tag
In one of the most creative trip reports to grace this site, Vaughn Dice shares the story of acquiring a 1985 Airone x Cinelli Rampichino, the first Italian mountain bike, then taking the bike back to Italy for a tour on its original proving grounds. Read on for Vaughn’s lively retelling of his time retracing this bike’s origin story through the Piemonte Alps.
Filling a niche for pre-made frame bags for bikes with non-sloping top tubes, the Bags By Bird Better Half fits where many other bags won’t. The bag comes in two sizes as well as two lengths and is available in a multitude of fabric and color options. Spoiler alert, I think the Better Half is a home run. It is stylish, utilizes an innovative flap closure system, and is made right here in Tucson, AZ.
Sometimes you want a framebag and a water bottle cage and that’s ok. The Better Half Frame Bag solves this problem with a new Fidlock magnetic closure system. These bags are designed to fit gravel bikes with about 10º or less of top tube slope. If you’re not sure what your top tube slope is, go to our friends at BIKE INSIGHTS and search for your bike, your top tube slope will be in the geometry info.
The Better Half Frame Bag comes in two sizes, designed to fit various headtube lengths.
Small: likely in the 46cm-58cm frame size range with head tube lengths around 75-170 millimeters. 2.5″ or less of the head tube between the top tube and down tube.
Large: frames in the 58cm-63cm range, with 180-230-ish millimeter head tubes. 3-4.5″ of head tube between the top tube and down tube.
These bags are made in Atlanta, come in a variety of colors, and are shipping today from BagsxBird.
Jay Ritchey’s bag company, Bags by Bird, launched earlier this month with the Goldback saddle pack, a modern spin on a classic bag design. BXB just announced their new Teardrop Handlebar Bag, designed for dirt drops, or other handlebars with flare. The bag’s unique profile allows for maximum portage storage with drops, keeping to a tapered design. Naturally, it won’t fit on all drops, so check out the dimensions at Bags by Bird before ordering!
Bags by Bird is a side project of Jay from JayBird films. If that name sounds familiar, it’s because Jay makes beautiful videos, most notably El Silencio, a project with Tumbleweed Bikes. On these intense bikepacking trips, Jay was testing out his prototype bag, and working on launching his company, Bags by Bird, or BXB for short. His flagship bag is the Goldback, available in a variety of sizing and material options and made one at a time by Jay. See the Goldback bags at Bags by Bird.
