The Po Campo Bergen II ($120) is a simple, lightweight, pannier that transitions to a stylish cross-body bag for shopping, coffee shops and light errands around town in any weather. It’s also an outstanding value option with some nice features, especially when paired with the Po Campo Kinga Handlebar Bag 2. ($50)
Mounting System
The Po Campo Bergen II’s mounting system consists of two webbing straps that attach to your pannier and secured by two magnetic buckles that clip back to the pannier’s underside. Both the webbing straps and the magnetic buckles feel solid and durable. All told, the mounting system’s max weight is about 25lbs, per Po Campo.
The mounting system can be either fast and simple or fiddly and laborious, depending on your bike’s rack and the placement of the side stabilizer bars. I used the Bergen 2 on both a Gazelle Tour Populair and a Civia Highland. The racks are a little different but have similar stabilizer bars.
Attaching the Po Campo Bergen II to the Civia Highland was the fast and simple. I just flopped the webbing straps over the bar and the magnetic buckles magically found their way to the pannier’s attachment point. Removing it was a gentle tug upward the buckles released from the rack.
The Gazelle, however, with its more intricate rack and thicker rear side stabilizer bars, made attaching the Po Campo Bergen II fiddly. Flopping the webbing straps over the top bars and hoping they magically attached to the pannier was a lottery. Most of the time I had to wedge my fingers between the rack’s stabilizer bars and hope for the best.
Once attached, regardless of the rack, a convenient pull-down anchor hook attaches to the bottom of the rack for additional security and stability. And let’s not forget the Kinga handlebar bag! It attaches easily with two velcro straps.
Weather Resistance
Both the Po Campo Bergen II and Po Campo Kinga 2 come with coated zippers. The Po Campo Bergen II has an integrated rain cover that tucks neatly away in an easy-to-access zippered pocket. Bonus points that the Po Campo Bergen II ’s rain cover is a loud and obnoxious neon yellow to help drivers in driving rain see you.
Organizational Features
When commuting or shopping, organization options are definitely a nice-to-have. The Po Campo Bergen II provides quite a few organizational features, some great, some not so.
Exterior Pockets
The Po Campo Bergen II comes with a small pocket on the front of the pannier that is secured with a waterproof zipper (great!) and an unsecured pocket on the side on the end and is unsecured (not so). I use secured zipper for for my phone and wallet. The unsecured pocket is intended to be a water bottle pocket. At just under six inches deep, this pocket was too shallow to hold my water bottle or folding lock securely; however, it’s perfect to store the shoulder strap when not in use so that’s what I use it for.
Main Compartment
The main compartment (great) provides a laptop sleeve (not so), three organization pockets (not so) with elastic tops and a secured zippered pocket (great).
What makes the three elasticized pockets not so great is that they protrude out and every item I loaded got hung up on the pockets. Organization in a pannier is always good, however there’s a balance to be struck between just right and superfluous. If Po Campo removed these three pockets, balance inside the universe of the Bergen will be achieved.
The paddled laptop sleeve (not so) holds a teensy, tiny laptop. Of which I don’t have. But it holds an iPad, Kindle, Nook or any flat item that you’re transporting. The problem I found with the laptop sleeve is that it bulges inward and, like the three organizer pockets above, caused any item I loaded to get hung up.
This is due to the raincover pocket being on the opposite exterior side. The raincover pocket is small, so when the raincover is stashed, it’s like a wadded-up ball—which causes the laptop sleeve to bulge inward. So basically, adding items to the main compartment is a two-handed job. Not a deal breaker, just a minor annoyance.
Functionality
With 22 liters of cargo space and a suggested max load of 25 pounds, I found the Po Campo Bergen II ’s sweet spot to be for jaunts to the tap room, coffee shop or light shopping in which I wasn’t buying heavy items.
Since COVID19 has me working my day job from home, I’m no longer commuting to the office. But if I had to commute to the office, the Po Campo Bergen II would not be my first choice due to its smaller size. However, it’s ideal for shopping, thanks to its sturdy double-handle and detachable and padded shoulder strap that converts it from pannier to stylish cross-body purse or shopping bag.
And speaking of COVID19, many of us (mostly me) go all Howard Hughes at the thought of touching a shopping basket or shopping trolley in a store. The Po Campo Bergen II mitigates this because I can use it as my shopping bag. It also ensures that I don’t over-shop and over-load the pannier beyond its suggested weight limit.
Final Thoughts
There is no arguing that the Po Campo Bergen II is a seriously stylish pannier if you go with the color scheme Mosaic. If you don’t want to stand out in the crowd of bike commuters, Po Campo Bergen II offers a nicely-muted black.
What I like most about this pannier is its easy conversion to cross-body purse or messenger bag, making it a pannier that works just as well off the bike as it does on. Sure, there are some opportunities for interior modifications to make it a bit more functional, but for everyday light shopping and errands, you can’t beat the Po Campo Bergen II.
