As a small outdoor company based in San Francisco’s Mission district, Boreas Gear has already made a name for themselves since their creation in 2010, with the Bolinas backpack winning a 2012 Outdoor Industry Award. Already relatively well established in the backpacking world thanks to their lightweight designs and unique suspensions, Boreas is relatively new to the biking world even though their Lagunitas and Bolinas have been out for just over a year. One of the coolest features of the two bags is their patent-pending Super-Tramp variable suspension design.
Check out how Super-Tramp will keep you from getting sweaty, after the break.
The beauty of Super-Tramp is that it can be quickly adjusted with the pull of a single strap. From completely flat, to radically curved, the mesh back panel essentially keeps most of the entire bag off your back with a massive channel for airflow. The mesh is wrapped around a tubular aluminum frame bringing backpacking level suspension to the cycling world. Combined with ventilated, padded shoulder straps, both bags look like they would be quite comfortable in warmer weather.
After putting on one of their bags, their backpacking heritage is clear with how well the pack sits on your body. Based on how well it fits, riding long distances with a lot of gear seems completely feasible, and comfortable.
Both the 25L Lagunitas and 30L Bolinas have multiple pockets including completely waterproof ones, hydration/laptop sleeves with ports for hoses on both sides of the pack, removable hip belts, and adjustable sternum straps complete with built in emergency whistles – a feature that should be found on all bigger packs. To keep the weight down without hurting durability or water proofing, the bag itself is constructed from 201D ripstop nylon with UTS impregnated Silicone coating.
For such feature rich bags from a small company, pricing is not far off from premium bags of their competitors. The Lagunitas retails for $139.99, and the Bolinas is another $10 at $149.99.
Boreas’ latest project is the Bootlegger Modular pack system which is currently being funded through Kickstarter. It doesn’t seem to be in jeopardy of missing out on funding, as it is nearly 10 times its goal of $10k. The Bootlegger is a modular system based on the Super-Tramp suspension design.
By connecting a few clips the Super Tramp harness will connect to three different bag platforms – the Torpedo hydration pack, Hopper day pack (shown above), and Scrimshaw Dry bag. Like everything else Boreas, expect it to be super nice with design and attention to detail that is uniquely theirs.
You still have 5 days left to get in on the Kickstarter to pick up the new Bootlegger at a steal.
