As a well established brand with a solid following I'm sure they'll manage to shift a few units.


To my mind there are two distinct types of manufacturers of bikepacking bags:

the likes of Revelate , Ortlieb etc with the manufacturing capability to to produce their own fabric, fittings, heat-seal/weld seams etc;

And the cottage company producing very similar bags from VX21, cordura and DCF

I'd toyed with the idea of setting up my own business making bags but would fall into the latter category and came to the conclusion a while ago that that market was saturated.

I still think of Revelate as a cottage industry Properly shows just how long I’ve known about their bags and their original setup (remember a friend ordering a set or two and you spoke to the owner direct for orders)

Well that adds almost nothing to the market apart from a colour/brand choice (which is a big part of selling it, granted)

voodoo_simon wrote: ↑Fri Nov 13, 2020 5:29 pm I still think of Revelate as a cottage industry Properly shows just how long I’ve known about their bags and their original setup (remember a friend ordering a set or two and you spoke to the owner direct for orders)

Yeah, I think Revelate straddle the boundaries between cottage industry/corporation pretty well.

First impressions of the Brooks kit don't do anything for me.

Revelate has 18 folk making bags. I don't think that counts as a "corporation". It's certainly a big cottage though

Brooks are missing a trick. A bikepacking saddle bag that uses the saddle bag mounts on a Brooks saddle would be great. I always find that saddle rail mounted bags swing a lot, whereas the shape and position of the mounts on a Cambium improve stability a lot more.

The new Cambiums have a composite (plastic) frame so not sure I'd trust them with much weight or not to wear away.

My myog seatpack I used on the 2018 HT550 had the strap through the slots on the alloy frame of my old Cambium and was sway free.

I've kept the alloy frame from the old failed saddle as I was thinking of swapping it onto the new one.

ScotRoutes wrote: ↑Fri Nov 13, 2020 7:56 pm Revelate has 18 folk making bags. I don't think that counts as a "corporation". It's certainly a big cottage though

You're right, I do agree. I was thinking more about how polished their end products are.

ScotRoutes wrote: ↑Fri Nov 13, 2020 7:56 pm Revelate has 18 folk making bags. I don't think that counts as a "corporation". It's certainly a big cottage though

They also get quite a bit of stuff made in China.

We strive to produce the best possible products that we can. period. Our main production facility is located in Springfield Oregon where all of our sewn products are made. We use as much domestic materials possible. Our partner shop there employees roughly 18 people and has decades of manufacturing expertise. Due to FTC regulations, unless every single component of a bag is built in the USA, we cannot label our bags as “Made in USA”. For example, VX 21 fabric found in almost all our bags is laminated into fabric by a mill in Connecticut, however the raw nylon is sourced from Asia. Same goes for everything from thread to binding tape. Even though the bags are “Made in USA” we have to label them as “Made in USA with domestic and imported components”

_DSC1103 web

Starting in 2016 our waterproof products made using Radio Frequency welding processes are being made by a trusted manufacturer in China. Wait… China? Why China you may ask? Well, it’s not for the reasons that first come to mind. Our roots are in building things ourselves and keeping production in the USA, so this was not a decision taken lightly. The simple answer is this: Asia is where the state of the art technology exists for building bags with these processes.

Trust us – We took a 5 year quest to find a domestic partner that would work with us and do what we envisioned. We came up empty handed and frustrated. The only domestic manufacturers available for contract / OEM work using RF welding serve the medical, military, and industrial markets and have not stepped up to the tooling and 3D molding techniques that you see in the modern outdoor industry. Unlike sewn goods, fabric welded construction is a different beast entirely with extensive elements of tooling, the integration of coated fabrics and knowledge base to make it all come together.

This is not an undertaking we could have done in-house with the resources we have. We got by for a few years by sewing and heat taping seams to create waterproof gear, however this was not feasible long term as it had severe geometry limitations and additional steps as compared to RF welding. With this explanation aside, we are very excited to be able to bring new lines of waterproof bags to the bikepacking world and step things up a notch in what’s possible. We hope you agree.

Marketing blablabla.

Revelate want revenue. They get more if they produce in China for obvious reasons.

That's it.

HF/RF welding is done all over the world.

I'll don't like tiny 20 to 25mm straps holding frame bags on. Works when the bag is full of bubble wrap for pictures I guess.

jameso wrote: ↑Fri Nov 13, 2020 7:01 pm Well that adds almost nothing to the market apart from a colour/brand choice (which is a big part of selling it, granted)

What he said. Happy for Brooks to be in the market of bike luggage and I hope they do well. Great company with, as far as as I know, decent values. Can't say their bikepacking luggage interests me, but if my 20-year-old Ortlieb panniers ever wear out, I'll have a look at the Brooks offering. Won't hold my breath though.

Alpinum wrote: ↑Sat Nov 14, 2020 10:43 am Marketing blablabla.

Revelate want revenue. They get more if they produce in China for obvious reasons.

That's it.

HF/RF welding is done all over the world.

I'm OK with giving some brands benefit of the doubt when it comes to their belief in domestic materials and manufacture. Revelate are one of them. They need to stay in business but maybe it's not all about profit either. If it was only about brand name and profit they might get their other bags from the same factory in Asia as Apidura. Maybe I'm just fooled by applying their 'where they started from' ethics to where they are now.