Best Bag Company

[Scatman]

Hello,

I'm looking to get some simply responses on who makes the best custom bike packing bags. (I know many have had issue with CDW and others.  I'm looking for quick answers.  We'll leave the rants for some other time)

I'm curious about:

Quality
Durability
Turn Around
Communication

This is the current list from the MTBR forum:

-Revelate Designs LLC
-Cleaveland Mountaineering
-Custom Bicycle Bags from Porcelain Rocket
-Wildcat Gear, in the UK
-Phantom Pack Systems
-Bike Pack, from Poland
-Bed Rock Bags
-F3 Designs
-Bike-Bag, another outfit outta the UK!
-Bolder Bikepacking Gear (12Wheels) Saddlebags and bikepacking gear
-Becker Sewing and Design https://www.facebook.com/beckerdesign
-Savvy Sewing Custom Gear https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100003513366918
-J.PAKS_Adventure Cycling Frame Bags
-Barking Bear Bagworks, jsnsnll@gmail.com
-Nuclear Sunrise Stitchworks
-OVEJA NEGRA threadworks
-Lone Mountain Innovations LLC
-Shift Bikepacking
-Alpkit

-Carousel Design Works

I didn't find a post about this but if there is one please direct me there.  Thank you.

Scatman

[THE LONG RANGER]

Bolder Bikepacking now has a site, with some nice shots of his gear:

http://bolderbikepacking.wordpress.com/

Greg does an incredible job with both turn-around and communication. More than thrilled to use his gear for 2 Tour Divides.

I have a handlebar harness/bag from Cleaveland Mountaineering which I'm pretty happy with. A fairly useful piece of kit!

[harryonaspot]

Most of my bags are by Revelate. The best. Period. Cleveland mountaineering and Porcelain Rocket are a close second. I have bags by all three and others. So first hand experience is speaking.

[mattyp]

i got a frame bag from greg.  i would say the communication with him was really good;  we talked on the phone about what i was looking for and he had some good suggestions.  the turn around was fine;  i would say if you are looking to get set up for this summer you should order now.  the frame bag he made is very nice;  the seams re as good as i've seen.  the design is simple; which is great by me;  but if you are looking for some complex different pockets and stuff you might want to look at some of the other guys.

the rest of my kit is cdw; as far as i can tell i was one of the last people to actually get something from jeff.  the stuff is impecable;  but so many other people are out making stuff now that any minor differences is negligible.

[Adam Alphabet]

Without a doubt the greatest craftsman in the game........
http://www.flickr.com/photos/porcelainrocket/
http://www.porcelainrocket.com/
Just email Scott, you'll be happy you did.

[cavscout]

Hamilton Threadworks did my seat bags and Sara was great to work with on my custom design.

http://hamiltonthreadworks.blogspot.com/

Nuclear Sunrise Stitchworks has also done a real nice top tube bag for me.

I plan to do business with both again.

[Duff]

Another vote for Boulder Bikepacking
I have seat bag, and in design process with Greg for custom frame bag
Greg is really quick in response to email and quality seems great

[mtnbound]

I have a revelate sling & pocket and gas tank.  They are excellent quality and the owner was quick to respond to questions and when I noticed a problem with the gas tank (the velcro was too short to go around my top tube), he offered to send me a fix (btw, I believe he changed the velcro length on all gas tanks now to make them longer).

[Yagi]

+1 for Scotty the hottie, mastermind at Porcelain Rocket. All my bags, save for the backpack are of his prowess. Nary a problem with the bags, unless it was from my own foolery, and even then he offered to replace it. He's a super cool dude, even though he's Canadian. For the longest time, I thought the only great things to come out of Canada were comedians, hockey players, some select supermodels, and maple syrup. Here's to Scott rounding out a classy, upper-echelon of Canada, and opening my eyes to the great north.

[nick]

I don't know if it's the best but my Revelate bags are awsome

[n5385067]

Another recommendation for both Porcelain Rocket and Revelate Designs. I have a mixture of both products on my bike, (custom from Porcelain Rocket, non-custom from Revelate Designs) and both Scott and Eric respectively were excellent to detail with and; both products of high quality. I ordered from Australia without issue and all items from both suppliers shipped to Australia without incident. As my frame-bag was a custom design, I ordered this through Scott at Porcelain Rocket, so naturally there was a need for me to communicate more with Scott than with Eric, as Eric's products are stock items. Scott's attention to detail and responses to my email questions were first class. Eric responded rapidly to the only email question I had regarding his products. Highly recommend both products.

[jbphilly]

Bolder Bikepacking now has a site, with some nice shots of his gear:

http://bolderbikepacking.wordpress.com/

Greg does an incredible job with both turn-around and communication. More than thrilled to use his gear for 2 Tour Divides.

I have a handlebar harness/bag from Cleaveland Mountaineering which I'm pretty happy with. A fairly useful piece of kit!

Heh, the site's not much to look at but I have a frame pack and two smaller frame/seatpost bags from him and it's all great stuff, though I haven't put it through Tour-Divide level beatings yet. He's great to work with but as someone else has said, he seems to be quite busy so you probably want to put in your orders sooner rather than later if you need them by a certain time!

[NT]

Another thumbs up for Greg at Bolder Bikepacking. He custom made a handlebar harness with pouch, oversized gas tank, frame bag, and skinny seat bag for low tire clearance for me last spring. I also have a Revelate seat bag and gas tanks. His stuff is comparable to Revelate, the gold standard. Greg worked with me on the frame bag through a couple different iterations until we got it dialed (though the first one was completely fine, I'm just picky). For his friendliness, outstanding customer support, and high quality product, I won't hesitate to use him again. Only downside is that he is busy and you need to give him plenty of lead time. If you don't have time, grab something stock from Revelate. I do like Revelate's gas tanks better though.
I've taken the gear across Scotland and on several weekend trips in Colorado. The frame bag lived on my bike all summer and fall. No complaints, and if I think of something to tweak, he'll work with me to get it dialed.

[Chunt]

I use a combination of Revelate and Carousel Design bags. Both are awesome quality and fit. Not sure you can't get Carousel's any longer, or just at this time. I would have no problem going with and recommending a full Revelate setup if I didn't have the Carou's already.

[joeydurango]

I currently use a mix of Bedrock Bags and Revelate gear.  Obviously Eric @ Revelate no longer does custom work, but his stock bags are really nice.  Andrew @ Bedrock makes full custom bags and I have a couple bar bags, some small feedbags, and a couple custom frame bags.  I'm waiting on a full custom seat bag right now.  Highly recommended, especially the handlebar bags - there are a lot of sweet little features found nowhere else.  Any time I have a little custom idea I just give my bags back to Andrew and he turns it into reality... sweet!

Both Andrew and Eric are great to work with, and Bedrock's wait time is virtually nil compared to some others.  Best of all (for me anyway) Bedrock is local!  Check it here - www.bedrockbags.com .

[THE LONG RANGER]

Glad to hear Greg's been busy He'll still be the first I'd contact concerning a new frame bag. It helps that I can pedal to his house!

[paxton coyote]

 Another one not on the list that gets my "thumbs-up" is Rob Roberts from Burbank, CA, GOOD STUFF!

[Scatman]

Do you have a link for him Coyote?

[Veetack]

so glad someone asked this question. I've been debating between Porcelain Rocket and Revelate, but the price point seems to be driving me to Revelate. Is the extra money worth it to go PR?

[woody]

Glad to hear Greg's been busy He'll still be the first I'd contact concerning a new frame bag. It helps that I can pedal to his house!

I'm having Greg make me a frame bag and one of the main reasons I went with him was that I could bring my bike and we could go through exactly what I wanted. I was there two hours on Monday.

woody