Osprey Released Its New Mountain Bike Packs so I Took Them to Thredbo And Fell off A Bunch

Osprey’s new Raptor, Seral, and Savu mountain bike packs build on their classic model line with comfort and innovation at their core, so you can focus on keeping the rubber side down.

My brother is a diehard mountain biker. He’s got a huge five-bike rack on the back of his car, the loungeroom is always full of sealant, tools, and filthy chains, and there’s a SteadyRack mounted on the wall next to his bed for his carbon fibre, dual suspension steed. 

On the other side of the bed there’s a cot, where he keeps his other baby.

Myself? I’m a generalist, also known as a ‘master of none’. Following my sibling down dusty gradients often starts trepidatiously. Building steadily through the turns, I shift my weight, feel the rubber grip, heck, maybe I’ll dabble in some air time. 

‘Hey, I’m actually quite good at this!’ I think, despite only riding monthly at best. ‘Maybe I’m a natural?’ sings my adrenaline-soaked brain.

It’s around this point that I usually eat a tasty snack of dirt, gravel, or bush, sometimes a fusion, and wash it down with humble pie for dessert.

Needless to say, mountain biking with my brother is hard work, so there was no better place to test the new Osprey mountain bike packs than Australia’s lift-assisted darling, Thredbo Mountain Bike Park, on a scorching summer’s weekend.

But first, the fuel of the mountain biker: energy drink (tiny coffees)

Savu – Waist-Based Water Bottle Bag

I’m going to go from smallest to largest, starting with the Savu 2. The Savu is a ‘lumbar pack’, meaning it goes around your waist, leaving your back free to enjoy sweet sweet air. Lumbar packs also help keep your centre of gravity low, which isn’t a big deal for a 2-litre pack, but is nice enough all the same.

The Savu 2 is designed with an angled, padded water bottle sleeve that fits just about any bottle we could find, but is best for your standard 500-750mL bike bottle. It’s pretty easy to whip your hand around and grab it. Getting it back in is a bit more of a practised art, but you’ll manage!

Leaving the bottle out of the Savu 2 increases the storage space

The perfect use for this pack is for quick trips to your local or lightweight runs on single track. It also really suits riders who don’t want a bottle holder on their bike (often smaller bikes or ones that regularly use clamp-style racks) and are looking to store just a few tools and/or snacks.

If you’re a thirsty boi or girl, the Savu 5 has two retractable bottle holders, and two pretty neat hip pockets, but you’ll end up looking a bit like Blastoise. We only tried out the Savu 2 at Thredbo and won zero Poké battles. Coincidence? I’ll let you decide.

Seral – Lumbar Hydration Pack

Like the Savu, the Seral is a lumbar pack, but the key difference is the included Osprey hydration bladder. ‘In a bum bag?!’ I hear you cry. Yes, dear reader. And it actually works pretty  well!

Thredbo was boiling hot and super dry a few weekends ago (TY climate change) and the combo of little shade, gusty winds, and a beaming sun meant that I gave the Seral 4 a right proper workout. 

Zero injuries yet and thriving

Like the Savu, the Seral features an Airscape backpanel that provides structure and support while letting air flow through channels, helping it stay cool against your skin. The waist belt is also optimised to the riding position, making it more comfortable than a regular bum bag when descending (trust me, I’ve tried both).

Unlike the sexy maroon Savu 2 and the charcoal and orange Raptor 10, the Serals we tried out were bright blue with highlights of… lime. I’m not sure why this uggo colourway even exists but if you like it, I’m happy for you.

I was initially worried about the Seral 4’s fit as my abdomen was hurting, yet it wasn’t tight enough to prevent it from bouncing around. I was already drafting the paragraph – ‘such a surprising failing from a brand known for its harness systems’. Then I remembered that I was a patron of Mr Chef Indian Cuisine in Jindabyne not 12 hours before, made a pit stop for a bit of self care, and felt right as rain. The harness system works just fine.

The Seral 4 has a 1.5L bladder that takes up significant space in the pack, while the hose wraps around your front and magnetically attaches to a clip on the other side. This is all pretty neat – I was worried about the hose getting in the way of my knees or clipping my handlebar but this never came close to happening. I wouldn’t mind a slightly stronger magnetic attachment, but I think that’s for peace of mind. It didn’t even come off when I went over the bars, twice.

My brother Mike rolled with the Seral 7, which looks kind of big but isn’t really. With the bladder full the 4 can only fit a small toolkit, some bars or gels, and maybe your gloves, while the 7 actually has room for a sunglasses case, spray jacket, or even more muesli bars. It also has zippered waist pockets like the Savu 5, which I became very jealous of. You have to swing these packs around to really access anything in the other pockets.

The Seral 7 is pushing the limits of size for a lumbar pack, but it’s still comfortable when full

Raptor / Raven – For All Day Riding

Sold on a lumbar pack? You fool! Nah, honestly, they’re the perfect tool for a place like Thredbo, or really any riding where you’re not going particularly far from the car. The Raptor on the other hand, is made for all day missions. The kind of rides where you need to pack a proper tool kit, heaps of water, meals, a jacket, a jumper, and some get up and go, son.

The Raptor 10 is a more standard backpack style, meaning it can cram in the features compared to the lumbar packs. You’ve got a 2.5L bladder, which I didn’t even manage to finish on my second day of riding, a ‘scratch-free heat-embossed zippered slash pocket for sunglasses and electronics’, and heaps of little organisation pockets, including an outside one for dirty stuff, and the all important waist belt pockets.

The Raptor 10 is only just bigger than the Seral 7, but has a bunch more features

One feature I particularly liked was the secure tool pocket at the bottom of the pack (like where you’d put a sleeping bag in a hiking pack) that comes with a little roll up toolkit. This was a super neat way to organise my tools and possibly gained me some respect points that my riding certainly wasn’t.

Read more: How to Learn to Mountain Bike Without Breaking Yourself

There’s also a full-length zip for the hydration bladder hose, which means minimal faff on the refill, a helmet clip that was somewhat useful, and a magnetic sternum clip that I did not like. A normal clip would have been fine but instead there’s a magnet but also a magnet for the bite valve from the hydration bladder. More magnets are not always better, but I appreciate the enthusiasm.

Riding with a pack like this is noticeably different after you’ve tried the lumbar packs, and I had to change my riding style slightly to account for a few extra kilos higher than they had been the day before. That being said, it was very comfy and like the lumber packs, felt good in a riding position.

I don’t think I’d take a pack like the Raptor out for hot laps on singletrack now that I’ve seen the light, but it’s definitely the one to grab if you’re more into cross country and adventure missions.

Mike took the Raptor 14 for a spin, which is a pretty sizeable pack to be honest, but he’s a Dad now so I’m sure he’ll put diapers in it or something. The Raptor comes in a women’s model which is the same thing but it’s called the Raven (which is an infernal Osprey thing that I hate, just call it men’s and women’s) but I do rate the acknowledgement that women are different shapes.

Where can I get one?

The new Savu, Seral, Raptor, and Raven are all dropping in Australia soon and will be available from all good mountain bike and outdoor stores.

Lumbar lyfe – the adventures continue in the Blue Mountains