The Nucleon is a neat design, neither so tall it crashes into the back of your helmet, nor so wide it grabs passing branches. Its 20L space is simple: a cavernous main pocket with a small internal zipped pouch, and a medium-sized outer zipped pocket with no compartments.
We’ve run it as a hydration system – a 3L Widepac bladder is sold separately for £20 (US$29) and other bladders fit the generous compartment that’s held away from your back with comfy padding and a mesh cover. As a daypack without the hydration system (there are bottle pockets) it swallows even more kit.
Wide shoulder straps are matched by a removable waist strap bearing semi-mesh hip pockets. At 750g it’s big but tough. Its showerproof-ness has faded but there’s barely a bramble scratch on it; part of the chest strap clip has snapped but still works, and the zips remain as smooth and secure as it was on the first day.
This article was originally published in What Mountain Bike magazine, available on Apple Newsstand and Zinio.