Bones Heal, Chicks Dig Scars

Right, let’s continue with the product promotion! Jamie over at Skin Grows Back has worded me up that the SGB Bags are actually available already, they’re just not up on the website yet. I’ve got a shitload of details about them here and they are a serious as fuck bag. This is heavy duty, hell or high water, reality is a bitch, tough as nails street gear. Like the following says, this bag ain’t a fashion statement, it’s a piece of equipment. They’re priced at $450, but worth every cent. Think of it like a hiking pack, custom built for a purpose using a lot of clever systems and heavily tested features. You pay for quality, and you get it in bags (ho ho).

Read on for all the details and more photos. If you know you need one, hit up the SGB heads and let them know. Obviously they’re a small operation and there’s a turnaround of about a month. It’s like tattoo: invest good time and money into something that’s going to last the rest of your life. Get serious, do it.

Size, you can fit a case of 24 / 375 ml glass bottle Coopers in easily and comfortably still leaving space for jacket, manifest, water bottle and stuff.

Features include 1680D Ballistic nylon base, quadruple layer boot, triple layer construction. External layer is 1000D Duracord with a 430 GSM weight instead of the 360 GSM of Cordura. This means it is stiffer, heavier and tougher. It is Teflon coated on the outside and PU coated on the inside.

The middle layer is like truck tarp only thinner (650 PVC) and has a tearstop weave throughout. This is the one piece water resistant layer.

For the inside we have used a 300D nylon which is a light weight material for a plush finish it also stops plastic bags from gripping when it is a tight fit.

Exterior colours are: Black, Navy, Grey and Auscam. There is a wide choice of liner colours. Fluoro Orange, Fluoro Yellow, Black, Royal Blue, Deep Blue, Red, Olive, Grey, Silver and Purple.

External, PVC lined 3D pocket for tool kit, pump or whatever, this has a side wall so no space is lost from the internal part of the main bag.

The bag has a second shoulder strap so you can spread the load across both shoulders. The under arm stabilising strap has a swivel snap hook on it to stop the strap staying twisted. All the 25 mm side release buckles are removable and therefore replaceable. The bag is also reversible swing but you will need to buy another top half of the shoulder pad. This is an extra $70 AUD, ideal for that broken collarbone recovery. The top half of the shoulder pad is flared at the top for a bigger load surface area. This is the only part of the bag which is swing specific so it doesn’t rub your neck.

Sandwich Velcro on the strap for mounting phone pouches or radio holders without having to thread them onto the strap. You can use the top part of the shoulder pad as a D-lock holder if you wish (specific to Krypto evolution or minis).

Padded mesh on the inside of all pads to absorb sweat and 12 mm high density foam for all pads too, nice and comfortable. All the straps are removable so you can wash them (not in the washing machine), yes the compression straps come off too. The back padding is on the outside and is removable so you can wash it also.

Operating quick release system at the front so you don’t have to be a contortionist to do your bag up, most professional courier bags use this system.

Inside there are two water bottle pockets, one on each side of the zip up pocket. This fits inside another pocket that is slightly bigger so you get two pockets in the same space, one of which zips up for valuables. The zip pocket has a high visibility liner  so you can seen the contents of the pocket . The inside is almost symmetrical (apart from the position of the snap hook) so when you change the swing you barely notice.

The flap straps are 50mm longer than most of the other bags out there. These straps also have a large ‘T’ sewn into the end so that they don’t get sucked through the buckle and are easier to grab and pull. This system also prevents snagging on passing vehicles. This doesn’t mean that they won’t get caught in your rear wheel, so be smart about your excess, there are many places to fasten it. There are also two 1 metre long extensions, should you need them. Light tabs on the flap and on the bottom.

2 metres of 6mm shockcord with friction binding to rig up boxes to the outside of the bag so you can still get inside your bag without having to take the box out first. (You know when you have 3 jobs and the box is the first to pick up and the last to drop).

Two tube holders (these are load tested to 40kgs each, not that you would want to put that to the test), four D rings for hanging stuff off like a pump or a jacket. Six anchor points to thread the shockcord or tube holders through, two of which are on the flap buckles. They are shaped so that they are easy to thread when bent back but are unlikely to snag on things like trucks when you brush up against them.

The Velcro on the flap is two separate pieces so there is a total of 75mm  in width. If you don’t want to use the buckles on the flap 75mm of Velcro holds well (again, tidy up the excess of the flap straps). The flap Velcro runs at 90 degrees to the bag Velcro so you are more likely to catch it. All Velcro has a reinforcing row of stitching.

This is a ‘throw off a building’, ‘crash at 60kmh’, ‘set fire to’ courier bag. It feels like a cuddle and could carry a small person. This is NOT a fashion item. This bag is designed for couriers by a courier.

This is the complete package, there is only one spec. There is only one size. A backpack version of the same thing is on it’s way.