Core77 have been providing awesome insight into the world of lightweight and ultralight backpacking in their ‘Unpacking Ultralight’ series. In the last interview of the series Michael Meyer from Granite Gear shared his thoughts and insights on this increasing trend within the backpacking community and industry. Kat Bauman’s article “Unpacking ‘Ultralight’ with Michael Meyer of Granite Gear” can be read in full below…

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Granite Gear is an outdoor gear company started by outdooring obsessives back in 1986. Like many successful names in the outdoor game, their focus has been balanced between innovation and pragmatism. As co-founder Dan Cruikshank puts it, “If someone else is already doing a great job with a certain product, we say good for them, but if we can take it to the next level and improve, we will.” As a result, Granite Gear is well known for making sturdy and attractive ultralight packs, (and plenty of other accessories) with a sharp focus on adaptability for personalized fit. I spoke with Michael Meyer, Granite Gear’s Director of Design and Development, to dig into how they make their ultralight gear work right.

Core77: Tell me about your design background.

Michael Meyer: My first real job was designing backpacks and luggage for High Sierra, where I worked for four and a half years and learned a lot about backpacks and luggage. From there I went on to Under Armour where I was the senior product designer for bags – duffel bags, sport bags. They were bringing it in-house after licensing it, so we built the program from the ground up and led it into what it is today. I was there a hair over three years. From there, I came to Granite Gear, where I have been as the director of design and development the last year. Granite Gear has always been a tried-and-true hardcore outdoor company, and we’re looking to grow and move into new product categories. We’re already deep into the outdoor hiking and climbing packs, and the company wanted to get more into the day-to-day backpack, campus bag, the back-to-school market, as well as adventure travel gear, which is essentially luggage.

What’s your outdooring background like?

The outdoor industry is a great fit for me. I always loved to spend as much time as possible outdoors. I got into cross country running, I’d do day hikes and trips, kinda weekend warrior hiking trips. And did cross country all the way through highschool and college, so I’d spent a lot of time outdoors, which is what sparked me to start designing gear for the outdoors. It’s what pushed me into my first real job at High Sierra.

Describe the Granite Gear design team.

A couple new faces and a couple of old faces: Dan is one of the founders of the company – which is 28 years old now – and he’s not a classically trained designer; he’s experience-based, and self-taught. Dan is involved in the design process as much as possible, as well as skilled design engineers Scott Anderson and Wade Niemi. The three of them have been the leads on the ultralight side of pack design for the last eight years. Our current design team consists of myself, Dan, Scott, Wade, Associate Product Designer Ben Landry, and a design intern, David. That’s us in a nutshell right now. In the near future we’re hoping to hire our intern as an associate product designer, and hire another senior level graphic designer, and we’re always going to do the intern program every summer.

Walk me through your design process.

We’ve been very fortunate to work with a number of athletes who we sponsor. A key guy is Justin Lichter, whose trail name is Trauma. He’s authored a number of books on it, the latest is The Ultralight Survival Kit. He’s a younger guy and he’s worked with us from soup to nuts, with what to do to make things lighter.

As with all our gear, they’re very, very, very function driven, even more so with ultralight packs. These guys will go out on day hikes, week hikes, sometimes even longer, and they really like to tailor their packs to do what they need them to do. So we wouldn’t design a pack and say “Trauma, here’s our ultralight pack and it has a maple core frame sheet” – we do have a pack with an actual maple-ply frame sheet, which is super innovative. It’s lightweight but it’s not ultralight. These guys are going out there with effectively no frame, or very little stability in their back. If something’s going to be ultralight, we’ll use the lightest fabrics, whether it be silicone, nylon, or cuben fiber. Cuben fiber is non-woven dyneema that’s layered into what could be called a textile. It’s super light and strong.

We always use the smallest possible width of webbing, the actual difference in the webbing doesn’t make much difference in weight savings between 5mm and 10mm, but what it does do is when you use 5mm webbing you can use 5mm hardware. All the buckles or ladder locks – that’s where the weight begins to accumulate. If you can use 5mm hardware instead of 10, you’re going to save an ounce across the bag since you’ll have six buckles and eight ladder locks. Every little area helps to add up to the whole project.

You mentioned that use really dictates the design – these guys have very specific uses they’ll be putting them to or trails that they’ll be on. Do you start with an end use in mind and work backwards? How do you arrive at that idea?

Absolutely. Some of the guys that are ultralight are usually through hikers. They’ll hike over a mountain and through a canyon in typically what are mediocre temperatures. They’re not like full explorers, they’re basically wearing a t-shirt, shorts, a ball cap and their pack. They’re going to want a very lightweight thin sleeping bag, probably not a pillow, probably not a sleeping pad. So they don’t need all the compartmentalization, they don’t need the attachment straps that our other multi-day packs have. We can cut out a lot of features because that through hiker isn’t going to even use them. If you see an ultralight bag with certain features on it, and you show that to one of our designers or an actual hiker they’ll say “That bag is bogus” because you would never need that feature. Whether it be a day-long, week-, two week-long trip.

So where are new designs coming from, inspiration-wise? From the athletes?

All designs come from in-house. Aesthetics, design, everything comes out of our design center, heavily reliant on the end user. We bring in Trauma, fly him out, he’ll come in and say “This is great but you don’t need this seam to be reinforced because it just adds weight. You don’t need this strap, this hold-down, this buckle.” When we get it closer to being an end product, we’ll make a few samples and send them out to a few of our athletes and have them test it for a week or two. Get their feedback in, make the proper revisions. We usually go through four, five, six rounds of sampling before we get it perfected.

How do you define Ultralight?

Function, function, function. Everything has to have a purpose. When I was at Under Armour, and even to some extent at High Sierra, we would add design details that were strictly for aesthetics. At UA we could take a great graphic and throw it on a bag – like the graphic t-shirt of backpacks. You’re adding weight, you’re adding cost, for something that’s really only providing a look. That’s all great and well, but at GG, everything we add has a function. We’ll add our logo, but beyond that if we’re adding a silk screen, if we’re adding a stitch, the root of that additive has to have a function. So if we’re adding a silk screen it’ll be a structural print, it’ll actually provide some strength to the fabric in key areas where strength is an issue. When we go into ultralight we’ll build a base pack and then we’ll start detracting from it to get the weight down and we’ll only stop when strength comes into play.

But function, function, function – I can’t stress that enough. Rather than go out there and say “We’ve got the lightest bag on the market!” which would be great, we don’t necessarily need to be known as that. We want to offer a number of ultralightweight packs that are known to function very well, with the weight as low as humanly possible. But the bags have to perform because at times people’s lives are at risk. If something breaks or blows out…it’s more important to have a well-functioning bag.

A lot of times when we get samples back for feedback, we’ll get all this feedback but we’ll look at the bag and see they made some changes and some of it’s in the feedback and some of it’s not. So we’ll call them up and ask “Danielle, why is this strap missing?” and she’ll go “Oh, I forgot! I cut that strap off because I didn’t need it.” “What kind of hike were you on, what were you going through when you realized that? Would other people agree?” and we’ll tweak the bag to fit the specific use of the end user.

Is it harder or easier dealing with such a function-driven product?

I want to say it’s harder, but when it comes down to it, it’s more straightforward.
I’d almost say it’s equal if not slightly easier. You’re almost being told exactly what to do. We’re given such great direction that we leave little room for error.

In such a stripped down product how do you address ergonomics?
Ergonomics play a major role as well. Granite Gear is essentially a back panel company! We stress in weight and load dispersement. Nine out of ten of our hiking packs have loadlifters and waist belts – 70% of your load should be carried on your hips and waist, 30% on your shoulders. But a lot of times that gets reversed. If you’ve got a good padded hip belt, secured tightly, that should be true. It gives you a better center of gravity for hiking and it takes that load off your shoulders, which, for a pack that’s more than 40 pounds, you’ll feel it. You have to have a good suspension system as far as padded shoulder straps, lifters, sternum strap, waist belt.

If sometimes there is no back panel, are there other suspension systems that work well for ultralight?

The first product that comes to mind is the Virga. The back panel is very minimal, it has a compression-molded EVA foam back panel. With that being compression molded, it provides minimal structure and padding but just enough that an ultralight backpacker can justify the weight of it. Very low structure, very little padding, but just enough. That system obviously has shoulder straps, a lightweight waist belt and other things of that nature.

How does your field testing work?

We usually send packs to our top four athletes. I keep mentioning Justin because he’s our ultralight guy, but we have other athletes: John Houston, who’s an arctic explorer; Eric Larsson also an arctic explorer; and another mountaineering guy. We typically send all of the new packs out to these guys for testing, but Justin specifically for ultralight. We’ll fly him into the office for a few days to show him what we’ve got and pick his brain. We also test ourselves – we go on day hikes and weekend trips to get initial feedback, but we really rely on athletes.

Granite Gear bags are fairly distinctive. At what point does aesthetics enter the design process?

It’s hard to separate, for me. But it’s definitely form follows function. Bring it in early on, work around function, and make it look as cool as possible but at the end of the day function always has the right of way.

How would you describe GG’s design philosophy?

We’re heavy on function, but always pushing towards the next big thing. We always experiment with new materials and try to push the limits. We’re distinctive, edgy in our design. Pushing our suppliers to meet our demands – you don’t make a 5mm buckle? Maybe you should. We want you to be able to take the logo off and still be able to see that it’s Granite Gear.

What other technical gear companies do you admire?

Growing up in the outdoor world, I’ve always admired Osprey and Black Diamond. Those hardcore technical companies that don’t really make sacrifices. They know their core consumer and that’s who they’re trying to satisfy. Gregory as well.

Why is ultralight compelling?

It’s nothing more than you need to survive. It’s the bare essentials to get you from point A to point B, all things considered. A lot of these hikers plan their food rations, if they’ll be out for a week they’ll plan exactly enough for one week, and they’re going to build upon that – what else is essential? If they have to carry an extra pound for this sleeping pad, that’s going to burn an extra amount of calories which means I’ll have to carry more food, so for this pound I’ll have to carry another 1.1 pounds of food. It all starts to snowball. To be the most efficient because I want to be able to hike comfortably and enjoy the journey.

The post Core77 Ultralight series :: Part 4 appeared first on Carryology - Exploring better ways to carry.

Motorbikes aren’t really my thing; don’t get me wrong, I dig the eardrum-thumping roar of their engines, and the danger and mystique that surrounds them, but I nearly killed myself whilst paddock bashing on a two-wheeled demon and I’ve avoided them ever since. So when the opportunity arose to test a Kriega I knew I was scratched from the equation, and to do the pack justice we needed a champion well versed in the dark arts of motorcycles – in stepped Rick Lee.

Rick’s the project manager at Bellroy, an ex-Navy officer, outdoorsman and more importantly a biker. He’s one of Bellroy’s go-to guys for testing new product – he knows good design – and he was keen to get a Kriega flung around his shoulders, especially after I spilled the fact that they’d just joined Carryology’s Hall of Fame.

If you missed it, Kriega was immortalised in carry history thanks to their awesome active harness. Their innovative shoulder strap design, unlike the common bushwalking harness, follows the ribcage and hugs the pack to your body, without then locking it to your hips. You can still bend and twist, and the pack will remain stable with your upper body, allowing the user, in this case Rick, to stay flexible and free.

The R20 (rucksack 20L) is Kriega’s smallest and most affordable option, retailing at US$139.00. It’s hydration compatible and listed as suiting both road and off-road riders. It’s also, by way of added Kriega pouches, modular, being that you can ‘piggy back’ or mount a range of smaller bags to its front.

See below for the rundown on its modular capabilities all packed into a sleek little video (around 2min 30secs mark).

Who it suits

Obviously, anyone who prefers two wheels over what bikers lovingly refer to as coffins (cars). It’s light, water-resistant and will suit the no-frills user, being that it only offers up two main pockets and one mesh-lined organisation pocket on the inside. The silhouette is black and slick and it won’t stand out from your cool black leathered look – it’ll be your shadow and hold your essentials when you need it.

Who it doesn’t suit

The R20 is small at 20L; if you’re the kinda biker who lugs around a heap of stuff then this isn’t for you. I’d suggest an upgrade to Kriega’s larger packs such as the R30 and R35. Also if you dig the finer things, such as nicer materials, then this won’t satisfy. The Kriega is light and black and a little flimsy when you roll it between your fingers, but it knows what it is and makes no apologies.

How’d Rick test it?

The Rickster used it everyday for a month commuting to work via motorcycle, rain or shine. Over everything from a motorbike coat to a t-shirt. “It was comfy throughout, staying snug and in place”.

Surprisingly, he also lugged it for a 6-hour hike through Werribee Gorge, worn by him and a girl friend, who remarked mid-hike, “Wow, this is really comfortable.”

Followed by 2 days of climbing at Mt. Arapiles (one of the top 5 traditional climbing areas in the world) where it did about 300 meters of trad climbing and kept his “jar bag full of snacks and water safe and in place the whole time”.  It was as good as a backpack can be in the tight situations, its slim profile helping out when he needed to wedge his whole body into a large crack – it seems that Kriega’s harness has the potential to go beyond the bike. *Take note Team Kriega.

Of course, I asked (like a tyrant) that Rick take notes, and he did so courteously. He agreed that the Kriega’s harness was the star, but after testing the bag for some time, it struck him: “Okay, they’ve nailed the harness, it’s truly fantastic, but now it’s time to focus more on the bag!”

After reading Rick’s notes, I think he may have a point…

Rick’s Good

It’s very light and the fit is very comfortable. For longer rides or day hikes it’s quite a good bag to have on your back for long stretches. The air mesh on the back panel keeps plenty of air moving, making it comfortable.

The harness definitely gives your arms freedom to move around. While you shouldn’t be swinging your arms while driving down the road this freedom did prove useful on hikes and while climbing. The buckle that connects the two shoulder straps together is rather genius in its simplicity. Giving you one big button to press and release it with, instead of having to pinch with normal chest buckles. However, they went with a standard pinch release button on the waist belt part of the bag…go figure.

Access to the main compartment is ample when fully unzipped. This is due to the good design of having the zipper go far around on each side, allowing you to open the bag widely. And there’s an internal pocket that works well for things like small tech cords, keys and wallets.

The compression straps on the side help to keep the pack slim on your back, but don’t expect to be able to easily fit a coat or sleeping pad along the side of the bag; the straps aren’t long enough for that.

The adjustment straps for the shoulder straps are okay, but not great. On the plus side they do have clever clips to keep the loose ends tidy, preventing them from flapping about like Flappy Bird when you’re cruising down the highway.

The pack is definitely water resistant, there were times when I rode home in semi-torrential rain and my stuff stayed dry and crisp.

Rick’s Not So Good

I’m not a big fan of the all-in-one front compartment with a side small zipper. There aren’t any dividers, pen pockets, or zipper pouches. The side zipper is nice for aesthetics but is an awkward way to get into a relatively large front pocket. Your stuff either comes tumbling out (when that pocket is full) or your hand disappears into it as if it was a kid’s candy grab bag, you’re never quite sure what you’ll find in there.

One of the compression strap buckles gets in the way of quickly zipping this pocket closed. The buckle could be moved or sewed in such a way to prevent this from happening.

If it’s a true motorbike bag, it’d be nice if it had a place to attach a motorbike helmet. This would free your hands when you stop by the market on your way home. And the material in general feels a bit thin and cheap. I’m sure it’s lightweight but it feels like it needs some niceness about it.

I’m not sure what the dots are for on the front straps, my guess would be that they’re there to help line up the straps when you’re making adjustments. They are a bit distracting and at first glance they make it look like you’ve gone a bit crazy with the white-out marker.

The “laptop sleeve” in the main compartment is not padded nor suspended, so if you’re not careful you’ll bang your goods on the ground when setting it down. It does have a compression strap built into it, which can hold your hydration pack or keep the laptop snug against your back, which is nice.

Others to consider 

Lots of moto crew dig the moulded form, it really looks the part. So if you’re looking to splash a little more on a pack with a protective shell have a look into the OGIO Mach 5 and the AXIO Hardpacks.

If not, the Mission Workshop Rambler expands better than most and will look sweet with leathers and racing down the highway at way-too-fast clicks an hour.

Conclusion

The Kriega R20 is a solid offering and works well for casual rides or commutes to work. The harness is nailed and we know that. What’s lacking is some attention to detail; we’d love to see Kriega lift their game with materials, hardware and functionality. Granted, with some added-on accessory bags/pouches mounted to it the functionality improves, but when tested as is, it leaves the user wanting for a little more.

In closing, the one great discovery that came from this test is the fact that the Kriega works well outside of the motorbike realm. The comfort and freedom that their design allows can be applied to so many other pursuits such as climbing or mountaineering or anything that involves a human getting active, and we’d love to see Kriega expand their horizons and move beyond the bike.

The post Drive By :: Kriega R20 appeared first on Carryology - Exploring better ways to carry.

Independence Day is a day to celebrate, it always has been. It’s a special time to hang with friends and family, chug beer, watch baseball, BBQ five kinds of animal, throw streamers to the heavens at patriotic parades, paint yourself the customary red, white and blue, and close out the festivities with your very own backyard fireworks extravaganza!

Oh, and it’s a holiday too…

So what could make it more awesome? A new backpack maybe? Sure.

To cap off the 4th of July merriment OGIO has offered up their flagship backpack, the Renegade RSS 17 Laptop Backpack, to one lucky Carryologist.

If you’re the student type or after a daypack with ample organisation and comfort then this could be just the thing – the Renegade likes to keep its contents compartmentalised and cushy.

Its laptop and iPad sleeves are liberally padded (swallowing most 15″ laptops and select thin 17″ laptops) and its slew of other pocketing keeps everything from your mouse and digital camera to sunglasses safe and secure behind more padded goodness. Throw in a dual side water bottle/accessory pocket, stash pocket and a quick-access phone pocket – and you end up with a hell of a lot of pockets!

Add padded shoulder straps to the equation and you’ve got yourself a cloud-like offering that can basically consume any assortment of gear like this guy consumes burgers.

How do you win?

Subscribe to our newsletters.

Enter your details into the form below and hit submit.

And if you’re already signed up to any or all three newsletters (you carry fiend!), don’t stress, you won’t get resigned up again.

By entering the giveaway, you will be signed up to the Carryology and OGIO newsletters, which you can opt out of at any time. But with so much great carry news why would you?

Time balance?

We’ll give it a week – winners will be drawn on the 11th. Don’t worry though, we’ll keep the reminders handy!

Cool? 

Hit us with any questions in the comments…

The post Independence Day Giveaway :: OGIO Renegade RSS appeared first on Carryology - Exploring better ways to carry.

Moondarra is a design project from Luke Phillips that takes its name from an unexpected source – a battle between a crocodile and python at Lake Moondarra that lasted for several hours. Eventually the crocodile was beaten through sheer exhaustion and the python proceeded to swallow the crocodile whole, in the process expanding its jaw and inner volume to more than twice its original size. It was the python’s natural ability to expand itself that inspired Luke to ask the question “What if a bag’s form behaved like a snake’s does, slim and compact, with the ability to expand and efficiently carry large forms?” The desire to explore this question led to Moondarra and Luke kindly agreed to provide first-hand insight into his project…

Within the bag industry there are many varying types of bag styles such as the messenger, backpack and tote bags. Each bag serves different functions for different contexts of use. But what if there was one bag that could serve the purpose of more than one of these styles?

Now before you think this is a load of bollocks, hear me out…

We are in exciting times for the world of carry. It is a great time to be exploring the relationships we have with personal possessions when on the move. In recent years there have been loads of new and exciting bag designs emerging around the globe. This is awesome for bag users and designers because it really pushes the envelope in terms of exploring why and how we carry.

Some think that a bag is never truly finished, that there can always be changes made to increase usability, longevity or utility. This is what inspired me to pursue a bag that is not ‘set in stone’ in terms of function. The process of developing this has been very constructive. Defining restraints and identifying possibilities for a bag of this caliber has been an exciting process thus far.

I am an avid bag user (Mission Workshop’s R6 Arkiv Field Pack with the laptop attachment) and am passionate about developing refined systems to transport the possessions we need on a day-to-day basis. But these possessions have a tendency to change depending on where we are going. Recently I have been working on a project that aims to disrupt the way we define a backpack.

“Researching the ways we transport personal goods with us in order to explore alternative carry options to produce an outcome that broadens our perception of a backpack’s functionality”.

Basically I am trying to do something different than a traditional backpack. The goal is to create a bag whose function can adapt with the user’s needs. Taking inspiration from a variety of mediums such as origami and the way form can transform. Imagine if you could have one bag that adapted to your changing daily needs while maintaining the ease of use demonstrated by bags from the likes of Mystery Ranch and Chrome Industries.

In tackling this notion I am exploring several different methods and techniques…

Currently I am in the middle of the prototyping process and am continually identifying new restraints and possibilities of what could be.

A few sketches trying to establish form and various ways of organic transformation.

This ‘Magic Ball’ origami piece is extremely complex in geometry but amazingly adaptable in form. I began to fold pieces like this to better understand the way these geometries behave.

The mode of adaptability is being explored through the use of origami, which entails many different patterns and methods of transforming from a flat sheet of paper (or in this case, fabric). The extensive history and beauty of origami is slowly being recognized in the world of design for its unique ability to quickly transform functional objects. It is thanks to great minds like Robert Lang that we are seeing this trend. I am quickly learning and adapting to the way these structures behave in different materials and shapes. There have been several successful prototypes thus far and many more to come. Trying to harness the characteristics of origami into something more tangible is proving to be an interesting process, but it is one I am very excited about.

Since paper/fabric cannot be folded more than eight times it became difficult to create large origami patterns. Here I am exploring new ways to create the folds using a 3D printed mold. The process consisted of wetting the fabric, then drying it in the mold under a few kilograms of pressure. This test was successful and it has since been used with fabric stiffeners and silicone to give strength to the pattern.

The biggest challenge is applying strength to the origami patterns. They expand and contract in extraordinary fashion but they are very temperamental. Each pattern is a repetition of surfaces and folds; if any of these folds are deformed it breaks the entire structure’s ability to change. To fix this I am currently looking at creating a hybrid of materials between hard-shell body (plastic) and flexibility (fabrics) to create a form that can morph from one functional use to the next.

Another test to achieve the origami structure without having extensive fold involved. This process involved cutting the pattern out of interfacing and ironing it onto a sheet of fabric. This leaves the crease lines weaker than the body of the fabric. This technique also allows for greater variation in the pattern of the structure. You can create corners and curves rather than flat panels. Then elastic was sewn along the ribs to try and create a geometry that was no bigger than the objects it needs to carry.

Another source of inspiration is the structures of nature. Exploration of having an inner or exoskeleton to support the origami structures is underway. Applying strength yet sustaining the ability to adapt to new forms and shapes is the challenging aspect thus far.

This is a representation of a skeleton-like structure to support the outer layer. Using straws and a ‘U’ shaped origami pattern to try and link the two together to expand and contract accordingly.

Trying to give the structure strength and keep the variability through sliders and reinforced ribs running along every raised peak of the pattern. This structure proved to be successful in concept, although is yet to be tested on a larger (and heaps more complex) scale.

To push this concept of skeleton further I created a prototype of parallel straws with bends an even 40mm apart. I hoped to create a flexible skin-like structure but it is currently too restricted by the hard-shell base and back support (this will hopefully be solved in the next attempt).

This is the most recent prototype; it runs as a hybrid between semi-flex plastic shell and flexible fabric origami. It was successful in function to adapt its volume organically. Yet the form will continue to be explored to better capitalize on the level of variation in volume.

They say form follows function, so if we can change a bag’s form, we can change its function, right? Well it isn’t quite that simple but through design this can be achieved. I am not talking about some crazy folding bag that takes four hours to fold into shape. I am talking about simple use of geometry that can radically change the form and volume of a bag quickly and effectively. Origami is a great example of this, but translating its characteristics into a tangible backpack calls for some serious designing. The design process is well underway and I am extremely excited about the possibilities it holds.

So can a bag adapt to function in more than one environment by changing its form and therefore its capacity to carry? Well I guess there is only one way to find out.

The project is still very early in its development. I would love to hear your feedback on it thus far and possibilities of where you think it could go. If you have a spare minute feel free to answer some questions below or leave a comment.

Where can you see a bag of this caliber fitting into your lifestyle?

What combinations of bags would you like to see? For example: A weekend pack that can compact down to a small briefcase?

If you had a bag that could easily change its volume in a few seconds, how often do you think you would alter it?

You can find more information at my Tumblr account.

Have a ripper day.

Cheers.

Luke Phillips.

Thanks to my supervisor, David Flynn, for his wise words of wisdom thus far and to Michael Knispel at Carryology for the opportunity.

The post Moondarra :: Expanding the Backpack’s Contextual use appeared first on Carryology - Exploring better ways to carry.

“It looks tough,” one of my coworkers said after I dropped my bag – a GORUCK SD25 – on my desk. “Kinda like a bouncer.”

I nodded. “So from behind people will think I’m hard”. But then I’ll turn around and be the geek with the high-pitched voice, who’s waving his hands like he’s swatting away bees, and then I’d say something like “Hi guys! I brought snacks!”

Bags need to do two things: hold your stuff and project the image you want to project. GORUCK does both well but I’d argue it does the latter better. Created by a former Green Beret and now hosting gruelling boot camps and physical challenges, GORUCK make bags that are the pinnacle of masculinity.

And that’s the appeal. Their bags are “assault ready” and made to be punished. Me? I’m a bookish guy in black skinny jeans and a sworn pacifist. When I first read into GORUCK I figured I wasn’t their target market. But, having thought about it, maybe I am. Ultimately, I do feel like I could stand to be a bit dudelier. 

After all, GORUCK must be doing something right. Six years ago the company was just a piece of flint in former Green Beret and founder Jason McCarthy’s eye. Now they’re firing bags worldwide and convincing people to run about with sandbags pounding their livers.

Is the SD25 a slick piece of kit? Definitely. But I think its appeal to me has more to do with the company than the bag.

Disclosure

I’m probably not the right person to review most of GORUCK’s gear. The SD25 – the “book bag that won’t break” – is about as close as “Go Ruck” gets to “being appropriate for Cory Zanoni”.

Go forth and Ruck

I intended to go hiking with this bag. I really did. But the closest I got to that was walking through a park on my way to work each day. And I can’t even claim to have taken it on any gnarly city trips: I live in a pretty nice suburb. So while a lot of GORUCK gear is built to handle whatever extreme activity you throw at it, I’ll be looking at the SD25 as a particularly rugged commuter bag. This suits me nicely.

And if you’re wearing a suit to work a black SD25 will suit that nicely. It’s attractive, black and understated – it is a Shadow Ruck after all. 

“Hah, it blends into your jacket,” a friend said to me on a day I was wearing all black.

“Yup. I’m basically a turtle.”

The SD25 is nondescript. It’s one solid colour with space for a Velcro patch on the front. The only branding you’ll see is inside. It ticks my “minimalist” design box.

This continues with its pocketing. 

The handsomely diagonal front pocket is easy to access and makes a good place for your wallet and love poems (if that’s your thing).

The main compartment is neatly divided. The front panel has two pockets: a small go-to one (complete with a sand-coloured zip so it’s easy to find, a quietly brilliant design move) for the things you need right now and a large meshed number for cords or whatever else you don’t want swarming about.

Finally, there’s a slip pocket in the back of the bag for hydration bladders, but in my case it was perfect for magazines, newspapers or a laptop (my 11″ MacBook Air fit with room to spare for a notebook; I daresay you’d slip a 15″ inch something or other in there too). And a word of warning, you’ll need to add your own cushy laptop sleeve or slide a notebook or two behind your laptop for cushioning because the SD25 wasn’t made with your silvery tech in mind. 

And when I really put the SD25 to the test (carrying groceries home) the SD stood up to the task, hauling everything I needed with aplomb. The bag opens flat – handy for when you need to carry more than a single book – making it easy to get things in and out in an optimal way (no misshapen bread for you or I).

The bag is made to be rolled up and thrown inside another, bigger bag. As such, there’s no skeleton to keep its shape and no padding in the back. This can be a problem – I spent a while walking around with a can of lentils or Cormac McCarthy’s The Border Trilogy jabbing into my kidneys. And after some months its silhouette began to warp just a little. 

Yet, the materials all seem hardy and more than enough for your daily commute – mine gets through the horrors of trains and office life with barely a scuff.

The stitching is solid (stress-tested to 400 pounds, the equivalent of an average-sized pony pulling on your gear) and the bag is made of 1000D CORDURA. That’s a dense weave and basically means your stuff probably won’t get wet in the rain. 

The SD25 gets out of your way. When your enemies are raining down hellfire (or you’re fumbling for your wallet in line at the supermarket to pay for your on-sale kale) you want to get to whatever you need without any effort. The SD25 helps. It’s functional. I barely noticed it. And that’s the highest compliment I can give.

The Fight Club instinct

And this speaks to the real appeal of the bag. Because functionality is manly.

It’s the strong silent type. The man who can do anything with the least fuss, who wants for nothing more than he needs and, if required, can perform any task. “Assault ready” is about war but it eases an everyday worry:

You’ll face all manner of trials just for waking up. With GORUCK, you won’t just face them. You’ll overcome them.

“Problem ready” isn’t as appealing a motto for good reason. Combat is laced through GORUCK’s DNA; it informs every single aspect of the company and it sells bags. I have no use for anything “combat tested” and I don’t know anyone who does. But GORUCK has sold thousands of bags off the back of it (and they have the quality to match).

That sense of masculinity and the allusion to danger adds an allure to the brand. It’s the sense that, sure, I’m just a regular joe in a clean shirt but I could, hypothetically, be dangerous. My housemate compared it to Fight Club: we’re a generation of men fantasizing about getting into a fight with no real idea of how awful it really is.

Maybe it’s because this romanticised idea of “masculinity” is the opposite of what so much of modern society is – loud, disposable, isolated. Look at anything Crumpler churns out, with its reflective panels, neon detailing and pocket for any occasion, and compare it to the SD25.

If both were people I know which one I’d trust with my life.

More of a man

I like the SD25. I’ll keep using it. It has almost everything I like: a simple design, well-considered functionality and sturdy materials. If it had a little bit of padding through the back it would be perfect, though the extra weight might not be worth the few occasions I’d benefit from it.

Should you buy the SD25? Sure, if you’re after something durable, simple and stylish for your daily commute or spare pack. That’s what it set out to be – a simple, sturdy backpack for quick trips away from basecamp/bed. And for US$95 it’s great value. Its failings are only failings if you want this bag to be more than that. If you need something with padding, this ain’t the bag for you – try the GR1.

And, yeah, it looks cool on my back. And people do comment on it. I actually like using it. Did it make me feel hard? Not really. But there’s only so much a simple bag can do.

I can’t do a lot of things. I can’t make anything, I can’t light a fire without firelighters and I can’t fix anything you’ve broken. I won’t die for my country.

But the SD25 and GORUCK remind me of people who can and will do those things. And I like them because of it.

The post Geek Vs GORUCK SD25 appeared first on Carryology - Exploring better ways to carry.

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We put the Tom Bihn Synapse 25 to the test to find out if it can...

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There are few carry brands that hold a claim to fame as true pioneers but JanSport is one of them. This influential and innovative brand boasts a global reach which has grown from humble beginnings, hard work and dedication to creating bags that are affordable while remaining functional and reliable. In order to find out first-hand about developing one of the biggest carry producers in the world as well as one of their most instantly recognizable designs – the Superbreak backpack – we went straight to the source, JanSport co-founder Skip Yowell…

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Douglas: Skip, thank you so much for taking the time to just catch up and talk about bags today. Jumping into the questions, as far as your perspective, did you ever think that JanSport was going to be such an iconic brand that would define youth culture? I know it wasn’t necessarily what you started the brand out to be, but it’s pretty remarkable to see where it’s at today, and the perception of it. 

Skip: We started off as a backpacking and mountaineering company making packs for those activities. But early on, there was one point where I thought, “Well, this may become a bigger thing.” We were selling in the University of Washington. They had a bookstore, and the bookstore had a unique situation. They had a sport shop right in the center that was selling Alpine skis, tennis, and backpacking and mountaineering gear. 

And of course we were selling them our backpacking and mountaineering packs, and we designed the bag called the Ski And Hike. We were the very first to put a zipper in a big panel pack versus a top loader with a flap, and we extended that into the small Ski And Hike, which is really meant for day-hiking and cross-country skiing, which was really big at the time. 

We had made these really small bags with a zipper in them and one outside pocket, and the bookstore buyer called me one day and said, “Skip, because it rains so much, students are starting to buy your Ski And Hike and putting their books inside. You got to put something on the bottom.” So we put some vinyl at first and then leather later on. And he told his buddies in Oregon and Idaho, and we became real good friends with the buyer. And he said, “You know, you guys ought to start selling in college bookstores.” And as we started to do that, at the time I told Murray, “You know, I think potentially this bookbag daypack business of ours could be much bigger than our outdoor business.” And obviously down the road that’s what happened. 

Douglas: Obviously based off your history you have a passion for the outdoors and adventure. Did you ever find yourselves at a crossroads where you had to decide, “Whoa, do we go a little bit more after this daypack business versus staying true to our roots by just focusing on outdoor equipment?” What was that process of thinking?

Skip: Yeah, we were still very motivated for the outdoor side of the business because it was great for the image of the brand. It really taught us a lot of things from workmanship and materials that would benefit the bookbags. And I think part of it was our passion for what we really enjoyed doing and why we started the business. So as we progressed on with that business, equally on the same side we were making the first dome tents, and then sleeping bags, and really rounding out that backpack and mountaineering side – which sometimes you have a little bit of luck and we did in the sense that for a lot of the young students and college kids of those days, backpacking and escaping was becoming very fun and cool. It was right with the times. From the very start, there were only really a handful of outdoor brands, and we were at the right place at the right time and had the motivation to keep going.

But during the growth of the bookbag daypack business, it gave us diversity in the sense of distribution, of selling our product. And to be just pigeonholed to the outdoor specialty shop back in the ‘70s and early ‘80s was tough for a lot of brands when there became too many brands and too much competition. When I go through my old magazines from that era back then, there are so many names that are no longer around. And it was just because of not being real diverse. I think that was another side that wasn’t really beneficial to the brand long-term.

Douglas: All great points. As far as how the product evolved, when you start thinking about the materials and the sections, nowadays we designers are all spoiled because we can go to the Internet and just search around, or you can go down to your local REI or outdoor store and basically just kind of educate yourself on the fly. At that time when you guys were starting, what was your process as far as educating yourself around materials and different resources that you had?

Skip: Yeah, I think that’s a good point, because back at that time you had all the fabric mills and everything down in the South, and New England had the hardware parts, and Southern California had foam. And we would have sales reps that would call on us showing their wares in a sense. And these people, obviously very knowledgeable, had been selling these kinds of fabrics to other types of industries. So many things evolved out of – as it still does today to some degree – out of the military developing a raw material, and then later one gets used by the general manufacturers, and consumers benefit. 

In 1970 one of the sales reps who sold a lot of cloth in Southern California had this new fabric that was a tire yarn. And it didn’t work out in tire so they wove it into fabric. And it wasn’t branded at that time, but later on became branded Cordura. And we got the very first 50-yard bolt of that. We made up some samples and everybody thought it was a real rugged canvas, although it was a nylon and it was obviously very durable, somewhat expensive, and somewhat heavy. But that launched us from the basic frame pack cloth we had been using to 420 nylon. We went into that Cordura, which really kind of set us apart from any other bags of that time. Then later on with the evolution of fabrics, we moved into a lighter Cordura 5000 – or a 500 by 1000. Then we evolved into the 600 Denier Polyester, which is obviously the staple today, because it was a little bit lighter. 

And one of our kind of disciplines over the years, it was really easy to make very expensive, amazing different designs but we also really wanted to make designs that were affordable for many consumers. And so a combination of all those factors ended up to kind of where the Superbreak is today, which is constantly evolving with prints and all sorts of other elements.

Douglas: As far as your perception of what makes Superbreak such a great product, why do you think it still resonates not only with the youth, but in general just the consumer who’s looking for a great bag?

Skip: Yeah, I think there is so much simplicity. Just a quick story – years ago I took my daughter in the showroom. She was in high school. There were 100 different styles in there, and I said, “Gwen, pick out the bag that you want for yourself for school.” And she went to the Superbreak. I was kind of shocked because we had some other really high-end bags with more pockets and everything else. And I said, “Why the Superbreak?” She said, “I really like the simplicity of it.” And so I think that’s always been a real key feature of it. 

Second of all, we were the first to put a zipper in a pack. We really created the look of that style. JanSport has always been an authentic company and an authentic brand. So when you go all the way back to 1970 and you start seeing all these JanSport packs, and mom would later on maybe buy one somewhere else and the straps would blow out, somebody else would say, “You got to buy a JanSport. They hold up. They have a lifetime warranty.” And so slowly over the years all that momentum and the confidence of the consumers and the goodwill of a great-quality product that we had made just kept building and building and building. And so we obviously had a history of the product, the simplicity of the design being very functional. But I think the durability and the quality aspect because some of the packs we used in mountaineering probably didn’t get as much abuse as the daypack being dragged around 365 days of the year. So all that history has continued worldwide now for quite a few years of that particular bag and the brand. 

I was just in the Philippines recently. We’ve had a long partner there for 16 years. You go to the college campuses which I’ve spoken in, many of which in the Philippines, and you see 80% of the bookbags are JanSport. It’s amazing. 

Douglas: Wow. You mentioned how you put the zipper on top basically as a main closure. Do you remember that time or that specific moment where you guys were just like, “Hey, why don’t we put a zipper on that front top and let’s see if it works?”

Skip: Yeah. One of our strengths from the very start was that Murray, Jan and I were motivated – it wasn’t always about the money – to create a business that fit our lifestyle and to be very innovative. And I think there was really a side of us that was very competitive. And as we would go out and test product every weekend and bring it back and try to improve upon it, we’d make up the prototypes and we developed a network of friends and climbers, and we had a very small retail store in the first factory at North Seattle. We had a cowbell on the door. Whenever the cowbell would ring, either Murray, Jan or myself would go out and wait on the customer, who was usually sent up to us by either Eddie Bauer, Triggers or REI. And they wanted something custom or unique. So we actually learned quite a bit from those hardcore customers, which is something I mentor the young people to do: really always understand the consumer, their needs, and what they’re doing. 

But in trying to get distribution farther than outside of Seattle, we would go and I would load up our blue delivery van and drive down to Oregon, over to Idaho and sometimes the fringe of Bozeman in Montana and then back. And so you would do your clinics and would show our bags versus at that time probably Kelty in the big packs area was our biggest competitor making their welded frame. Because of the panel load on it, there were so many different feature benefits that it really took off right away, and for the same feature benefits it extended down into the daypack bookbag. 

Douglas: I would say that over the last five years there has been a really big resurgence of vintage climbing, vintage outdoor, vintage workwear and so forth. But there’s a fine line between what’s stealing and what’s inspiring.  Do you look at it as flattering when you see companies out there taking something that’s really authentic to JanSport; and why do you think the youth culture gets sold into these fake stories from these other brands?

Skip: First of all, our boys and I prided ourselves in being very aware of what’s going on and what our competition is doing. But on the same end, I’m more concerned about staying one step ahead and being innovative. You’re just going to get product that gets copied, and that’s just a way of life unless you’re able to get a patent on it, which tends to be more in the hardware side of things. 

Douglas: To transition to your personal carry, when you look back in high school what was the equivalent bag? How did you carry books in high school, and what was your means of transportation back then?

Skip: When I was in high school, you carried your books under your arm, you put them in a locker, and the most creative thing anybody did was maybe tie a belt around the books. There was no daypack or bookbags. My first exposure to packs actually was my dad’s army pack. And when I joined the Boy Scouts and we were getting our hiking merit badge, I went to the army surplus store and bought an army surplus bag. That was my pack. And then later on I had a Trapper Nelson, which was actually a wood frame. I got that original bag. I gave it to Gary Neptune to put into Neptune Mountaineering in Boulder, Colorado, where he has a big display of old packs and everything. So my exposure was a little bit unusual in the sense that there was no daypack or bookbag. And so we created that business out of the University of Washington. Before that you had big European climbing rucksacks. That was something that REI carried obviously back when they started their co-op here in Seattle. 

Douglas: That’s pretty rad. As far as the shoulder straps, maybe specifically on the Superbreak, how did you get to the shoulder straps that are current today, and has it been something that’s been carried over since the original Superbreak, or has it kind of evolved over time?

Skip: Yeah, it’s especially probably the pads. The design is made so much the same and similar and everything, but the evolution of better pads has always been because they get the most abuse, and everybody loads up almost more than they can carry. So early on, we established a lot of automation for making packs. There was just an automation of our production line as the volume grew. And that bag eventually even went to laser-cutting of the fabric, which was pretty creative back in the latter ‘80s and ‘90s. So all of those elements of that production, and the automation of it, helped us to stay in a very affordable and competitive price range, but obviously build in the quality of the product that we wanted to build into it with good raw materials.

Douglas: That’s pretty amazing to think about the innovation side. Speaking of innovation, last year I had the opportunity to go down South and see an automated production line for denim jeans. The Superbreak looks like it’s going to be an icon that continues to go out for generations. Have you ever dabbled in that world as far as manufacturing and the idea of automating a complete backpack?

Skip: Many of us are overseas in places where the labor is still very inexpensive relative to the United States. So there’s still that physical handwork on our particular products. Of course, denim jeans command in a lot of cases now a much, much higher price point to invest into the technology to do that automated equipment here in the United States. But at the end of the day, it’s up in that stratum of 7 For All Mankind, et cetera. So potentially we would like to actually see someday more manufacturing come back to the United States in our particular category. We just haven’t figured out a way to do it yet, but there are a lot of young, bright minds at JanSport. JanSport has never always been just Skip Yowell; there are a lot of great people through all the years, and we have a lot of great people who are smarter than I am today there who maybe hopefully can make some of those things happen.

Douglas: Absolutely. I’ve heard about the collection of items you’ve gathered during your various adventures. What inspired the collecting? 

Skip: My good friend Lou Whittaker had the guide service at Mount Rainier, and he’s the one who really taught me mountaineering. His twin brother, Jim Whittaker, was the first American to climb Everest in 1963. So I started going on expeditions with Lou. And we went to Tibet and Mount Everest in ’84, and I really learned from him on Mount Rainier. But Lou said, “You know, I always pick up something from my trips and expeditions. It reminds me when I’m back home about that experience.” So from that I was always also kind of a keeper of all our early products and photos and catalogues and magazines, and those bags that I dragged out of the basement are now in the JanSport Heritage line. And there are certain places in the world that we do an amazing amount of business with our heritage packs. It’s almost hard for me to believe sometimes. So saving a lot of those things has always been to an advantage from the business side, but from a personal side I’ve always just been really fascinated with product. I still love product, and I have an old mercantile building that’s full of wooden skis and all sorts of things that are in some ways an indirect influence to pack products that today we have. 

The Skip Yowell collection has been a fun project with lead designer Eric Rothenhaus. We keep adding a couple new products, and a couple products will go away. But it has a real heritage look with leather and really quality materials, but also really contemporary features on the inside to fit today’s lifestyle with laptops and iPads and electronics and adventure travel and urban travel. So you always have to keep moving forward.

Douglas: Right. I know you’ve got to go through the challenges of just owning a business, selling a business, and you’ve been very fortunate to continue to be a part of the brand. I’m sure you could have checked out at any time that you wanted. But what kept you involved, and what was that driving force? And the second part of that question is, I’m sure there were some tough times especially in starting a new brand – what made you never quit?

Skip: Yeah, there were some tough times in the early times. My uncle had quite a bit of money into JanSport, and he wanted to return and build a home on Whidbey Island, and our credit line would only go so far at the bank. So the financial side of the business was a big challenge. But we loved the business and the products and the people and the lifestyle of the business so much that we would sacrifice what we had to sacrifice to make it successful, because it wasn’t even like a job. We were doing something we were really having fun at.

So today the boys and I still love to travel. It’s been in my bones for a long time. One year in college here in Kansas I sold my books at Spring Break to go skiing in Colorado. [Chuckle] So I’ve always had a love for travel. 

I love the people. I’m a people-person. And I love products. So I’m just very, very fortunate that JanSport has allowed me to still continue to be involved. But I’ve also reached a point where I wanted to spend more time with family and doing the things I enjoy doing. For so many years it’s been 24/7, and there’d be a lot of recent years where there’d be 26 weekends of the year I’d be somewhere in the world or in the United States at a trade show or doing an event or promotion. Now I have a little bit more balance which has always been important to me. I get to do the best of both worlds in my mind. 

Douglas: That’s great. In terms of thinking forward and maybe passed on to different family generations down the road, when you look at about 400 years into the future, what’s one thing that you would love to see as far as the underlying principle carried on in JanSport, and the culture of JanSport?

Skip: I think there probably may be three values of still continuing to be a leader and be an innovative company. That is still true today with VF Corp actually, the parent company. They’ve invested heavily in innovation and they even set aside different funds within VF brands to pursue innovation maybe beyond what the budget would allow. And then quality product, that’s always been one of the values around making a quality product that consumers can rely on. And I think one of the main points that comes up when I lecture at colleges and stuff, I talk about having fun with the work you do and the people, and making sure the brand is fun and authentic. And maybe in 400 years I hope that’s the case. [Chuckle] 

Douglas: [Chuckle] Well, perfect, Skip. Thank you so much for taking the time to share your insights. 

Skip: Yeah, you bet! 

The post Cult Bags :: The Birth of the JanSport Superbreak appeared first on Carryology - Exploring better ways to carry.

Alright, I’m gonna just come right out and say it: I’m not much of a sports fan. Almost nothing sports related captures my attention. So I suppose it’s ironic that my long-time girlfriend is an avid sports fan. And she’s not a sports fan so she can hang with the guys or wear slutty baby-doll fan shirts (not that there’s anything wrong with that), she’s just genuinely pumped about sports. She keeps up with team stats, builds fantasy baseball and basketball teams, and screams at the TV during games (she swears her team can hear her if she screams loud enough but I have my doubts). This woman is dedicated. So since baseball is one of the few games I enjoy, I figured I would try to be a good boyfriend and take her out to the ball game. With a few clicks on StubHub I pick out some crappy nosebleed seats, grab the new Tom Bihn Daylight backpack, and pack some stuff to enjoy a day game!

Highlights

Packing for games at the ballpark is a tricky business in SF. When I left my house it was 65 degrees, foggy, and windy, so I packed a couple jackets for us. But at the stadium it’s 85 and the UV index is high enough to give my lily white skin a sunburn. As soon as we get off the train and see how hot it is my girlfriend nudges me and says, “Good thing we packed all those jackets, eh?”

As the sun beats down on my face and a bad-ball hitter gets up to bat, I zone out and start thinking about the Daylight. Tom Bihn really touched on something alluring with this bag. At 16.5 liters it’s clearly small. And with only two compartments this is a very simple bag. But no matter where you look there’s lots of great details to smirk at. From the piped and reinforced seams on the interior, to the clever weight-saving plastic zippers – everything is deliberate and thoughtful. There are no stray threads to be found and everything is stitched to perfection.

Inside the bag there’s two tiered partitions for organization within the main compartment, and a clip to hang keys or whatever else you might want to keep in easy reach. Outside the bag is my favorite feature of the Daylight: the diagonal zipper on the front panel. Not only does it add some unique asymmetrical styling, but because it’s longer than a traditional horizontal zipper, the front pocket opens wider. The wider opening made finding the tickets much easier. The diagonal zipper is a simple and elegant solution to a fundamental problem with small bags.

When it comes to weight, the Daylight’s definitely an ultralight bag. The version I received in beautiful French Blue is made from stout 1000 denier Cordura nylon and weighed in at a meager 381 grams – not bad considering how much abuse the fabric will take. If that happens to be too heavy Tom Bihn also offers the Daylight in ripstop nylon, which brings the total bag weight down to an absurd 349 grams! I’ve had burritos that weigh more than that!

It’s beer time for me and the lady so I leave our seats and head in search of some adult beverages. While walking around the ballpark I realize something really killer about the bag I didn’t first notice: the Daylight has a super low profile. Tom Bihn’s website says it’s 5.1″ thin but since the bag has no solid structure, it’s really driven by what you pack. For this trip the bag bulged out beyond 5.1″ but had I left the jackets at home this bag would have been well under 3″ thin. Regardless, no matter how dense the crowds were at the stadium, the Daylight stayed unobtrusive. I could turn sideways and squeeze past pretty much any group of people without smashing the bag into their hot dogs or beer.

Lowlights

To be honest, there really isn’t much in the way of disappointment with the Daylight. It’s a small and simple bag with a small and simple range of uses. If I were being insatiable I could bitch and moan about the lack of organization options or the use of 1000 denier Cordura on an ultralight bag. But really all of the design choices make sense when you consider the bag as a whole. My only real disappointment is I wish they offered more color options in the ripstop nylon.

Niggles

My one niggle with this bag is the lack of back padding. Tom Bihn mentioned this on their website and wrote a rather lengthy paragraph justifying why they didn’t include it on the Daylight. They made a fair case and, as a thinking consumer, I really do appreciate them explaining it to us. But I still wish they threw in at least some level of padding – if not for comfort then to help give shape to the bag for load management. I’m curious what the weight penalty would have been for a thin molded foam panel. If we’re talking about a few hundred grams then I wish they would have just done it – especially on the heavier Cordura version of the Daylight. It would have added a great deal of versatility to this bag. This isn’t a turn-off, just some food for thought

Issues

There was only one issue I had with this bag: the shoulder straps. Instead of using traditional padded shoulder straps, Tom Bihn incorporated lightweight 2″ wide nylon webbing. It’s a clever way to save weight, but the nylon webbing used on the Daylight has a deceivingly harsh edge that cuts into your shoulders. Nylon webbing comes in all different varieties, densities, and weave patterns. Unfortunately Tom Bihn picked a weave that had a raised and rippled texture on the edges of the strap.  That rippled texture ended up chaffing my shoulder regardless of how heavy my load was.  I really like this bag but that was a bit shortsighted. There were other ways they could have kept weight down and comfort up like using a higher density nylon strap. Seatbelt webbing would have also done nicely.

Who it Suits/Doesn’t Suit

There’s lots to love about the Tom Bihn Daylight backpack, but this is still an ultralight bag and it doesn’t suit everybody or every situation. It has fairly significant limitations in the weight and duration you can carry things. By design, there’s no padding to speak of on the bag so keep the weight and size of your gear down or you’ll risk a sore back and shoulders. There’s pretty much zero protection against impacts so tech minded people should look elsewhere to protect their valuables. And at 16.5L there’s really not much capacity for stuff you can carry.

But if you can live within these constraints this bag will come in real handy for small errands or day trips. The best uses I’ve found for this bag are short-term activities where packing a couple of jackets and some water is the extent of my carry needs.

Others to consider

The North Face Pachacho comes to mind. It’s not as good looking and it’s heavier, but it has padding on the back panel and straps, if comfort’s your thing.  

Conclusion

So would I recommend it to anyone? Well, that depends on your personal style. Do you gravitate more toward modern styling or timeless styling? There are a lot of choices out there when it comes to ultralight bags and nearly all of them offer more features and lots of padding with roughly the same weight as the Daylight. Other ultralight bags branch out in the opposite direction and have so little features they barely resemble a backpack at all. And as a mark against Tom Bihn, many of these bags are cheaper. But nearly all of them are also so futuristic-looking they likely will show their age as soon as the next model is released. Whereas the Daylight doesn’t have anything edgy or crazy about it. There’s no elaborate structure or high-tech fabric. It’s just a simple and honest bag with tried and true elements. And if that style speaks to you, this is definitely a bag I’d recommend.

The post Drive By :: Tom Bihn Daylight Backpack appeared first on Carryology - Exploring better ways to carry.

The Timbuk2 Especial Raider Backpack was made in conjunction with Mission Cycling to create a bag that one could carry during a morning or after-work ride containing the bare essentials, and not much more. Designed to be sleek and light, the purpose-built Raider was born.

Design:

This backpack is nice for a short bike commute. After putting a button-up shirt, shoes and pants in the bag, there was not space for much else. Timbuk2 designed it to be this way, so plan accordingly. 

The upper pocket, accessible via an external zipper, is a key feature in making this bag a useful addition to anyone’s collection. It is small, but large enough for the essentials like a cellphone and wallet, pen and a small notebook. The long webbing with a clip ensured I always had my keys handy. Sure, some people think it’s silly, but if you are like me, and need to sneak into your office because you forgot/lost the damn door key, it is actually quite useful. 

After locking up my bike, I oftentimes put my helmet in my pack. This bag did a good job of holding my helmet as long as the pack was relatively empty. Timbuk2’s solution to this that I never did find a use for was the external Velcro loops on either side of the bag. There was a bit of debate on what they were designed for/how they were supposed to be used, so an investigation of the Timbuk2 website commenced, yielding a helmet attachment method that was quite simple. There is, however, a 0% chance that I might do this with my helmet. I appreciate the intention, but it is simply not efficient enough for real life use; in fact it is a bit awkward to use. I’d love to see this idea hashed out a bit more, but until then, I’ll settle for having my helmet swing off my hip, attached to the bottom of the shoulder strap. 

Material:

The Raider backpack is made of “lightweight ripstop nylon” which feels to be in the 100 denier range and a heavier material with a reflective pattern on the bottom where it might receive the most abuse. The (600 denier, I’d guess) fabric seemed well capable of taking what abuse I offered it.

 The pack’s nylon is PU coated on the inside and DWR treated on the outside, which makes it water resistant. While I did not get to test this bag in a downpour, it seems to be capable in light to moderate rain, without the need for a roll-top or some other trickery. This touches on an interesting point. 100% of the time, you don’t need a dry bag for your bike commute. 99% of the time, you don’t even need a waterproof liner. I live in Seattle and will own that my tolerance for rain is slightly higher than most folks, but when commuting to/from work I never carry a “waterproof” bag. Ever.

The body panel and shoulder straps are covered with a lightweight 3D mesh which felt nice in hand, but I found it to be slightly scratchy on my shoulders when riding. While thin, this material is sufficient in padding and regulating body temperature even with a completely full pack. 3D mesh gets a spot on the materials bill of many packs, but it constantly leaves me hoping for a better alternative. In terms of little details, I really enjoy the bike-grip styled zipper pulls on nice YKK zippers. 

Fit:

Wearing it, it feels at first like I had stolen a children’s Ninja Turtle backpack. This might be due to the fact that I am 6’1” tall and also it was designed to be small. 

I found that the straps have a well-considered shape and didn’t pinch around the neck like many other smaller packs I’ve worn. The chest strap is adjustable and easy to manipulate while on the go.

Organization:

This pack is designed to kick your morning/afternoon commute’s butt. Inside, there are specifically designed internal pockets for your shoes, which proved to be beneficial in many ways. I leave a spare pair of shoes at work and normally commute with bike cleats, so I didn’t need this feature, but after a litany of highly scientific experiments, it is confirmed that in addition to shoes, they are capable of carrying water bottles, malty dad-sodas from the bodega around the corner or a Thermos in a safe and upright manner. 

There is also a plastic shirt folding board that is designed to keep your shirts nice and crisp. The plastic sheet gave the bag a bit of structure, but is a bit cumbersome in actual use. I felt like I had to force my shirt into the dedicated inner sleeve unless the pack was moderately empty. While clever, folding boards are perhaps better left to employees at the Gap. External stretchy mesh pockets helped a ton in organizing, keeping things like a u-lock outside the pack. I love stretchy outside pockets. There, I said it.

Final Notes:

At US$79, this is a great little bag for exploring your urban environs. With it sized similar to many hydration packs, this pack’s overall size limits its usefulness in my daily commute to work. It is, however, a great bag for mobbing around town, going to coffee shops, light grocery runs, picnics at the lake, longer road rides and hiking. I would even consider using this pack as a mountain bike bag if it had a waist strap. All of this in a simple, lightweight package. Cool!

The post Drive By :: Timbuk2 Especial Raider Backpack appeared first on Carryology - Exploring better ways to carry.

When T-Level dropped their Dos backpack we were keen to take it on a drive by to discover how it handled. Read on to find out whether the T-Level Dos earned street cred or is fashion-focused with minimal functionality…

Design

This is modern streetwear with nods to heritage. It has nice proportions that work well and there’s some interesting shaping. But the thing that surprised us when we got it is it’s all a little bit flimsier and less structured than we were expecting (but maybe better in a different fabric option). From very little structure in the back panel, which just folds over, to the use of a white interior that’s quite translucent, it ends up just feeling a bit lightweight. The bag isn’t lined, there’s a PU-coated nylon fabric on this one. So what you end up with is a bag that looks great but perhaps is just missing that next level of refinement and hardware construction planning to give it a touch more presence. So, if you fill it well, it looks great. If you don’t fill it, or if you fill it unevenly, it just ends up sagging and moving around a bit.

The position of the laptop section means it is placed up against the back. A laptop gives you a lot of structure, but because it’s buried under so much flap, it’s a bit awkward to get to. If you’re running a smaller laptop, that’s fine. A 15-inch kind of struggles to get into the laptop section; it’s a bit awkward for daily use. It works and it’s fine, but it’s just not perfect.

Fit

As I said earlier, the bag is a touch smaller than we were expecting from images of it. However, the size means it works well for smaller crew. If you’re under 6 feet – if you’re 5’5”, 5’6” it doesn’t dwarf you. My wife happily throws this on and feels like it’s a good-looking bag.

Organization

With regards to pocketing, there’s a bit too much low down and in crush zones. Too many of these pockets end up sagging out. When you put things into them, they catch them and then you end up with awkward stuff at the bottom. There’s not enough structure to keep the pockets up, so they do sag over a bit. You end up with a pretty classic school bag format of a front joey pocket.

There are a few organizing bits in the main section and then there’s a whole bunch of really interesting external pockets. These include a side Velcro pocket whose gusset doesn’t really work because it’s a constrained entry. So there are not many items that need to go down and fill out when you then constrain the entry, but it creates a really interesting look. There’s another small pocket you can put your keys on that kind of comes out on the waist belt wing. In addition, there’s another section that’s sort of tucked in for a wallet or passport or the like that’s out on the side for access, plus another pocket on that side wing.

The pockets are the sort of thing that if you want to get your bag set up once and you remember where everything is, then that’s great. You can imagine an urban young adult or university student really knowing what to wear and loving this. For me, my items didn’t fit these pockets perfectly so I ended up using the inside ones a bit more and getting a bit confused with some of the others.

Construction

In terms of softness, it’s quite soft air mesh, it’s soft straps, it’s really soft webbing. This is a bag that girls will love and not feel intimidated by. It’s a bag that guys who aren’t after something too girly are going to love. It kind of wraps around a bit. But the downside is it’s not as durable. There’s a lot of air mesh to get caught and pricked and damaged. The straps are just not finished with a real kind of maker’s understanding of longevity. So it’s not going to age really well.

In terms of the load lifters, since there’s no rigidity here these are more for look rather than any form or function, and there’s not enough gap to actually really help you shape your strap with them. But there is nice leather. The lash tabs are less likely to tear, whereas most of these things are normally from fake leathers that tear the second you use them. The bag uses a YKK zip, but in our opinion it’s a little undersized for a main zip, and because it’s under a storm flap it’s sometimes a little awkward to hit when it’s a smaller zip like that. So this is a bag you’ll buy off its looks rather than impeccable build quality. But having said that, they used name brand parts – the clips, the zips are all name brand. They’re just a slightly different spec to what we would have done.

The bag is a bit retro and a bit street, with lots of lash tabs. Interestingly, T-Level actually provide lashes with them. A lot of people will want to take these off to use it, especially when they’re white; they do dirty up a bit. But it’s interesting that it’s one of the few heritage packs that actually provide lashes with the lash tabs.

The fabric is versatile and looks great in an urban environment. If you’re commuting on the train, it looks good. You’ll get comments on it. It feels nice. There’s a lot of intriguing patterning work with a sort of 3D form to it. The stitching is reasonable but it’s not top end, so you do get a few fraying, loose bits. This bag feels like a good urban streetwear brand, but if you’re after super high quality, super resolved build, stuff that’s going to last you for years, there are other brands you should be looking at. Beyond that, you have the basics – the sternum strap, the soft air mesh offering a bit of ventilation but not heaps, and a bunch of interesting pocketing.

Others to consider

So, we’re into this bag. Of course, there are other bags that you could look at. This is a lot cheaper than Lexdray, for instance, which is a similar kind of street vibe, with a nod to heritage but not lost in it. Visvim is another brand in this space that’s more high-end streetwear, but again Visvim is $700, whereas this is a lot less at $125. We’re digging this more than something like a Herschel, which has similar enough price points. But this is not a slave to heritage in that way, so it’s a bit more modern streetwear.

Conclusion

There are a few different fabric options which we think will change the nature of the bag a lot. The one we’ve chosen is quite soft draping fabric. It’s just that this fabric needs a bit more structure to do this bag format justice. But, having said that, it’s a cute bag. It suits university students; it suits young adults looking for something with a bit of street sense to it. Just don’t expect it to be passed down to your grandkids.

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“A nice beer that’s half foam”

You’d expect a month using something would result in a clear opinion on it. Right now, the WaterField Staad Stout is a bag halfway there. Some days, the things I like take precedence. Other days, they don’t.

WaterField’s goal was to create a refined laptop bag that’s as comfortable in the office as it is in a fashionable café – if they succeeded, this would be the perfect bag for a middle-management hipster like me. So does it work?

It’s fine. It doesn’t irritate. I’d keep using it but I wouldn’t tell you to rush out and buy one. It has some parts I like and others I don’t, some parts I find interesting and others confusing. It all levels out to nonplussed indifference.

 At US$329 is that good enough?

Who it suits

As I mentioned above: middle-management hipsters. Or anyone else who’s chasing a backpack with visual appeal. The combination of leather and waxed canvas stands out against a wall of primary-coloured Herschels. It’ll turn heads (in a nice way).

Who it doesn’t

Anyone looking to carry more than a laptop and a few magazines. Or anything that isn’t flat, really. This bag borders on two-dimensional.

It might not be well suited for short people either. If you’re looking to buy a Staad, check the measurements. I wouldn’t want a Stout if I was much smaller than I am. I’m around 5’11” and your average breadth. I like the way it sits on me but I can see the top corners if I turn my head. Measure it out on your back and make your call.

Materials – what works?

The materials are, mostly, quality and add a distinct character to the bag – it looks novel. The leather flap is thick, sturdy and attractive. Most importantly, it has aged well over the month I’ve been using the bag. Part of leather’s appeal is the way it shapes and transforms over time – the Staad seems likely to perform well in that regard.

The waxed canvas provides a nice counter to the leather: it’s a rugged and textured counterpoint to the leather’s smoothness. Again, it looks like it should hold up to some battering and it ticks the usual “water-resistant” boxes.

For me, the true star of the materials section is the bag’s lining. Where other makers would be content to fill their bag with something plain, WaterField have gone bright and patterned. It’s a lovely injection of personality and luxury (it also helps make finding things that little bit easier – but that’s much less important than the little ray of sunshine the material adds). I appreciate the touch: you spend a lot of time burrowing about inside a bag so it may as well be handsome. It’s a small touch.

Materials – what doesn’t work?

For all the thought put into the bag’s appearance, a few details let me down.

I’ll start with a somewhat low blow: I’m not feeling the company logo. It looks like something out of the 90s. Thankfully it’s hidden under the flap. I feel petty making this complaint but it really did bother me. I’m sorry.

The zippers and latch are uninspiring: chunky, black plastic (not a great match with the leather and canvas). While they’ll hold up over time, they’re disappointing visual elements that seem out of place. They work against the overall aesthetic.

The air mesh down the straps and on the back panel is a similar problem: while it’s perfectly functional (and appreciated because of it), it adds another uninspiring visual element that runs counter to the rest of the bag. The back is particularly egregious: when the bag is lying face down, the cushioning almost looks like the stomach of a beetle. It’s why I started calling the bag Gregor Samsa.

Part of Staad’s appeal is its balancing contrasting natural materials to striking effect. I was apprehensive of its leather/canvas combo but I soon grew to like it – there’s a nice duality to them, their textures. They’re two materials chosen for the way they play off each other – it may throw you at first glance, but that feels intentional. The bag catches your eye because of it.

The plastic and the air mesh work against that effect. They add extra stimuli that contrasts rather than compliments. It’s too much; they throw off the bag’s balance.

There’s a rule of design when using typefaces: don’t use too many. You can extrapolate this rule to other areas of your life. Dating? Don’t have too many partners. Cooking? Don’t use too many spices. Making a bag? Don’t use too many materials.

Function 

The layout

The bag is thin. Thin enough to warrant comment from friends. An unscientific tally of said comments brings those in favour ahead of those who are not. Compared to other packs that slouch like a middle-aged man with a pot belly, the Staad is a welcome change. This, however, comes with limitations.

This shape is enabled by the bag’s fortification – it’s actually hard to bend. This is good and bad. It’ll hold its structure on your back and look good because of it. It’s frustrating when it’s too tall to fit under the chairs on the train and too oddly shaped to sit comfortably on your lap. But that could be a problem unique to me: your mileage may vary.

There are two external pockets, perfect for whatever small miscellaneous knickknacks you want on hand (e.g. keys, gum, positive affirmation cards). Their placement and design make it easy to access with the bag slung over one shoulder. I couldn’t quite find a way to dig into one without taking the bag off, but I came close and I enjoyed that. Again, that may just be a “me” thing.

Lift the flap and you’ll find a zip that runs halfway down the bag. This opens up the main compartment a bit to make access a touch easier. Having used the Staad for a while, I think this comes as a result of WaterField realising the limitations of their design: carrying anything that isn’t flat and thin in this bag is a pain.

Hold that thought.

The inside of the bag features two pockets – a full-width one for your laptop (up to 15″) and a smaller one for your tablet, ereader, notebook (the paper kind) and so on. The padding and bag’s rigidness combine to keep things comfortable when carrying your tech around. The thick straps keep weight nicely distributed.

Opposite that, you’ll find two small pouches with a Velcro seal (one on each side of the zipper). They run about halfway down the bag. They’ll hold anything you want to access but don’t want roaming free – think cables and pocketknives.

Finally, there’s a dangly clip thing. I have no idea what you’d use this for. I’d assume your keys, but you’d still need to undo the bag to get at them. It might be handy for an ID badge if you’re travelling. I just put a little blue guy on there.

The use

It’s odd for a bag with so few elements to have so much of it feel superfluous. This is especially pronounced when the bag is designed to carry so few things.

I carried around a laptop, a notepad, a book and an umbrella – I was hesitant to take anything else. The MacBook and the pad fit in their compartments with no problem but had I put anything else in the pouch, the book and brolly would have become hard to access. Even a jacket is enough to throw the bag’s feng shui.

The bag’s zip does little to help: the bag’s space isn’t functional space. Its depth, once so attractive, works against it. (In the bag’s defence, I’m reading The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky: an 800-page tome.) You’ll get around this with some judicious placement, but I favour bags that get out of my way. I don’t want to think about where I’m putting my jacket or removing my water bottle.

An aside: one of the FAQs on the bag’s product page is “Will a water bottle fit in the Slim Staad?” The answer is “It’s going to be snug fit [sic] but it’ll work”. Call me an idealist, but “Easily enables hydration” is one of my “must have” features for a bag.

The Staad is a perfectly functional laptop bag. It has a great silhouette and its limitations work with my daily carry requirements – its compromised in ways that work with me. If you carry anything that isn’t necessarily flat and thin, I’d look elsewhere.

“Verdict: nice but incomplete”

But at $329 do you really want something so compromised?

The design is striking but let down by (functional) missteps. The internals are attractive yet limited. Parts that are functional run counter to the bag’s aesthetics. Elsewhere the reverse is true.

There are moments of nice design – the front zips are well placed – and others that just confuse me – those same zips are glaring and would benefit from some refinement. This bag is a study in balance. At times it’s perfect. At others, it’s not. It all levels out, leaving something that is neither great nor terrible.

The Staad will look good on your back and people will say nice things about it. You’ll enjoy the patterned lining.

Is that enough? At this price point, I don’t think it is. At $300+ for a laptop backpack I want fewer compromises. I’d love to see a Staad 2.0.

If WaterField do look at a second version, I hope they embrace the bag’s limitations. Strip it down. Drop one or two of the internal pockets. Refine the front zips and invest in a more rustic clasp. This backpack is designed to carry a few things – does that mean they could pull back on synthetic “comfort” features to streamline the appearance? Maybe.

As is, the Staad is nice. It’s fine. There are just too many things I look at and think “Well then, that’s disappointing…” If nothing else, now I know how my mum feels when she sees me.

The post Drive By :: WaterField Staad Stout laptop backpack appeared first on Carryology - Exploring better ways to carry.

I was heading off overseas and I was looking for a pack that combined both space for a camera (plus extra lens) and room to carry my day trip essentials. A simple proposition but a lot of the bags I looked at missed the mark, either focusing too much on camera space (and skimping on general multiuse space), lacking enough protection and structure for my camera, or going the other way and being just too big to be practical. The MindShift Gear rotation180° Panorama seemed to tick most of the boxes I was after so I was more than happy to make it my travel pack and put it through the wringer.

The rotation180° Panorama comes in two colourways, Charcoal and Tahoe Blue. I was running the Charcoal, as the Tahoe Blue was a little loud for my taste, plus I was traveling and wanted my camera gear to remain inconspicuous whilst in transit. The touches of green throughout the bag are used like a navigation system around the pack, highlighting things that are adjustable like zip pull-tabs, tripod supports and other adjustable straps. It’s a clever touch that whilst subtle, stands out from the monochromatic backpack itself. I think it’s a good-looking backpack. It has an outdoor feel but didn’t look out of place when I was in a more urban environment. It doesn’t project that it’s a ‘camera’ backpack, which I think is a good thing. And while it’s got many features, pockets, sections etc, you wouldn’t really know from looking at the outside; again a good thing in my mind.

What’s Special About It

The main point of difference with this camera pack is its rotating beltpack that lets you gain access to your camera gear without having to take your pack off. Having never run this sort of system I was really keen to give it a go. My concern prior to testing was whether the system was going to operate smoothly – unlatching something that you can’t really see that’s located behind your hip seemed like it might be hit and miss. But within one minute of putting on the pack I was really comfortable with the system; after a day it was second nature.

There’s a magnetized latch that you slide down with your thumb to unlock (it can’t just be pulled directly out, so accidentally undoing it is unlikely). But the great thing about it is you don’t need to line up the latch to get it back in because it’s magnetized, so once it’s within an inch of the device it automatically clicks in. Once I was used to the system I could have my camera in hand and be shooting with 10 seconds, even quicker if I needed. And although I’d rarely rushed my camera out it was just nice to be able to gain access that easily and I think it probably made me shoot more because I didn’t need to take my pack off each time.

Who It Suits

The traveller: Fitting comfortably within carry-on restrictions, the rotation180° Panorama is a great fit for a jetsetter with a DSLR. Chiefly because there’s room for camera gear and also sufficient room for a Lonely Planet, packed lunch, water bottle and a light jacket.

The outdoor photographer (amateur or pro): From MindShift’s catch line “Engage with Nature”, I think this is the market that they’re aiming for, and in my opinion they’ve nailed it. Although MindShift Gear offers a rotation180° Professional model, I think the Panorama is up to the rigours of professional use, just in a smaller package. For me it hits a nice sweet spot before it gets too cumbersome. The pack is really well-prepared for the outdoors. All exterior materials are water resistant and the underside of the fabric has a polyurethane coating. There’s also a rain cover that still allows the rotating belt to fully operate.

People who need quick access: Journalist, sports or wildlife photographer.

Who It Doesn’t Suit

There are limitations with what you can fit in the pack. Outdoor or sport photographers with larger telephoto lenses will struggle to fit what they need.

It is probably overkill if you’ve just got a DSLR with a single lens. There are better, more compact options out there.

The Good

The rotation system: I’ve already covered this but it really is its best point.

The fit: Fully adjustable shoulder straps and waist straps along with an internal aluminum frame make this pack really customizable. After I adjusted the length of the shoulder straps it was comfortable and good to go. The back panel is a memory foam back panel with air mesh channels. I travelled during a Japanese Winter so keeping my back cool wasn’t really a concern.

Pockets: You’ve got a top pocket for quick access to small items. I thought this pocket could have opened wider so that I could get a better view of everything that was in there. But saying that, there’s no rigid structure in this part of the pack so items could start falling out.

The upper section of the pack can be accessed from the top. As stated before it’s good for extra clothes, lunch etc. And there’s an elastic divider against the back wall which I used for a passport, cash, itinerary, etc.

Flexibility: There is the option to expand your camera carrying ability through an insert that fits into the upper section, the r180º Panorama Photo Insert. 

Hydration reservoir: There’s a side pocket for a hydration reservoir. This space expands when the hydration reservoir is inserted. So when it’s empty (like mine was most of the time) you hardly notice it’s there. When I was travelling I sometimes used this space to store a water bottle – it kept it separate from all other items and ensured it wouldn’t fall out.

Rain protection: I had a chance to test the pack in rain and snow and water never got into the internals of the pack. Admittedly it wasn’t monsoonal but even without the rain cover the pack offers solid water protection.

Protection and durability: There’s good padding in and around your camera gear. And with five months of use the pack still remains true to its original shape.

The Not So Good

Zip pull-tab broke: Unfortunately a zip pull-tab broke on my first day of testing the pack – the hardened plastic loop came off on one side. I don’t know if this was a true reflection of the product because after that I made a conscious effort to use the remaining pull-tabs with purpose and five months later every one of them is still intact. Possibly just bad luck with the pack I got.

Niggles

Don’t forget to buckle up your waist strap! A couple of times I forgot to buckle up my waist strap and went to take out the rotator belt and ended up with my rotator pack on the ground. This isn’t really a niggle, I just need to pay more attention!

Other Bags To Consider

There are some other bags photographers may be interested in too such as the Timbuk2 Espionage Camera Backpack, the Crumpler Karachi Outpost and the Kata 3N1-10 DL.

Verdict

I am a convert. I’d played around with comparable systems in sling-style camera backpacks in the past but they’d always seemed a little precarious when you were getting out your valuable camera gear. The rotation180° Panorama system feels really safe when you’re getting your camera out. I also think the size was spot on for my purposes – small enough for a daypack you can carry all day, but still enough capacity to carry what I needed. I’m not sure I’d use it when I need to carry a lot of gear but for getting into the great outdoors or travel it’s become my pack of choice. Highly recommended.

The post Drive By :: MindShift Gear rotation180° Panorama appeared first on Carryology - Exploring better ways to carry.

Kelty and I have had a long relationship. When I was 18 and heading off to the beautiful University of Colorado at Boulder, I ventured to Costco to get the usual needs of a freshman. How could I be taken seriously in the land of outdoorsmen if I didn’t have a pack. That’s where my mom helped me pick out my first Kelty bag. Even though I’d chosen the wrong size in my haste I loved that bag all the same. It carried most of my belongings as I moved into the dorms and rode on my shoulders as I hiked into the Rocky Mountains for the first time.

Colorado is where I fell in love with the outdoors and the gear that was needed to explore it. That first Kelty just wasn’t going to cut it on bigger trips. So when I happened upon a 90 + 15 liter beast of a Kelty bag at an outdoor store’s closing down sale I snatched it up – this was my go-to trekking bag for nearly a decade and was held together by duct tape in the end. However, a man — even a young one — needs a bag for more than the trekking, especially when they have itchy traveller’s feet – and you can guess what I was drawn to next, a Kelty.

Fast forward to today, and Kelty is still making quality bags. I got to test out Kelty’s newly designed flagship bag. It’s called the PK 50 and is part of the complete TraiLogic system which has a pack, sleeping mat, and sleeping bag that are designed to fit well together. I’ve not come across such an ambitious trekking bag design goal in a while…no zippers. Kelty is not the only brand out there with a zipper-less bag, but it was refreshing to see an established brand — founded way back in 1952 — still innovating. They had three benefits in mind: reduced weight, increased waterproofness, and built-in compression. The idea was ambitious.

To really grasp what the design is like look closely at the photos or the video further below. There are essentially five compartments and three mesh pouches. A main compartment with a large mesh pouch on the front, a detachable flap on the front with one large roll-top compartment and one small one, and two batwing-like flap compartments that run the length of the pack on either side and have an external mesh pocket on each. The batwing-like flaps have compression straps that wrap around the front of the whole pack, helping to compress everything into a tight and neat package.

I took the bag on a long day trek through the Dandenong Ranges and an overnight trip through the beautiful Grampians. I used it with my normal camping gear instead of the complete TraiLogic system in order to give a review of just the bag.

Who It Suits

At 50L max capacity this bag is somewhere between an overnight bag and a multi-night trekking solution. It easily becomes a 35L bag which is about the right size for a long day hike if you’re needing to bring some gear with you. It’s also well suited for anyone who wants a completely new experience. The zipper-free design feels novel when you’re using it which definitely adds to the pleasure.

Who It Doesn’t Suit

Anybody who feels they need a bit more space while trekking. The bag has just enough room where you need it but nothing more. Maybe Kelty will design a 70L version, but until then give this one a miss if you’re not already well versed at packing light.

The Good

The aesthetics are in a word, unique. The bag caught the attention of more than a few of my friends on the trail. There is a detachable flap that runs the length of the front of the pack that once clipped in gets hugged and compressed by two batwing-like compartments on either side. This creates an interesting look, almost alien-like, and it looks striking in the black/grey.

The compression straps that come off the batwings squeeze the whole bag and are great. Not only did they provide excellent compression but they gave you an easy place to store your rain coat. The way they are designed — to hug the rest of the bag’s contents — is the best whole bag compression system I’ve used to date. Most bags have a couple of side compression straps which leave a bit to be desired.

The highlight of the pack is the 15L front flap that’s designed to carry your clothes and a few small items. By making it detachable it’s very convenient to bring your clothes with you into the tent or to leave it behind altogether for a shorter hike, essentially converting the 50L pack into a 35L pack.

If you need a sleeping mat and tent then you should consider getting the complete TraiLogic system. They are designed to fit well together, for instance the tent folds into a square and is meant to slide into the large mesh pouch on the front of the main compartment. If you want to learn a bit more of how the complete system is supposed to go together, watch this:

Remember the no zippers part? All compartments but the batwings have roll-top enclosures. The roll-tops make the bag more watertight and allow you to compress the contents with an extra roll or two of the enclosure. If you haven’t overfilled the bag these roll-tops do provide some welcomed compression to items like clothing. The roll-tops allowed me to compress the contents of the bag so that everything was nice and snug, making everything I carried feel secure while I cruised up and down the trails.

The Bad

Although I enjoyed the novelty of using a zipper-free bag the practicality fell short of my expectations. The roll-tops, a great idea in theory, proved more of a nuisance than a benefit.  When loading or unloading the bag I found the openings to the roll-tops small. For example, getting my regularly compressed sleeping bag in and out was a challenge. Once rolled, the closures didn’t feel well supported in the middle. If I either had too much stuff in the bag or tried to roll the tops really tight the middle of the closure would awkwardly bulge out, sometimes to the point of exposing the contents. I think this problem could be mostly remedied with a buckle and strap midway along each roll-top to better secure it in place – if you’re into modding your bag, it would be the first mod I’d make.

The other feature I felt was missing was an externally accessible compartment where you could store things like your headlamp, snacks, knife, etc. Packs typically have a zippered pouch on top that you can reach without taking the pack off. For the PK 50 this small compartment is on the top of the front flap. It is two clips and a roll-top enclosure away from being opened, making it impossible to access while hiking. I didn’t think it was a big deal until my belly started rumbling 45 minutes down the trail and I had to take the bag off to reach my snacks.

Niggles

While not a big loss, the batwing compartments are pretty useless when the main compartment and front flap are full. The waist strap and shoulder straps are adequate but nothing special, though I do prefer the thin straps Kelty has used on this bag over big bulky shoulder straps and waist belts that are common on other bags.

Verdict

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With an already impressive resume having worked with brands such as The North Face, Black Diamond, and Eagle Creek, while creating his own successful design agency, Syren Industrial Design & MFG. Co., Kevin Murray still has something to prove. He has combined years of experience and brand knowledge along with his passion for motorcycles and riding to launch his own brand, Velomacchi. Letting the designs do the talking, the collection features everyday carry for the dedicated motorcyclist enthusiast. We caught up with Kevin to talk about his inspiration, motivation, and the latest Kickstarter campaign.

What was your inspiration in starting this brand?

I initially developed the brand when I was living in Italy working for The North Face. I remember riding in the Dolomiti and being really impressed with the Italians’ aggressive style of riding. Most of the roads in northern Italy were built by Mussolini. They are these tiny little two-lane roads that are more like go-kart tracks with semi’s on them.

Where does your passion for motorcycles stem from?

I have no idea…I can’t remember a time when I didn’t think about them. My boy is 4 and he has had the bug since he could walk. He begged me for a little JR50 at 3 and was challenging Brad Baker up at Castle Rock Race Park when we were testing the Velomacchi Husqvarna 510. It was hilarious. The only way I could get him off the track was wait until he ran out of gas…

As an industrial designer, why did you choose this as your first venture for starting a brand?

Starting a brand is a huge venture. You have to have a commanding grasp of all aspects of the business from RD&D to branding, marketing advertising, content design, development and production, freight forwarding, customs, fulfillment, warehousing, retail sales strategy, web and social media development and maintenance, video, photography, script writer, craft services, etc, etc… So I figured I had better be passionate about the subject matter. I already eat, breathe and sleep moto so it seemed the natural choice.

What general steps are involved in your creative process? Does your team work alone or collaborate?

As a lot of my clients are competing in very crowded spaces, I focus a lot of energy on product line strategy first.

I want to understand the consumers’ problems, the retail environment, the competitive landscape and the strengths and weaknesses of both the brand and the competitors in that space. We then map out a strategy to make sure we are bringing something different to the space that is solving real problems and will grow their business in that particular distribution segment.

How would you describe your design aesthetic and what influences the style of Velomacchi?

Velomacchi builds race-ready products for aggressive riders. Our solutions have to be function-driven as our customers are usually pushing the limits of their gear in dangerous environments and at speed. That underlines every decision we make about materials, trims, patterning and color strategy. I have also noticed that the best riders, the ones who have a natural gift for manoeuvring at speed and quite frankly the biggest balls, are always the quietest and most humble guys when they are off the bike. We strive to build that same humility into our gear. The motorsports market is filled with the white noise of screaming logos and striking colors and patterns. We just want to build simple gear with premium materials that gets the job done.

What design details separate your bags from others?

• The first seam-sealed watertight main compartment with mag-coupling rolltop closure for quick access and weathertight security for tablets, laptops and accessories.

• Aluminum side hooks secure rolltop panel for high-speed travel. Tuck away inside liner when not in use.

• Aluminum adjustable over strap with Velcro strap keeper secures the load while offering expandable carry volume and maintaining the extra strap age.

• Adjustable length shoulder straps to fine-tune the fit of the pack for any rider’s armor or riding position.

• Quilted and sculpted back panel with 1680D ballistic nylon for a secure fit.

• Tuck-away 30mm waist strap for high-speed stability.

• Two front expandable pockets with mag coupling closures and a high-speed snap for added security at speed.

• Large zippered front pocket with kissing welt seam for quick access in a weather-protected compartment.

• 1000D Cordura nylon for ultimate durability and weather resistance.

• Tie down straps to attach the pack to a bike.

• Fully loaded backpack fits into Pelican side cases and panniers.

• German Fidlock accessory attachment point on shoulder strap for smartphone charging pockets.

• Tool/Medical pouch pocket on lumbar so you are always ready for any emergency.

How does this design help when riding?

The pack is designed to operate at two speeds. For in-town commuting or running errands quick access is critical. We use magnetic closures for the front pockets for quick access and closure. We then include a stainless steel round snap to keep the quilted pocket cover secure for traveling at high speeds. Same with the main opening. We have the mag coupling which closes the main opening and a single aluminum hook over the top for quick security. If you are heading onto the freeway or traveling at higher speeds there are two additional hooks to secure the sides of the main compartment that are tucked up under the mag coupling when not in use. The back panel has been tailored and constructed to hug the rider’s back and remain stable at high speeds. The shoulder straps can be adjusted in length to position the pack properly on any rider whether they are wearing armored leather or a Carhartt jacket. There is a lumbar pocket to secure a med pack or tool pouch at the base of your back so you always have them with you.

What are your goals and expectations for Velomacchi?

Honestly, right now, my main focus is to get through the Kickstarter campaign, successfully fund, and deliver great product and service to everyone who has supported us out of the gate. This is all I’m focusing on. Once we sell and deliver product at the standards we have set, we are legit. We have lots of plans for the future but they all depend on building an honest relationship with our community and walking our talk.

What other products do you plan on releasing in the future?

Once we get through the Flat Track collection on Kickstarter, we are focusing on working with a local builder to design a competitive desert racer, and go after the land speed record for the world’s fastest messenger bag at Bonneville. We will be documenting the build and sharing with our community the process and innovation behind the build. It will also give us good insight into the aerodynamics of the bag and the material stresses for our next round of welded packs. We also have glove projects we are getting ready to launch as well as a collaboration on footwear.

Can you elaborate on using the phrase, “Facta Non Verba”?

A few years ago we designed and developed a base layer system for a company that built deep water solutions for Navy SEAL teams. I ran across this motto during the research phase of this program and it just stuck with me. The English translation is literally “Deeds Not Words”. As I mentioned before, the riders that I really respected were always the quietest and humblest gentlemen in the pack.

I feel it is the same way with brands today. Sometimes, the only way to stand out above the noise is to be quiet… Our initial color story is black and white and we are focused on building simple premium gear with purpose.

Why is it so important to you to support the Privateers?

For us the glory is in the fight, not the finish. Most brands are focused primarily on telling the story of the podium. They miss the drama, elegance and agony of being under-funded and outgunned every weekend. Privateers ride to the edge of their limits and they rely on their guts and instinct to prevail. These are the riders we want to build product for.

What are you working on at the moment?

At Syren we are getting ready to launch a new line for Levi’s and helping a company that has built dry suits for NASA and the Air Force to leverage its technical heritage and materials into appropriate lines for a recreation distribution.

You have an impressive CV, having worked for North Face, Black Diamond, and Eagle Creek to name a few; what’s the most valuable lesson you have learned along the way?

Measure twice, cut once…and ZIG when everyone else ZAGs…

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EJ Teo gets behind the wheel for our latest drive by featuring the Goruck Echo. EJ loves nature and the great outdoors and tries to get as much as she can in the meagre breaks from the rat race. She endeavours to maintain a sense of wonder and hope through the eyes of her daughter. When the real world gets too much, she turns to chocolate. If that fails, she buys a bag.

Us girls have a lot of bag choices in countless forms, materials, colours, and price ranges, each catering to different occasions, outfits, functions.

If I am allowed to be frivolous, the list can be endless.

A military-grade bag with only two colour choices does not really fit into any girl’s lust list, so it may be puzzling as to why the Goruck Echo is my carry choice from the office to my workouts to mummy duties.

Here are my specs:

- 5 feet 4 inches short, torso length 16.5 inches, US size 5 feet.

- Monday to Friday commute to the office

- Twice weekly runs from office back home

- Gym class once a week

- Mummy of a 6-year-old girl at all times

What this means is a variety of tech requirements, including my 11” MacBook Air, an iPhone 5s, a power charger. Workout gear including shoes, and when my daughter’s around, a change of clothes for her too.

Who it suits and doesn’t suit

The Goruck Echo at measurements of 11.5″ by 16.5″ by 4.25″ is petite and suitable only if you either carry very little in your rucksack, or have things so small that you can fit all your requirements in it.

It has the capacity to fit in both tech and sports needs, plus even your MacBook Air, all at the same time. However, this balance is a precarious one. So if you like your  MacBook Pro 13″, insisted on a brick-sized girl purse, a face paint bag the size of a kitten, thick workout gear, plus a work jacket, you will find that the Echo will not fit your needs.

It’s really about decision-making with the Echo – if you are willing to be prudent in what you want to carry, you will find that this is a pragmatic, well-made piece of carry.

My shoes are kid-sized, plus I use a pair of (well-worn) barefoot run shoes. There is still space for larger shoes, and even a gym towel, but it all makes for a snug fit. In this picture, I fit these in: hydration bladder to the back, run top and shorts, MacBook Air 11″, shoes, iPhone 5s in the front, girl purse, headphones and cosmetics in the internal compartment.

The Echo has a number of compartments that help when you need to be organized. The laptop compartment that faces your back can also store a hydration bladder and the Velcro on the top allows you to put the tubing for the hydration bladder through. If you are in a situation where you are carrying both your laptop and a filled hydration bladder, you can move your laptop to the regular compartment which again has a separation between the laptop fold and the main storage.

The main storage itself has very modest space. Being only a little over 4 inches in depth, it is not going to store your cold weather type gear. There are two smaller internal compartments on the “opening” side of the bag, well suited for toiletries and unmentionables.

When the weekend comes about and mummy duties take over, it’s really about packing as many practical options as possible to get through the day e.g. spare clothes, sun hat, sunglasses and sunscreen, polaroid camera and spare film for memories, pencil case for drawing, storybook for spare commuting, tissues and snacks and an insulated Klean Kanteen (16 oz).

I do not like to pack much tech into the weekends so the iPad Mini stays at home during the weekends. when it’s time for the beach and the sun, everything else can wait. The backpack format ensures that my hands stay free for holding her hand or for an ice-cream cone.

The Good

Regular girly bags come in a wide variety of materials, from PVC, to canvas to leather. All these materials are well and good for purposes that range from aesthetic to representing some sort of status symbol.

Goruck on the other hand is made of Ballistic Cordura – this ain’t a bag that’s made for the mall. This makes it tough enough so that even when on full load, the bag does not sag. It will go from the office to the outdoors in a seamless way most girly bags are not able to do.

YKK zippers ensure that even with wear and tear, you won’t be in a situation of having the zippers not working when you need them to. Goruck bags do not claim to be waterproof, but I’ve found that even in rain the contents remain dry. I have not tried submerging myself with the bag though.

The back is moulded to fit your back, with the straps shaped to support and fit a girl on the run. This makes it easy when you are transitioning from the office to the run home.

The Bad

For females, weight seems to matter. At close to 1 kg, this is not a light bag in comparison with non-leather bags in the market. I would say that since it is on your back you will not feel the weight, but I recognize that it’s never going to be able to compare with a lightweight basic backpack or a casual tote.

It is too small for men – if you wanted to carry everything that I carry in this bag, let’s face it, anyone approaching 6 feet is not going to find this sufficient by any means. The official capacity is 16 litres. It will not fit your shoes, it will not fit your man jeans. You will look like a Ninja Turtle. Man up and get the GR0/GR1 instead. As a pair, it has a corny cute factor, if that is your thing.

Easy access when commuting is an issue in crowded trains. You will have to manoeuvre your bag to the front of you to reach for your travel card, and this can be an issue when you are constricted by space. Some backpacks have easy-access pockets for your valuables, this does not. The Echo has Molle webbing at the front and also on the shoulder straps so there are ways to attach items which you do need easy access to. I do not usually use that option as I find it finicky, but it is an option nonetheless.

Niggles

At $225, this is not a cheap bag. It touts itself to be a good office and training bag. And it is. It is also versatile, and the fit for my back is comfortable and allows me the versatility I need for the different roles I play.

Two colour choices of black and camo also means that there is no room for personalization. Unless you count changing the patches which do come in a range of colours. But really, it doesn’t look anywhere near as pretty as some of the backpack options out there.

Other bags to consider

If a good-looking, functional backpack is what you are looking for, there are other options such as the Herschel Supply Co’s backpacks, the classic Fjällräven Kånken and even Topo Designs’ Backpack Tote.

The Herschel backpack works if you are not particular about the cotton-poly fabric. This will not be suitable for runs or the outdoors. It’s really a leisure-type bag, with just OKish build quality, which I am not sure will suit a corporate image. It also looks like a bag your teenage niece would carry on her movie dates.

Fjällräven’s Kånken is an alluring classic in more colours than your child’s art pieces. At 16 litres, and a friendlier price point, it’s made of Vinylon-F and at 300g is an easy carry. While it’s a classic shape and design, it’s not suitable for the gym or for running. The back isn’t moulded and the straps are not going to stay in place as you bounce back home.

Topo Designs works well as a tote and a backpack, has handy compartments with the 1000D Cordura material. Its capacity however is 14 litres, which means it’s even smaller than the Echo. It works well for the office, and even weekend mummy activities. It is a more grown-up looking bag that has outdoor cred plus allows for a tote-carry option. But it’s not a run bag by any means.

Verdict

On the face of it, the Echo might seem pricey given its seemingly basic concept and layout. The options for a small backpack are wide, besides those that I’ve shown above. Brands such as Trakke and Cote & Ciel offer a level of choice if you are willing to fork out enough moolah for your carry.

However, a bag that can fit all three functions of office + sport + mummying in a single bag is a less common permutation, and if you consistently perform all three activities and have body proportions of a munchkin, then you will find that the Echo is a buy that will represent both quality and function. And maybe it will come in less sombre colours. Soon.

Back to the office now.

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“Stan went out to get a joint,” was the first thing co-founder Jeroen Janssen (right) said when I entered the Vertepac office in Vinkeveen. Now, being in the Netherlands, that wasn’t a terribly strange thing to say and I interpreted it in the way most Dutch guys would. A bit awkward for an introductory remark, but hey, who am I to judge! Stan (Stanley Sie, Vertepac’s other co-founder) entered soon after and it turned out a “joint” was one of the components of Vertepac’s unique carrying system.

What followed was a three-hour long bustling interview with two guys who are beyond driven to create a highly innovative backpack enabling freedom of movement and carry comfort!

How did you get started in this?

Jeroen: We’ve both worked for a large number of national and international clients in the field of design and production. I run a design agency for mainly functional products made out of textile, we do a lot of work for the automotive industry. Stan is a freelance product designer with a scientific background and a lot of experience in visualizing. Like anyone in any creative business, we daydreamed about creating something meaningful with complete freedom and without having to worry about client politics. About developing a high-quality and durable product that actually stays true to its initial concept. With the Vertepac, we have been able to do just that.

Where did the idea for the Vertepac come from?

Jeroen: It was a “flash of inspiration”. I travel a lot for my work and I was always annoyed, seeing all these people walking around with horrible bags: they may be fashionable, but not functional. As humans, we went to the moon and back, but backpacks are still bags with shoulder straps. Then there’s this particular night, when I’m in an airport in China, and I’m thinking: carry products should support how we move our bodies. I’m starting to draw and draw in the plane and I’m starting to realize I’m drawing a form that’s similar to the human body. I poked my colleague from his sleep and said: Look at this! I came home and started to prototype three days later. That was only the first idea though; I worked with Stanley before and asked him to join me soon afterward to develop all the ideas I had into a real product.

Stanley: Jeroen showed me a few prototypes, and although there were a lot of improvements to be made, the basic concept really struck some chords. When we started out, we thought we’d finish it in a year [laughs]. Four years, many prototypes and even more long nights later, it’s ready to be shared with the world.

What’s the vision behind the product?

Stanley: Foremost it’s freedom of movement and carrying comfort. When you’re hiking, climbing, skiing you’re constantly moving and whatever you’re carrying should not get in the way. Most backpacks provide some form of rigidity which limits your freedom of movement. Depending on what you’re doing that can be anywhere between annoying and dangerous. Next: Whatever weight you’re carrying should be on your hips instead of your shoulders, so it bypasses your upper body. The load no longer will be on your spine, the shoulder straps will not hinder your blood flow, and the upper body is able to move freely. The Vertepac frame has a spine form (EPS™: extendable parallel spine) that works similar to the human spine; it provides structure yet it offers flexibility.

Jeroen: Further, when you’re doing any intense activities, you’re going to sweat. The best way to solve this is to have as little as possible contact points between your body and your carry. That’s another thing the spine supports. At the same time, it protects your back.

Finally, as you can adjust the Vertepac frame to your upper body height, we thought the frame should enable carrying multiple bags, so in our prototype phase we started developing a hiking pack, daypack, waterproof pack and travel pack that can all be attached to the frame.

How did the product evolve?

Jeroen: Basically we prototyped and prototyped and prototyped. We tried various materials to gain more knowledge about the rigidity the product required. We tried various forms to gain more knowledge of the best way to support the spine. One epiphany was when we discovered the spine form we had used up until then should be inverted…because it did exactly the opposite of what we were trying to accomplish… That was painful…

Can you tell us a bit more about the prototyping phases?

Stanley: Sure, we went through roughly four phases. We started out by prototyping with epoxy/glass fiber, molding rubber forms with existing backpacks to test the design principles of what we were looking for. That convinced us we could actually make a viable product out of this.

Next we did a lot of SLS prototyping/3D printing to see how we could make the spine adjustable, so we could cater to people of various heights, and retractable for practical purposes (i.e. putting the bag on the ground).

We came on to the idea of modular bags because the frame in itself supported most of the weight distribution and freedom of movement. To us it was a waste to use the frame just for one bag, so we decided to develop several and design the way the bags are attached to the frame.

To get the spine form right, we must have tested at least 20 different versions. Next to the weight and movement support we had to take into account that the spine had to be “foolproof”; it shouldn’t break when you use it in an odd way.

So third; when the design was more or less ready, we milled the various components out of Polyamide block. This was mainly to test the design and components on rigidity and robustness and get a realistic view of the material used.

Finally, to get more test samples, we had vacuum castings made with a resin that approaches the characteristics of Polyamide.

(This is about the time Mr Zing needed a little break…)

There’s a pile of junk over there that has cost us a lot of money [laughs]. It’s basically useless now but it helped us to understand various forms and materials and how they would work.

Stanley: We’re testing a lot too; we went to a nearby army base and had soldiers run an obstacle course with the Vertepac. We’re testing how the frame copes with dirt or sand. We took the Vertepac on skiing and hiking vacations. We’re going to do an activity test with oxygen measurement to see if we can scientifically measure the effect of better carrying. And of course we’re gonna let Carryology review it!

How do you see the Vertepac within the carry/outdoor scene?

Jeroen: A big part of the outdoor and carry scene is focused on lightweight and fashion. Carry products are getting better and better; you can clearly see they’re being fine-tuned. But it’s still details, and although consumers really appreciate it, there’s no significant innovation.

Stanley: There’s a lot of focus on lightweight, sometimes at the cost of functionality. And you know, everybody can figure out that carrying 10 kgs less massively improves your carrying comfort. But at some point another few grams doesn’t matter all that much anymore. When you want to achieve breakthrough innovation, you need to look somewhere else than lightweight at this moment. With Vertepac, we’re adressing the core issues of carrying: freedom of movement and carrying comfort.

Jeroen: So we see weight as a part of the product, not as the main focus. The Vertepac frame weighs more than a few shoulder straps, but if you try the system, you’ll see what it’s really about.

What are the next steps for Vertepac?

Jeroen: A lot of things actually. We patented the spine concept and parts of the system. We’re supported by an incubator program by Delft University of Technology called YES!Delft and they help us out with legal stuff. Cordura® helped us out by providing the materials.

Stanley: We just launched at the Outdoor Show in July in Friedrichshafen (Germany) and got a lot of contacts there. We’re talking with some major brands right now. We’re looking for partnerships to further develop the frame and its applications in various industries (outdoor, sports, defense, professional climbing).

We’re also continuing working on our own bags and who knows, we might start a Kickstarter campaign!

Jeroen: Basically, we were so deeply involved in the product design and development; we need to take a step back to see how far we’ve come and focus on the business side.
So far we’re self-funded, the Vertepac is production-ready and the next step will be to start production, either through partnerships or by ourselves. VC funding could be interesting but it’s just not that available in the Netherlands for these kinds of products.

And then we’ve got a whole lot of other ideas, but we’re not telling!

Finally, what inspires you in the carry scene?

Jeroen: I’m generally inspired by brands like NeilPryde, Apple, Audi, Cabrinha. All kinds of developments in water sports, because the materials have just become so high tech in that scene. I can be amazed by sculptures.

Stanley: For me inspiring brands would be Festool, Apple, Porsche, Dyson, Nike, NeilPryde. I get a lot of inspiration from organic structures, street art, concept art, and a bit of Calvin and Hobbes along the way. And of course the mandatory amount of design blogs like designboom, Core77 and such.

Editor’s note: photos provided by Vertepac.

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This month, Berlin Muse gets his Hemingway on with a road-weary account of his crisp Berlin morning routines with carry companion, the Archival Ranger Tan Waxed Twill Rucksack. Built just like Papa H himself, the Ranger Tan delivers with heritage aesthetics and understated resilience.

Faint light glistens in from the east. I wipe the sleep from my eyes as I engage in a psychological battle with the alarm, resisting further hits of the snooze button. The bed creaks as I climb out. The air is hot inside as it has been all night, our small and cosy apartment effortlessly heated by two, no radiator needed and no doubt a different story come winter.

The bathroom is long and slender with baby blue walls and a tiny mirror with Elvis Presley’s quaffed head printed on it that broods at you as you shower. There’s a roadmap of Berlin next to it, covering as far east as Kreuzberg, as far west as Charlottenburg, Tempelhof and the old airport to the south, Prenzlauer Berg, Mauerpark and the streets beyond in the north.

I eat, shave and pack the Archival, the rucksack that has fast become my trusty, everyday pack, a reliable workhorse, partner on my morning rides. It fits my 17-inch laptop perfectly, ample room for my morning pages and journals and two front pockets with brass-studded buttons for a Lamy pen and cylinders of ink refill. The bag is made of handsome, stout, closely woven waxed twill, built for understated resilience. I can’t imagine it would ever fall apart, or even look worn down. I pull the leather drawstring over my books and drape the outer denim fold over the books and the pen pockets too and slide the single brown leather strap through the heavy-gauge brass buckle that rests in the hold of an external studded strip that has been heat-branded with the unique number ‘2857’.

Archival have been dishing up charmingly durable carry offerings out of their factory in Eugene, Oregon since 2009. Dedicated to creating bags of simplicity, they employ lean, robust, locally sourced materials, free of complications, built for life. The Ranger Tan is a modern interpretation of the traditional canoe pack, rugged and American, a bag rich with heritage. It is in many ways the perfect backpack, one that says and does everything without needing to say much at all.

I peer out the window to the street below. The sun is misleading, clear sky a dead giveaway that it’s much crisper and colder out than it seems. I put on my blue leather jacket, grip the Archival by its neatly reinforced butter canvas straps where it sits snug on my padded shoulders, the straps easily adjusted through duel-brass buckles that look like gypsy rings or the eyelets of an old ship sail.

I unlock the apartment door. The cold stairwell smells like stale cigarettes. I summon the elevator, a tiny metal box running on a pulley that, when you get in, makes you feel claustrophobic with the sense that you aren’t moving at all until it shudders and the metallic doors slide across and you push open the security grill to walk out down a few stairs by the mailboxes at the heavy steel entrance door that groans when you pull it and you walk out into crisp morning.

When we first arrived in Berlin I used to ride east along Reichenberger over Ohlauer Strasse past the refugee school and the anarchist library and the old ‘kneipe’ pubs where the top halves of windows are hidden with white lace and in the evening you only see patrons’ hands and elbows and no faces. I would ride four blocks to Glogauer Strasse and turn north and turn left into the driveway at number ‘6’ to the rear carriage hall deep inside and up a flight of stairs. I would unlock another reinforced steel door and a studio where I’d sit in silence and write. I would make a pot of coffee and drink it and the hot caffeine buzz would wash through the front of my head. The studio was a space shared with a firm of young architects who were never there in the mornings, and a crew of visual artists who were never there at all. It was concrete, raw and cavernous and I found it hard to get work done there.

Lately I’ve been riding north up to Skalitzer where the overground U-Bahns glide gently across overground tracks like yellow Lego boxes past the Huhnerhaus chicken shack where Turkish men unravel corrugated roll downs to wash out their kitchen with hoses. All the while dealers rub weary eyes by the entrance ways to Görlitzer Park and further along Görlitzer Strasse where the light dapples through the tall oaks a woman bites into a warm croissant with deep intent as the sun washes over her on the corner. The sky above is rich and blemished by a solitary contrail and I think of past times living in New York City where the crisp air was exactly the same as it feels today.

I lock my bike to a tree and walk to Gipfeltreffen café. I sit at the table in the back room by a corner where I see out the front window to the graffiti-spiced brickwork of the park across the road. The waitress says ‘hallo’, lights a candle in a brass holder; I order a milchkaffee in my best, worst and only German. As I wait for it I unpin the gold latch of the Archival, glide the leather strap from its buckle, peel the outer flap over to expose my notebooks and pen and, if the pen is dry, replace it with new ink and I sit there for the morning drinking coffee and writing.

It’s grey out now and the pen silhouettes on the page in the candlelight as people come and go, but not many though, just a handful of early risers. Berlin is a night city and cares little for the morning. A familiar piano twinkle of a favourite old tune filters through speakers gently around the café as I polish pieces, finish letters, write about bags and travel and music and sometimes some poetry.

By midday I am hungry. I strap the Archival to my back and unchain my bike and ride home for a good lunch and maybe a little wine. When Berlin is wet the Ranger’s waxed canvas holds true and keeps everything inside dry without fuss. Then the day is free. HK and I might stroll to the Turkish market on the Maybachufer along the Landwehrkanal a block south and eat crispy hot gözlemes from the fellow with the ponytail and goatee; we’ll load up the Archival with fresh aubergines, fruits and herbs, fresh food for the week and return home with our spoils. We might ride to Tempelhof, shoot pictures, laze away in the sun on the grass by the tarmac and sometimes ride north across the Spree to Friedrichshain for a cold beer in a bar or further up to Prenzlauer Berg for coffee.

In time to come, when the mornings are no longer Berlin mornings, but Lisbon mornings or Paris mornings or even Melbourne mornings again, I’ll wake and ride and stumble on a little spot somewhere and sidle in and put down some words, the trusted Ranger Tan, effortlessly reliable, always by my side.

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Intro

Hopefully you’ve had a chance to check out our recent interview with Aarn Tate, the talented inventor and designer of Aarn packs.  His bags are filled with clever engineering tricks – keep reading, they’re awesome – but his main battle cry is for better ways to carry trekking bags. Enter the word bodypack.  It’s not a fancy word but it’s a radically rational idea that could revolutionise the way we carry large packs in the backcountry.  

Bodypacks are designed to distribute the weight you’re carrying in the front as well as in the back; simple, right?  This balanced approach allows you to stand up straight and fully rest the load onto your hips – bye-bye bruised shoulders.  Having some of your kit on the front also gives you very welcomed access to more gear than you’re used to having access to on the trail: camera, water bottle, whiskey flask…whatever you desire.  

Aarn is a New Zealand brand with a surprisingly large range.  They’ve got everything from expedition packs you’d imagine wearing on your way to Everest Base Camp to marathon-running bags for the cool ultra-marathon runners who are looking to shed weight but not features.  We’d love to test the whole range but today we’ll be taking an in-depth look at the Guiding Light bag with Expedition front balance pockets.

The pack and balance pockets accompanied me on a backpacking trip through Nepal for two weeks.  It was my main bag and provided more than enough storage space and a few interested looks from the locals.  They were either shocked to see someone walking so upright with a bag on their back or they thought I looked strange with the balance pockets carried on the front at the same time.  Either way I was happy to be so comfortable carrying a pack.

Who it suits

This specific bag and balance pocket combo is best suited to someone who is doing technical backcountry trips or often hikes with poles.  It’s designed with the NZ backcountry guide in mind who may need to cross glaciers, climb mountains, and ski back down all in a single trip.  This pack is for you if you’ve ever thought, “I wish I had a handy spot to store my ice axe so I can free up my hands!”

Who it doesn’t suit

If you have an aversion to green you’ll have to get over it or go somewhere else.  For now the mossy green colour is the trademark colour of Aarn packs. It also doesn’t suit the person who wants a pack that they can pick up and use the same day with little thought.  Aarn packs are cleverly designed – so clever in fact, that you’ll need to watch some YouTube videos to help you figure it all out.  Getting the bag fitted is not trivial and I’d highly recommend spending the time in store with a trained rep to get the bag fitted correctly.  The time spent there will pay dividends later.

The Good

The Guiding Light is not your average trekking bag.  It’s designed for climbing, skiing, and any trip where you’ll be bringing some tools (read ice axe, not screwdriver).  It has tool quivers on the sides, a rope door behind your head, and a thin profile to better keep weight close to your body. You ask, “Wait, did you say rope door?”  Yup, there’s a special zippered flap that gives access to the main compartment where you can keep your climbing rope (it also doubles as a hydration port for those of us who don’t have a need for a rope door). The Guiding Light comes in a “small” 57 litre and a large 65 litre size.  With optional balance pockets for your front carry you’ll be able to add up to 20 litres of extra storage.  That brings the overall volume to 85 litres, which is plenty large for a multi-day overnight pack.  

The detachable balance pockets convert into a very basic backpack, which came in handy a few times when all I needed was a day bag in Nepal.  The comfort of the Guiding Light is like no other I’ve tried.  Usually when carrying a backpack I assume a “lean forward” stance to balance out the weight on my back, causing the shoulder straps to put pressure on my collarbones.  To counter this most shoulder straps are heavily padded; however, the Aarn shoulder straps were surprisingly thin and light because the balanced approach rests most of the bag’s weight on your hips.  The hip belt is quite clever with dual compression straps, one high and one low.  This allowed me to tighten the belt up so that it really hugged the crests of my hips.  Aarn even put an extra-spongy material exactly where the front of your hip bone usually gets abused by your hip belt.  After carrying it on the trail for 5 days I couldn’t find a single bruise, not even a sore spot; that’s impressive.

Aarn’s engineering genius was most apparent in the shoulder straps and the way they connect to the bag.  It’s a patented system called Flow, designed to allow shoulder and hip belt movement independent of the main pack.  The shoulder straps on the Guiding Light have what Aarn calls Free-Flow and U-Flow.  With Free-Flow the stabiliser straps that come off the top of the shoulder straps are attached freely to vertical stays instead of directly to the pack.  This allows them to slide up and down, automatically adjusting how much tension is needed.  U-Flow handles the way the lower end of the shoulder straps are attached to the bag, or in this case attached to each other.  Instead of attaching to the bag they are actually linked together through a slot in the bottom of the bag.  In practice this means if you lean left your right shoulder strap will get longer and your left shoulder strap shorter so that the shoulder suspension system essentially pivots.  This keeps the bag in a more stable upright position as you waddle your way down the trail.  It’s hard to explain and even takes a few minutes to grok in real life, but trust me when I say my mind was blown…in a good way. But that’s just one aspect of Aarn’s entire Flow System, see it explained in its entirety here.

The Not So Good

This bag may outsmart you.  The engineering of Aarn packs is so clever that it can be confusing at times.  While I was in Nepal I had to google how to convert the balance pockets into a backpack because I couldn’t remember how to do it.

The other drawback, if you’re a style-conscious person, is that you likely won’t be invited to model your bag on the runway.  Be prepared to get teased a bit for wearing part of your bag on your front, it does look weird.  If your goal is to look fashionable on the trail you’ll want to look elsewhere, but if you want to impress people with a cleverly designed bag then look no further.

Niggles

Getting the bag on and off is more involved than what I’m used to.  On the trail the number of times you need to do this is mitigated by having the easily accessible balance pockets on your front.  While travelling though it’s a nuisance.  I would generally try to keep the balance pockets empty and inside the main pack while travelling for convenience.  I would have liked to have some colour options when choosing the bag but it certainly wasn’t a deal breaker. 

Other Bags to Consider

The world of trekking packs is plentiful, but none of them are like Aarn.

Perhaps the best alternative is to buy just the balance bags from Aarn, and attach them to your existing pack: http://www.aarnpacks.com/#!balance-bags/c1paj

Other brands sell gear pockets that can also clip to your front, but these don’t stand the weight up from your hips the way Aarn does.

If you want a more ‘normal’ pack that is still respected for load carrying comfort, you should check out brands like Mystery Ranch, Arc’teryx, Black Diamond and Osprey.

If that feels daunting, check out reviews like http://www.outdoorgearlab.com/Backpacks-Backpacking-Reviews These can help cut through some of the noise.

Verdict

If you are a serious backpacker who plans on doing some lengthy hikes you should definitely consider the Guiding Light or one of Aarn’s other large-load bags.  The comfort afforded by better distributing your carry weight is phenomenal.  Another reason to check them out is that if you find yourself regularly accessing your backpack on the trail to get items out of your bag, you will find having balance pockets on your front a welcome addition to your backcountry carry setup.  There are many different balance pockets to choose from including ones specifically designed for cameras. 

Aarn packs are very well engineered and are light.  I’d highly recommend checking them out in store if you are lucky enough to be near a retailer; if not then it’s probably worth ordering one for yourself to see what all the fuss is about.

The post Drive By :: Aarn Guiding Light Backpack appeared first on Carryology - Exploring better ways to carry.

As we hurtle into the first action-packed, mud-splattered drive by of the New Year, we’re stoked to welcome our new contributor, Emily Thompson…

“A perfect all-mountain bike pack for lady shredders”

Platypus is a US company who have long held a reputation for hydration and maintain that to this day with thoughtfully designed, super-functional packs. While it used to be that CamelBak made the only good-fitting (not great), durable, feature-rich hydration packs for mountain bikers, Platypus has come onto the scene in the last few years with well-designed packs that fit great and a hydration bladder system that CamelBak is now racing to catch up to. The Platypus Siouxon Hydration Pack maintains the brand’s edge on the competition by being the best-fitting women’s mountain bike pack I’ve ever worn, hands down.

I won my Platypus Siouxon in a raffle at a volunteer trail work party. I was fairly pleased with the CamelBak Day Star I’d been riding with before but figured since the Siouxon was bike specific (the Day Star is a more general purpose ‘outdoors’ pack) and didn’t smell like the inside of a gym bag, I’d give it a shot. My first few rides with the Siouxon were in May, in Washington, so from day one my Siouxon was stuffed full of extra layers and subjected to downpours, mud puddles and crashes (the crashes have little to do with the month, or living in Washington – crashing is just my style so every piece of gear I own gets beaten up regularly and brutally). Since May, I’ve used this pack in six enduro races, hundreds of miles of riding, tens of thousands of feet of climbing and descending, one particularly gnarly tumble over the bars, a broken wrist, and all sorts of weather from summer’s hottest days to the coldest days of winter so far.

Who it suits

The Siouxon is one of two packs Platypus specifically designed for women, and is the bigger sister to the B-Line. Designed for burly, all-mountain rides it’s on the larger side and feature-rich so works great for carrying a helmet (full face or half shell), goggles/sunglasses, pads, an extra layer or two, tools, snacks, you name it. Of the two packs, this is the choice for enduro, downhill or longer XC rides.

Who it doesn’t

If you’re looking to lighten your load, tape goo shots to your hard tail, carry Chamois Butt’r in the back pocket of your skin suit, with only water and an extra layer in your pack, this isn’t the Platypus for you. On the other hand, if you’re looking for the right bag to stash your first aid kit, can of beer, muddy knee pads, roll of TP, and the before and after load of a lunch on the trail, the Siouxon is your girl.

Looks

Overall the pack has a sleek and ergonomic shape with a ventilated back panel and adjustable waist and sternum straps. The Siouxon features three main pockets, an expandable front pocket that a half shell can slide into or a full-face can clip onto, a main compartment, and a rear pocket that houses the bladder. Available in turquoise/yellow and maroon/gray the 2014 colors are approachable to a wide audience without being dull or overly loud.

Features

Having used many hydration packs over the years, the Platypus Big Zip bladder is one of the smartest designs I’ve come across. The hose detaches from the bladder with a button release at the base which makes removing it from the pack a breeze. This feature has become fairly common on hydration packs, but still can’t be overrated. The hose features a magnet that attaches to a second magnet on the shoulder strap which keeps the mouthpiece on hand but not hanging in your way when you’re not using it. Yet another super-smart feature that sets Platypus bladders apart from the crowd is the wide mouth opening with Slidelock™ seal (picture a beefier zip-lock bag style closure) which makes filling and cleaning a relative breeze. Unlike bladders that screw shut which are prone to leaking if not shut tightly, the Platypus Big Zip is completely sealed if the Slidelock™ is in place.

In addition to a superior bladder system, the Siouxon is feature-rich with thoughtful additions like clips/loops for attaching pads, a fleece-lined goggle pocket and a front pocket with interior organization system.

Performance

This pack fits so well, that until I really started thinking about it, I had forgotten all about the issues that mountain bike packs are notorious for, such as chafing hip and shoulder straps, bouncing and shifting while going over uneven terrain, and sweat-soaked back panels that remain wet long after you stop using them, playing host to bacterial environments that even Mr. Clean fears. The Siouxon suffers none of these issues.

The cushioned back panel promotes airflow and with soft, contoured shoulder straps the pack carries incredibly well, feeling like it’s disappeared from my back after the first few minutes.

Touted as an all-mountain pack, the Siouxon features a full-face helmet carry system as well as a fleece-lined goggle pocket. I’ve personally never used the goggle pocket for actual goggles as I wear them to keep mud out of my eyes and would rather have them get scratched in my pack than the soft fleecy pocket of my pack get muddy. The pocket is large enough to fit a couple pairs of glasses (a pair with clear lenses and a pair with dark lenses), these being the reason I work to keep mud out of it.

Platypus has designed the Siouxon to carry a full-face helmet by clipping the front part of the helmet through two buckles at the front of the pack. These buckles do double duty by affixing a front stow pocket which opens accordion style to hold a half-shell helmet, jacket, or knee pads. I found carrying a full-face this way to be a bit clumsy as there was nothing to prevent the helmet from swinging side to side on the pack. Despite it not being the most elegant helmet carry system, I love this stow pocket for stashing my gloves, extra layer or knee pads. It’s a great place to keep gear that you’ll want to grab throughout the ride and it can stow wet gear away from the dry gear inside your pack.

Conclusion

For ladies who want an all-mountain pack that can stow gear for all-day rides in every sort of weather, the Platypus Siouxon Hydration Pack is a great fit. It’s packed full of thoughtful details like multiple helmet carry options, an easy-to-clean and easy-to-use bladder, and tons of pockets for organizing gear. This pack would be pretty hard to beat even if it didn’t fit perfectly, but it does. It’s quite clear that Platypus put some time into designing a pack to fit women specifically and that time has paid off with a back panel, shoulder straps and waist straps that are perfectly sized, chafe-free and hold the pack snugly in place on my back without restricting movement. Overall, I couldn’t be more pleased with this pack. Yes, there are some details to fine-tune but it still takes the cake for the best-fitting pack I’ve ever worn.

The post Drive By :: Platypus Siouxon Hydration Pack appeared first on Carryology - Exploring better ways to carry.