I’ll admit it. I love packs. I have more than a dozen stashed in various spots. Packs for climbing, skiing, backpacking and four different hydration packs for mountain biking. There’s even a handful in the garage that have been retired, typically with blown-out zippers, that I can’t bring myself to throw away. I know, it’s ridiculous. But I like packs. Both the carefully thought-out, yet simple design of a quality pack, and the wonderful way it hugs your back and makes the pounds seem somehow lighter—even at the end of a long day.
Oddly, this pack obsession has not extended into my work life. I’m a photographer but don’t have many camera bags that I use to haul into the mountains. Typically, I just toss a camera into whatever pack I’m using anyway, nestling it on top of climbing gear or tucked behind a shovel. This has worked great—except for mountain biking. Professional camera gear is heavy and carrying a loaded pack while mountain biking sucks. Waistbelts are ineffective for load-bearing while hunched over the bars, so the shoulder straps dig into your shoulders on the climbs. And the pack tosses you around while descending, which means you’re just trying to survive instead of enjoying the ride.
F-stop doesn’t bill the Kenti as something designed for mountain biking photographers, but it seems almost tailor-made for that job. The 25 liters of capacity are easily accessed through two pockets on either side of the pack. Both sides are customizable, and I set mine up to carry a body and one lens on the left side and two extra lenses on the other. This allowed me to blast ahead on the trail, unclip the waist belt, drop the right shoulder strap and quickly pull my camera out without having to remove the whole pack. It snugly held my Canon 5D Mark II, and my 16-35/2.8, 24-70/2.8 and 70-200/2.8 lenses, and the body fit into one of the pockets with any of those three lenses mounted (side note: don’t try to bring hoods for the two longer zooms because that makes them too long).
The top of the pack is a roll-top closure to hold your non-photo gear and it easily holds lunch and an extra layer or two. I’m not a fan of roll-tops generally. Aside from dry bags, they seem more like a hipster affect than anything really useful. I find them slower to get into than a zipper, and not as functional or customizable as a top loader. But in the case of the Kenti, it didn’t bother me much and did make it easier to shrink or expand the top as needed.
Crucial for mountain biking, the back panel has a dedicated hydration bladder pocket. The pocket is functional, but has its drawbacks. First, a 70 oz bladder is the largest I could fit, and even that was a tight squeeze when the pack is fully loaded. There’s no way a 100 oz will fit, and when the 70 was full, the back panel was rounded and uncomfortable. After a few drinks, it shrank to a more comfortable shape. Second, for some odd reason the bladder hose exits the pocket halfway down the side of the back panel and you need to thread the hose through two elastic loops on the side before it reaches the shoulder strap. This makes no sense to me because most hydration packs have the hose exit at the top straight onto the shoulder strap.
However, the Kenti won me over completely in the one category that really matters—comfort. I spent many days wearing this pack loaded with camera gear plus the food, water, and tools you need on every ride, and it was by far the most comfortable pack I’ve ever used for this purpose. Hours of climbing did not leave me with sore shoulders and the pack stayed tight to my back on everything from twisty long descents to doubles at the bike park. A day on the trails no longer turned into a slog and I was able to confidently carry a full complement of camera gear.
