fit a large amount of kit into the bag; certainly enough for a few nights away anyway.
All in all, we really liked the bag. The backpack conversion is seriously useful if you jump off the bike to go sightseeing, and the attachment to the bike is quite solid with our basic rear rack too. It carried everything we needed for a day in the city at work, to a few nights out on a micro adventure too. The materials are impressive and will clearly last for a very long time, the bag’s appearance improving with age in our opinion. Finally, this bag looks damn fine too, and it’s most definitely the only bag we’ve ever carried and then been asked about it by no less than three strangers in one day. Clearly it’s not just us that thinks it’s visually appealing!
The downside? The price of course. Whilst not in any way overpriced for what it is, it is nevertheless a lot more expensive than the traditional pannier bags. The cheapest we could find it was actually on Sandqvist’s own site at €219 + shipping.
Hardwearing, stylish and exceptionally practical too, the Wrenchmonkees x Sandqvist Pannier Bag is probably more suited to the commuters out there. But, the materials used do end up making it more than capable of picking up the more taxing duty occasionally too. Add a decent rain cover and it’s all the bag you’ll ever need…
Site Title 