Longer, Lower, Slacker… And Smaller
When we updated the Backcountry Series for modern mountain bikes with their longer, lower, slacker geometry, one of the greatest challenges we faced was creating space inside dual suspension frames. With extremely limited space around shocks and water bottles, sometimes you just need an extremely small frame bag.
Whether you’ve taken to bikepacking on your full suspension mountain bike or just need to take the load off on a long day out, it can be a struggle to find storage solutions that fit inside your frame alongside shocks and water bottles.
Taller riders might be able to squeeze in the larger Backcountry 2L Frame Pack, depending on their frame geometry, but for many, space is too limited. The solution is an even smaller frame pack, sharing the clever reversible design of the 2L pack and shrinking all the features down to the smallest frame pack we’ve ever made.
Everything we make needs to be functional, so creating smaller bags means increasing the complexity. Fitting a full feature set into a smaller bag means challenging our manufacturing partners to work to even tighter tolerances and reimagining our design approaches to fit with a smaller scale. We strip out anything that doesn’t add to the utility of the pack, and then find ways to make the key features fully functional in the limited space available.
The Backcountry Frame Pack (1L) is the smallest we could make a pack and have it remain as functional as the rest of the series. The zippers still create enough space for easy access and there is still a protected cable port, but the pack is small enough to fit dual suspension mountain bike frames with limited space available.
It borrows the reversible design of the 2L frame pack, making it compatible with a wide range of geometries and both zippers open into a single storage compartment, creating the largest space possible, accessible in either orientation.
We’ve also re-designed the cable port to maintain waterproofing without decreasing usability. There is a protected port at either end of the pack, both of which is sealed with a pierceable internal TPU layer. This means that the port you’re not using remains completely waterproof while you can run a cable through the end of the pack that best fits the geometry of your bike.
We’ve also managed to incorporate an internal lash loop for tying down contents to avoid rattle and help keep fragile items like batteries and cables safe on technical terrain. As a result, there’s space for a battery pack, tools and spares or an extra layer for when the sun’s gone down. Use it as ‘set-and-forget’ storage for everyday rides or squeeze out some extra storage space on your full suspension bikepacking rig.
