Efficient Storage Solutions for Bikers

Hey all,
Spencer here from High Above. We're passionate about making your mountain biking experience as efficient and enjoyable as possible. Today, I want to share some of our design philosophy and how our products fit together to enhance your ride.

We've always viewed our packs as part of a broader set of gear that elevates your mountain biking experience. As bike and storage systems have evolved, we've developed a constellation of products that allow you to run a smaller pack that carries better, while still keeping everything you need on your ride accessible. The strategy can be summarized as:

Move stuff from pack to frame -> Run a smaller pack that carries better -> Enjoy your ride more

Carrying all your gear on your body while mountain biking used to be a necessity, but it's uncomfortable and impacts performance. When you’ve got all your tools, repair items, first aid, and clothes in your pack, it increases shaking and jostling, puts extra stress on your waist belt and shoulder straps, and generally makes the riding experience less comfortable and enjoyable. You didn't hear it from us, but the bike packers got one or two things right.

Thankfully, recent trends have improved your options! Changes include:

• Many full suspension frames now fit full-sized water bottles.
• Additional frame mounts, especially on the bottom of the top tube (shoutout to Transition!), provide more storage options.
• In-frame storage compartments are becoming common.

All this is great news for riders. In our opinion, if an item can be stored elegantly on the bike and not in your pack, it should be. By moving things from the pack to the frame, you allow yourself to run a smaller pack that carries better and also free up space for essentials like a first-aid kit that might not have previously fit with all of that other stuff.

Below is HA Product Manager Kyle's rig - he's got his pump, tools, hydration, a tube, and more all stashed to his frame and out of his pack. This allows him to keep essentials like a first aid kit and an extra layer in the pack that don't fit well on the frame while still using our Venture pack with no water bottle holder for everyday rides. He's both fast and organized - a sendy Marie Kondo. You can be too.

We've designed a few products specifically to help bikers make the most of these storage options:

Apollo Tube Strap Platform: For those with an extra set of bottle mounts on their frame, the Apollo Tube Strap Platform is a fantastic option. It allows you to securely carry a tube, CO2 canister, and tire levers. It features:

• Two custom cut and anodized aluminum plates that bolt to water bottle mounts.
• A neoprene kevlar strap with a tiny bit of stretch, ensuring things are locked down when the riding gets rough.

Dark Matter Tube Strap: For those without additional water bottle mounts, the Dark Matter Tube Strap uses the same neoprene kevlar to attach those items to your frame. It’s a great solution that won’t scratch your frame and keeps your essentials secure.

By utilizing a tube strap, you’ll be able to get a few things out of your pack and onto the frame, allowing you to run a smaller pack for more comfortable carry.

Additionally, we offer a few products on our site that aren’t ours but perfectly align with our ethos. We love the OneUp EDC pump and tool combo. It can be a bit pricey, but it frees up a ton of space in your pack by securely mounting tools on your frame. It mounts underneath your water bottle cage using standard mounts, and all of us at High Above use one on our bikes.

Congratulations if you’ve made it this far! Hopefully you've now got some additional context on why most of our packs are in the 2-3L range - it’s all you need for most rides! In the next few weeks, we’ll go through what the packs and bikes of High Above employees look like for daily rides in more detail and how the pieces fit together in our rigs.

Cheers,

Spencer

P.S. We realize that there are some users for who this approach doesn't fully work. Many smaller frames (especially women's ones) don't have enough space to fit a water bottle. Also, a lot of people bike in climates where they need to carry more water on rides than we do here in the PNW. Don’t worry, we’ve got your back (literally) and are working hard on solutions for every scenario!