Boblebee Megalopolis Aero Review

I first saw this bag in Paris in the early 2000s during one of the evening roller skate rides that happens there every week. A guy dressed all in black spandex, looking like a power ranger complete with full face helmet, had it loaded with a car stereo, powerful speakers and bright LEDs all around. Talk about a first impression!

Being a student at the time, it was too expensive, but it stayed on the back of my mind and I eventually needed to buy a good solid bag for commuting when I arrived in London. I didn’t go crazy with the LEDs, but I got myself a simple megalopolis aero, the version tested here. There are other models available in this size, and can be extended with several options from which I only bought the cargo net. There’s also a smaller version named the “people’s delight” if the megalopolis is too big for you.

Safety

The first question everyone asks about the  bag is about the hard shell. The megalopolis aero was initially designed to be used while skiing or motorcycling, and for that it is approved in the EU as protective equipment like a crash helmet.

So it will also appeal to cycling commuters who will get some additional crash protection for their back, while still being a practical bag. I do hope I’ll never have to use this feature though, but it’s a good feeling to have it regardless.

Having a hard shell also protects your contents, so you get extra peace of mind that you won’t smash any of that if you happen to fall. You wouldn’t carry your expensive laptop in a soft flappy bag in the rain would you?

Design and space

Inside space is good with a single large compartment and an organiser for smaller items, with a couple of zipped pockets and a back laptop sleeve.

The main compartment is expandable as the hard fabric sides fold-in while the bag is empty. This allows you to carry bulkier items inside the bag without having to undo any zips or other systems you see on other brands' bags. However, given the outside size of the bag, you’d think you could carry a little more than it can actually do. This is due to the shape of the shell at the bottom, but it’s not a massive problem given that you’d be hard pressed to ride for long with the bag completely full anyway.

The laptop sleeve can fit 15" laptops and similar sized documents. I carry a MacBook Pro 15" and it fits very well. It does stretch a bit too, but if you load fully the pack with lots of items in this pocket, the back mesh will become flatter and you’ll lose some comfort.

Another thing to bear in mind is that the bottom of the main compartment isn’t sealed. If you throw coins or other small things in there, you’ll sure see them pop out the bottom of the bag. So be careful what you throw in!

The zipped pocket atop the bag is not really useful. Not for me at least I think it could even be done away with as it’s not practical to use with gloves for example. It really is the only let down of the bag as the sealed zipper has lost its waterproof cover after a few months. When you get your own, don’t use that pocket at all and it’ll keep its seal perfectly well.

To close the bag, the top simply folds over and a couple of elastic straps are looped around the “triad” (the name bobblbee gave to the triangular anchor points) on either side. Dead simple and super easy to close! A very hard wearing buckle and ratchet finished it all off and feels very secure, and all useable in all conditions, with gloves or frozen fingers!

You can chose your shell color pretty much anywhere you buy the bag, and there are some very funky options. They’re expensive though so I went for a plain red one. If you look around online you’ll see plenty of custom paint jobs too, the hard shell being a fantastic blank canvas! I’ve only applied the provided reflective stickers, but plan on adding a load more for night riding.

If you plan on taking the plane, it’s also approved as a hand luggage, so no worries at the airport either.

Outer shell and accessories

There’s no need to buy an extra rain cover that would get invariably dirty and cut: the shell is waterproof. It’s not a sealed bag like an Ortlieb or a dry sailing bag, but it withstanded crazy downpours without any water seeping inside in many occasions, so I’m not worried about water.

In its simplest form, the bag only has that large, expansive compartment, but it comes with plenty of anchor points to strap any of the accessories available - or your own kit.

You can extend the bag with the following

• A lumbar cassette going in the recess under the main compartment
• A hip extension providing easy access storage around the bottom of the bag
• Two large side pockets to transform the back in a large carrier
• Two sizes of nets to carry a helmet, a surfboard or your grocery shopping!

You can extend the list with whatever you fancy. Providing your back can carry it, sure you’ll find a way to attach it securely to the shell. Spare parts are easily available so you can rig you own attachments if you want.

Comfort

Comfort is excellent and trumps any preconceived ideas you may have by just looking at the bag.

The straps are well placed and the back rest is well padded and adapts to your back, while the oddly shaped bottom of the shell rests nicely on your lower back, giving you perfect support and posture.

In fact you almost forget the bag is on your shoulders with a light load.

You can adjust the height of the breast strap, length of the shoulder ones and even have the option to pull those higher or lower depending in your morphology, thanks to the Velcro attachments on top of them. Depending on your activity that might be a good thing to tweak to avoid lateral movement. The bag was designed for motorcyclists, so cycling with it demands a slightly different position on your shoulders, which is achievable.

With heavier loads you need to be careful how you wear the bag as it can be a bit unbalanced. The main compartment sits quite high over your back and expands backwards so the load isn’t as close to your body as with some other bags.

You’ll need to use the hip straps to reduce the lateral movement, but that’s nothing major, and expected with heavy loads anyway.

The same goes with whatever you stow away in the cargo net.

It’s very practical to carry large items that don’t fit inside the bag, but be careful how you load them on.

I used to carry my 20Kg cycle turbo trainer in the net and the bag without a problem, with plenty of other kit inside the bag for my triathlon training. Cycling with about 30 kg on your back without an issue is testament to the comfort you get from that bag!

A tough backpack

Durability seems one of the key aspects of the brand. I bought my megalopolis more that 3.5 years ago and except the seal over the top zipper, everything else is still as new, despite the lot of bad treatment it received. The top zipper seal didn’t stand 3 years of outdoor activities, but it’s on par with other components found on other brands. I’d possibly review this and have a flap with velcro over the zip instead if it was really a desired feature.

At the end of the day, this is not a cheap bag, but you get a lot out of it and it’s pretty much bombproof!