Gear Pods

[jeffkerkove]

Just came across this while search the interwebs....

http://www.gearpods.com/

Might be of interest to some folks for the bikepacking adventures.

[Majcolo]

Jeff, OT I know but I came across these: http://www.ergon-bike.com/us/en/interbike2009-gp1-biokork. Any idea if Ergon is planning to release a version with integrated bar ends?

[stevage]

>http://www.gearpods.com/

I don't get it. Stuff packs best when it's flexible and soft. Failing that, square. Round is the worst shape possible for tetrising.

Some of the products they're selling look nice (like the silnylon tarp)...but then they go and stuff it in a PVC tube, adding weight, and reducing packability.

>GearPods® screw together creating a system that's very flexible and modular: perfect for organizing gear, creating special-use kits on-the-fly, and easily accessing gear in the field.

I just can't picture having a number of these tubes sitting around, perfectly made up, clean and ready to go, so you can just grab them and screw them together. Is anyone that organised?

[paxton coyote]

 I'd be concerned about the weight & packability too but I think they would be awesome for caching spare dried food at a camp that was used frequently in an old tree or something. We used to do that as kids in jr high when we camped & wanted to pack in light, do a pre-trip drop off of some food, pop & contraband (hey, we were kids!) though this wasn't in bear country, I'm talking east central Nebraska, worst critters were coons, oppossums & coyotes but never had our caches raided by anything in 1-3 days.

[stevage]

sure. but any screwable container would work for that, like gatorade or whatever.

[jeffkerkove]

Jeff, OT I know but I came across these: http://www.ergon-bike.com/us/en/interbike2009-gp1-biokork. Any idea if Ergon is planning to release a version with integrated bar ends?

Nothing in the works now that I am aware of. We (Ergon) is working first to get the standard GP1 BioKork to market on time first.

[nitebiker]

Hi - I'm stumbled on this discussion. I work for GearPods so full disclosure up front.

@stevage: a typical system weighs the same as a sports bottle. The form factor -a bottle-shape - means it is very easy to pack. Inside or outside of a hydration pack. Or mounted to a bike using an adjustable bottle cage (like Topeak Modula offers). Or both. Flexibility and modularity provide options and I think that's true of the containers themselves and the kits. The modularity is nice IMHO - at the least I want my gear separated. Even better if it's easy to combine gear together depending on the trails I'm going to hit.

Back to soft sac versus hard case, the benefits of the latter include watertight (some vinyl pouches are waterproof, but most soft sacs are not) and durability - the contents will not get crushed. The hard form factor also allows you to store the kits in e.g. a cage.

I'm glad you like the tarp!

@paxtoncoyote: that's definitely creative thinking! They are food-grade after all.

Hope this helps. I just wanted to offer another way of looking at GearPods.