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Our friend Tom has made a name for his brand – VRNCLR – making bags for car camping. Tom’s a cyclist and has made bags for bikes, yet his newest bag is VRNCLR’s most refined yet. The Frontal Lobe handlebar bag is a small bag for big rides. It attaches with 6″ Nano straps and comes in four colors.
Specs:
9″x4″x5″
VX21/LS07/VX10 exterior
400d packcloth liner
#8 YKK Uretek zipper
(2) 6″ nano Voile Straps
Marine grade shock cord
Weighs 7.4 ounces
Retail $95
See more at VRNCLR!
My name’s Kuba, I make the bags at the Rambler Bags’ bag factory, and I made this weird bag called the Troubadour for banjo-packin. The Troubadour is a roll-top bag for carrying full-size instruments on a bike tour with a padded modular external harness that uses secondary load-lifter straps to raise the weight to the external dowel. The original Troubadour prototype was designed for a 4-month bike tour that included dirt and gravel from southern Pennsylvania to Chicago, riding the New Mexico Off-Road Runner from Santa Fe to Las Cruces, mountain climbs, wild descents, clay-like mud, hail, and a final jaunt from Tuscon to New Orleans.
Evoc prides itself in making backpacks that fit incredibly well. Truth told, their camera bags are hands down the most comfortable bags I’ve used. Yet fit is just one facet of the discussion. A bag has to be durable, look good, and in the case of the new Trail Pro bags, have built-in protection. The pack weighs in at 900 Grams in the 10L design, making it one of the lightest TÜV-certified level 2 protector backpacks on the market. This is due to the 168g super-lightweight and ergo-dynamically flexible Liteshield Plus insert. It offers excellent level 2 impact protection properties and absorbs 95% of the impact energy in a crash. Should the protector be damaged in a serious crash, EVOC will replace it free of charge with their FREE PROTECTOR CRASH REPLACEMENT guarantee for any 10 ($220), 16 ($240), 26-liter ($260) Trail Pro packs.
See more at EVOC USA.
Swift Industries does camo! The Breakaway Batch is their new camo and high viz handlebar cockpit bags. This includes a Kestrel bar bag and two color options in the Sidekick stem pouch. You can either individually, or buy the Kestrel Pod get the Breakaway Bundle Deal which includes the camo Kestrel plus any two Breakaway Sidekicks. If you bundle them in your cart you’ll save $25 on your purchase and get the Pod for $235.
Head to Swift Industries for more.
Matt Moosa from Moosepacks dropped us a line with an introduction to his new line of made in North Carolina bags, including handlebar and seat bags, as well as custom half-frame bags. All bags come in a variety of colors with custom options available. Head on over to Moosepacks to see more.
UK-based Wizard Works’ custom bags are in high demand and the good news is, today at 3pm GMT they’re opening up their custom orders again. These custom spots are extremely limited to just 5 orders per bag.
The will be 5 of each of these bags available:
–Alakazam 137
-Alakazam 139
–Shazam
–Mini Shazam
The bags will be made to order and will ship by the end of March. Check the individual items for more specific lead times.
It’s always exciting to see makers in this industry grow and that’s the case with the UK’s Restrap, which recently moved from a 6,290sqft factory to 12,250sqft, doubling their production space. Check out their press release below, along with more photos of their new digs.
Anchor Hip Pack
Beginning this month and the next, Swift Industries is dropping its newest bag designs, some of which feature some truly unique design innovations. Head on below to see the new Kestrel Handlebar Bag, Catalyst Pack, Anchor Hip Pack, and Vireo Hip Pack…
San Jose-based BullMoose Softgoods have just recently launched and amid the bar bags and other accessories is their BFP, or Basic Fanny Pack, which they jokingly refer to as part of the ‘Reverse Marsupial’ movement. Jokes aside, these minimal packs have a holster for your extra water bottle, have two compartments, use waterproof construction, use a deployable cargo sling for additional storage, have a sunglass loop. The size of the BFP is 10” Wide x 5.5” Tall x 3.5” Deep and its belt is adjustable from 28” – 40”. If you would like the strap size to be larger/smaller than this range, please tell them in a note at check out.
See more from BullMoose at their webshop!
A few weeks ago, Porcelain Rocket announced they were selling their bag designs and technology to the Ashville, NC brand Rockgeist. Over the weekend, Porcelain Rocket and Rockgeist posted on their Instagram that they now have two Porcelain Rocket designs for sale, the Nigel bar bag and the Meanwhile Wald Basket Bag. Both of these bags use welded seam technology, resulting in a waterproof portage option from a small company. Head to Rockgeist to see more.
Northern New Mexico is home to a lot of cyclists, so it should come as no surprise that many of these cyclists are also makers. From framebuilders, manufacturers of MTB bars, and yes, bag makers. Down in Albuquerque, a new company just launched. Buckhorn Bags makes custom frame bags, hip bags, and more, using lightweight materials. There isn’t much on them online, so check out their Instagram account for all the tidbits and if you’d like one of their hip bags, Sincere Cycles has some in stock.
While it’s not designed for cycling perse, most camera packs are not anyway. What makes them cycling-friendly is a low-profile that hugs your back, with ideal weight distribution, and plenty of space for extra accessories you might need while riding. There are a few classes of photo packs that are ideal for cycling. On one hand, you’ve got heavy-duty mountain bike bags, with lumbar straps, hydration bladder pouches, and other details that make them ideal for backcountry riding. Yet, on the other hand, inner-city rides and commuting to an office or a shoot has different demands. Some might argue, it’s easier to design a city photo bag, yet I’d argue city packs often leave out key elements.
Having used many fStop camera bags, the Dyota 20’s recent release really stood out to me. This compact bag has all the clean lines you’d expect from fStop and more: Resilient fabric, welded seams, metal hardware, and cargo straps. The Dyota 20 can carry a couple of cameras and lenses, a tablet, a laptop, with plenty of room for the other essentials. For the days when you are not taking a photo, removing the Internal Camera Unit is fast and simple with fStop’s Intelligent Magnetic integration.
Head to fStop to see more on the Dyota 20.
Modern mountain bikes are worlds different than their predecessors from even ten years ago. Even hardtails are pursuing the longer, slacker, lower approach to geometry. This means bikepacking bags need to be updated. Apidura has taken their Backcountry frame bags and updated them to fit modern hardtails better. They didn’t stop there however, these bags are completely redesigned with new compartments, improved details, 2.5, 4, 6L sizes, and more. Head to Apidura to see all the updated bags in the MTB lineup.
North Carolina-based Kitsbow has collaborated with Seattle bag makers Swift Industries on a capsule collection using US-made Pendleton Wool. The collab features a new Anchor Hip Pack by Swift, with hits of wool, and a matching Icon Shirt button-snap shirt made by Kitsbow in NC. With cooler temps here, shedding layers is key, and the Anchor Hip Bag features a flap to hold your jackets, as well as the ability to use a Sidekick to hold a bottle.
See the full drop at Swift Industries!
When it comes to ultra-endurance races, having everything you need within arm’s reach is of the utmost importance. Apidura has a pedigree for making bikepacking bags that are sleek and functional and today’s announcement of the Racing Long Top Tube Pack embodies those ideologies. These 2L packs stretch from stem to seatpost, offering a slim but spacious pack for snacks and other essential devices. Head to Apidura to see more.
The Pronghorn is Revelate’s ultralight, race-ready handlebar pack, for all minimalist tourers and bikepackers. It recently received an update, with an all-new material, Stratex 400, that’s lighter and more rip-resistant.
-Internal fiberglass stay provides a stable, lightweight mounting platform
-Dual cam locking straps integrated into handlebar mount secure your load
-Cam locking head tube strap with EVA foam spacer
-Removable spacer blocks to allow you to adjust for brake lever clearance
-Includes pocket clips to allow the addition of a front pocket
-Waterproof drybag built from Revelate’s new UHMWPE based fabric, Stratex 400
-Stratex 400 fabric is 60% UHMWPE woven fibers by weight
-Waterproof drybag constructed from Stratex 400 is more abraision resistant than other leading -lightweight fabrics
-Made in USA with domestic and imported materials
see more at Revelate.
Ron’s Bikes recently moved the production of the popular Fab’s Chest to Connecticut where they are being made from entirely East Coast materials. While the size small (pictured) sold out faster than we could write this post, the size large Fab’s Chest is in stock. Head to Rons Bikes to see these new bags in detail, read more about them, and if you’re looking for a new bag for your touring bike, place an order for the best in the biz at Ron’s Bikes.
Just announced on their Instagram account, UK bag makers Wizard Works debuted two bags, built from reflective material with high-visibility blaze orange hits. The lil Presto! barrel bag offers enough space for snacks, layers, or a small camera and the Teeny Houdini saddle pack will hold a spare tube, levers, and a small multitool. Both bags are made in the UK and offer up additional visibility for the dark winter months ahead.
