The Boon Bag

Roadmap to the Boon Bag

Boon /bo͞on/: a thing that is helpful or beneficial. A favour or request.

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At its core, bikepacking (or multi-day backcountry bike touring), is about carrying as little gear as possible, to explore the trails that you want to access, while still remaining self sufficient on the road. With light weight packing in mind, a new range of shapes and styles of bike bags have emerged on the market, to be more streamlined and to ditch the traditional cumbersome pannier setup. Handlebar bags, seat bags, frame bags and fork bags have all become popular among bikepackers, however, for those that require a little extra space (or happen to have a smaller frame to work with) the waistbag is a great option for packing additional gear/personal items and can act as day bag, while off the bike. For this project, I aimed at tackling some of the bikepacking waist bag problems and essentials, that I have personally encountered on the road, in hopes of better preparing others for the road less travelled.

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Roll-top Hip Bag Criteria - must be:

• Comfortable;
• Waterproof and durable;
• Have cycling specific ergonomics;
• Have external pockets, for quick access, on the trail;
• Have the ability to attach to the bike, as a different style of bag

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Technical Drawings were drafted to the desired specifications:

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‍Card models were constructed, a Bill of Materials was put together, patterns were drafted manually, and the first bag iteration was produced. Feasibility studies were conducted to test wear, ergonomics, and design which resulted in some changes being made to the pattern and construction.

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Once design changes were made and patterns were updated, the first iteration of the Boon Bag was complete.