The Velo 2 is a 20-litre shoulder bag for your laptop, brought to you by the perennial laptop bag heroes at STM. For a bag with a capacity that large it is surprisingly svelete, measuring 500x370x190mm. It's not the lightest bag we've tried, however, weighing in at a healthy 1.2kg.
In line with what appears to be current trends in laptop bags the Velo 2 we tested is blue. Strikingly so. The thin and sparingly used trim is an equally bright yellow, making this a must-have bag for any Leeds Rhinos fans (Rugby League - Google it). The overall effect is striking but smart. You won't look like a business person carrying a briefcase, but you won't feel under dressed. The Velo 2 is also available in more sombre grey or black.
Inside is mainly light grey with a fair smattering of bright yellow. Darkly coloured chargers and adapters stand out against such a bright background. Construction feels solid, consisting mainly of water-resistant polyester. This is a purely subjective thing but to our touch it feels a little less robust than, say, the Pakuma Choroka K3L. There really is no way of testing longevity beyond using someting for a long time, however. All we can say is that in the several Surrey to London commutes to which we subjected the Velo 2 it sustained no visible damage, and it is a well constructed bag.
Inside the Velo 2
This is a comfortable bag to carry and use. It's also spacious and versatile. There are almost too many pockets and sleeves within which to secrete your tech goods. These include a good number of well-situation zip pockets of varying sizes.
There are two slots into which to place a laptop. The more traditional sleeve sits at the back of the Velo 2's main cavity. This is small, however. We could fit in a 10in tablet, but there's really only room for a netbook in here.
That's no problem, however, because around the back is a very clever side-loading sleeve. Turn your bag on its left side and you can slide your 15in or even 17in laptop into a well-padded, zipped up space. It's an unconventional set up that initially left us underwhelmed. But in use it works fantastically well - your laptop is secure and safe from harm. It's also discreetly locked away even when you open up your bag proper. It means you can keep your laptop away from other hard-edged tech devices, too. A nice design well executed. See also: What's the best laptop you can buy in 2013?
