Huck-it-Bucket

Ventilation

• Using a breathable mesh, I have created a back strap that is totally permeable by sweat keeping you cool while burning calories! I also sew a laser cut, permeated foam support into the arm/shoulder straps so that when loaded down, these straps don't cut into your armpit and keep the weight well distributed. 
• This mesh material is also used on the supporting hip belts for even more ventilation and padding preventing chafing and pressure points!

Stabililty

• The problem I always have with pure hip packs is that no matter the design, when you have it loaded down with water and food, they bounce no matter what. So I made a sort of hybrid hip/back pack, merging the freedom of a hip pack and stability of a backpack but eliminating the bounce and constriction resulting in a breathable and rock solid pack, even while its empty - a key aspect that is often overlooked on riding packs!

Capacity

• Growing up riding in Colorado's front range, a short mountain bike ride for me was considered to be around 15 miles. Most hip packs have capacity for a 1.5L bladder and maybe a couple bottles bringing you to at most 2-2.5L of water leaving little room for nutrition. For my more epic/intense rides where running out of calories & bonking out 15-20 miles out in the woods is unacceptable, I realized I needed to MAKE a pack that could check these boxes. I am proud to say that with a 3L lumbar style bladder, I can in addition fit 12 bars, one apple, my tools, water filter & phone with a little room to spare!  

• Another thing that I have trouble with is fitting a bladder inside your pack when you need to remove it for a refill. I always have to contort and squeeze the bladder past tools and other things to get it to fit in the pack- a process that has caused ride ending rips, tears & punctures. To avoid this, I have made the main opening extra large, the bladder has its own 2x layered slip pocket with an elastic tension strap keeping it protected and secure! 

• Modularity
• Many backpacks and hip packs I have used have these really small hip-belt pockets that are there just for show to sell more packs and tend to be not really useful for much else. So I decided to make a hip belt system that uses MOLLE! This enables you to attach any of the 10's of thousands of different bags that use this system so you can modularly build your own hip belt system to your specs and needs!

 Compactness

• Something that always gets under my skin about packs in general is the lack of thought put into strap/lash point management. Im a small person so I always have the adjusters almost maxed out which means Im always getting straps caught in my wheels or on trees! I also think that in general, having all these dangly-bobs on my pack gives an unkempt appearance. To combat this, I make sure that my lash straps have a dedicated slip pocket, and each of my adjusters have a velcro system that allows you to roll up excess webbing and keep it tight to the pack without sacrificing minor adjustability!

• Another aspect that I see overlooked in many packs is the lack of a compression system that doesn't compromise volume. The reason this is important is because when you go about your adventure, as you consume the contents of your pack, everything starts to bounce more. I designed this adjustable 'clam-shell' like external compression system that provides much needed stabilization regardless of packed volume! I also added  locking magnetic fid-lock that keeps the shells closed and can be easily opened by simply lifting! (its pretty sweet)