The Mavic Crossride Belt has a deep triangular shape aimed at maintaining stability even when hooning about or during enduro racing.

>>> How to ride without a backpack

For most of us riding with a pack is second nature; going for an all day ride… put on a pack, going for a five minute blast in the woods… put on a pack.

But do you really need 2 litres of water, a full tool kit, packed lunch and a flask of weak lemon drink if all you are doing is having an hour smash with your mates? Enter the Mavic Crossride Belt, aka the enduro bumbag.

The Crossride Belt has a deep triangular shape for added stability.

Mavic Crossride Belt

Bum bags are a great idea (if you can get past their uncool fashion status). Moving the weight from your back and shoulders to the lower back and hips, enables the rider to ride unencumbered and with proper freedom of movement.

>>> The best hydration packs

Mavic has given the Crossride a deep triangular shape aimed at maintaining stability even when hooning about or, as has become quite popular, during Enduro style racing. Coupled with a deeply padded back and wide belt/clip, the Crossride is a properly comfy pack to wear.

Wide belt and chunky clip keep things in order.

Deeply padded back makes comfort a priority.

 Riding with the Crossride

Compared to a typical hydration pack, riding with the Crossride Belt takes a little experimentation to get it comfortable.

Initially, when worn over a jersey, it slides around quite a bit. This causes you to have to tighten it way too much, restricting breathing and a little bit of movement. However, when worn under a jersey, on top of the shorts’ waistband it remains much more composed, even when laden.

Okay, access to the water bottle isn’t quite as quick but this is an acceptable price to pay for the unrestricted movement and comfort.

Riding with the pack at places like Bike Park Wales and the stability is impressive. Obviously with a full 600ml in the neatly shaped Mavic bottle you do feel the weight of the pack at your hips, but this encourages you to drink more!

Easy bottle access with the funnelled pouch.

Poly pocket

Storage is quite impressive for such a low profile pack. The large zippered pocket easily swallows a 29er tube, multitool, phone and keys.

There’s also a longer pocket that fits a pump up to 22cm in length and a mesh pocket for gels. Perfectly adequate for the typical short rides most of us do regularly.

Nicely sized storage pockets.

The triangular Mavic bottle is easy to locate in the funnelled pocket, the good news is it also fits a normal bottle if you lose the proprietary one.