History of the seat bag (as we know it)

[DaveC]

Who made the first big, reinforced and stabilized seat bag? 

Who made them commercially available, first?

Who was the first to put camping gear in them? (Scott?)


Etc, etc.

[sherpaxc]

You writing up something good Dave?

[DaveC]

I'm going to try!  Need the help of the community, recent bikepacking history exists mostly as oral history/memory.

[frejwilk]

The early history of bikepacking seatbags is beyond my knowledge. My early experiments with such things were influenced by others with a lot more experience. You've probably already contacted or thought of those folks.

But I wanted to bring up two products which should figure into such a history.  The big Jandd seatbag http://www.jandd.com/detail.asp?PRODUCT_ID=FMW3 and Moots tailgator  http://moots.myshopify.com/collections/accessories/products/moots-tailgator-system.

The Moots system is not truly a seatbag, but I think it kind of fits with this style of carrying stuff more than with other rack systems.

I know some 'old timers' have used the Jandd bag. Not many sleeping bags are going to fit in there, but it can carry a surprising amount of stuff. I've ridden CTR and Grand Loop with one. I think it was more of a stepping stone to a custom bag before people knew (or read about) others with such bags.

FW

[THE LONG RANGER]

You'll also want to think about looking at some of the influences of Randonneuring and old-style randonneur bikes, what with their Brooks saddles with places to put straps through, specifically for seat bags, comme ça:



As an outsider, I didn't know there was a sport called, "bikepacking", until I was doing it without my knowledge. I just called it, "Riding my touring bike, where I know I shouldn't". I look at my, "bikepacking" rig and my touring bike, side by side, it's like one is a bi-plane and the other is the Bell X-1. Bikepacking just seems like it's new-school extremely interesting bike touring.

[ScottM]

I believe Jeff Boatman at Carousel was first to produce seat bags designed to replace racks.  In 2005 everyone bikepacking (mostly racing) was stuck in the rear rack way of thinking.  A lot of this was due to Mike Curiak's 2004 GDR setup, which you can find here on this site.  I fiddled with rear racks for a while, but somehow I hooked up with Jeff and he sent me his standard seat bag, which was quite small by today's standards.  His idea was to put the sleeping bag and other bulky items in the pack, and smaller things in various bags -- but definitely no racks.

Somehow I stuffed my highlite sleeping bag (and adventure medical bivy!) in there and I remember him telling me that really wasn't what it was intended for.  I suggested he make it a little longer/larger so you could jam larger sleeping bags in there, but right around then Epic Eric started making his bags as well, and his was the first I saw that could easily hold a sleeping bag + other stuff, just by being longer and having longer straps.

You should check with Matthew Lee as well, he jumped on board with Jeff early on and may have beat me to the punch for a rackless race system... in GDR 05?  My AZT300 setup for 2006 was rackless w/ sleeping bag in seat bag.

I think Stefan G ran w/o a rack in Grand Loop 2006, with a Tailgator, which broke on him.  Those little bags did not hold much, and even at that were notorious for breaking.

Hope that helps.

[Jilleo]

I recently interviewed Jeff for an article for ACA. He told me he developed his first seat and frame bags for personal use in the mid-1990s, and also made a few for his friends, but didn't decide to start offering them commercially until he was injured in a ski accident in early 2006 and posted an ad on MTBR offering to make bags for mountain bikers. That was about a year and a half before Eric offered his first commercial bags with Epic Designs.

Oh, and Jeff also said the purpose of his early bags was to carry gear for overnight mountain bike camping trips, so presumably Jeff was pioneering rackless camping gear systems as early as the 1990s. But I'm not sure where the seat bag fits into the mix.

[ScottM]

I'm remembering now that it was through MTBR that Jeff tracked me down in 2006.  I think I was promoting the AZT 300 as the first singletrack bikepacking race and he started pushing the rackless idea with me and other racers, eventually offering me a seatbag to test.  Jeff was always about mountain biking (not dirt roads) so I think he was particularly interested in the idea of the 300.  Glad it happened, because I used the bag during the race and was totally sold on the idea.

It was going to happen sooner or later, but it's interesting how racing (specifically the intense desire for lighter and more simple setups) has driven a lot of the innovation and trends.  Though Jeff was apparently touring singletrack with his setups long before any of our little races.

[rocky rode]

You should check with Matthew Lee as well, he jumped on board with Jeff early on and may have beat me to the punch for a rackless race system... in GDR 05?  My AZT300 setup for 2006 was rackless w/ sleeping bag in seat bag.

All the GDR racers (that finished) in 05 stopped by our place and they all used racks then.  I think it was at least 06 before we saw any of the new seatbags.  05 was when we learned that beam racks were unable to handle the stress of the GDMBR.  I think Trish broke hers, or maybe Brad, or both.

Gary

[rocky rode]

All the GDR racers (that finished) in 05 stopped by our place and they all used racks then.  I think it was at least 06 before we saw any of the new seatbags.  06 was when we learned that beam racks were unable to handle the stress of the GDMBR.  I think Trish broke hers, or maybe Brad, or both.

Gary

After thinking about it this may have been 06?  The finishers were Matthew, Trish, Brad and Kent P.

[ScottM]

Kent P and Trish were 2005, the year I started but dropped.  Of course Matthew is there every year.  I'll ask him when he first got setup with his camo Carousel bags next time I talk to him.

[Eric]

It was going to happen sooner or later, but it's interesting how racing (specifically the intense desire for lighter and more simple setups) has driven a lot of the innovation and trends.  Though Jeff was apparently touring singletrack with his setups long before any of our little races.

very true.
The first seat bag (07') I made was huge and designed for snow bike racing, it was only the next summer when Plesko asked me about making a smaller one for the Divide. Development has very much been ultra race driven. So thanks everyone for flogging yourselves.