Week of 3 August, 2008 - 00:00 to 9 August, 2008 - 23:59

Below: "GoGear 2.0". A Tom Bihn Ristretto Vertical Messenger bag is featured. Be sure to view the picture at Flickr so that you can read the mouse-over notes.

"One night I was chatting with my husband after dinner and told him how I was tired of buying cheap kid’s backpacks only because they had Superman/Batman/Ironman on them. They just fall apart and are a waste of money. I told him that I was going to go find some real, well-made backpacks that were like adult backpacks, but sized-down for kids.

The following day I heard from someone at Tom Bihn asking me if I would like to try out their “Ruck’s Sac Smaller Backpack” — a scaled-down version of their backpacks for adults.

Does Tom Bihn bug my kitchen?
Well, if they do, it is worth it. They sent one to Eddie (5) and Henry (6) to try out, and the packs are a huge success. My boys instantly loved the chest-strap which they could click together and no longer have to keep tugging at their straps — the pack stays on no matter how crazily they run around or tumble, or wrestle, or fight, or… well you get the idea of what my days are like. (And if your child doesn’t like the strap, it’s easily removable so it doesn’t flop around and bug them.)"
Read Erika's entire review of the Ruck's Sac.

Above: the Ruck's Sac.

"One of the readers of the hobotraveler.com blog researched international carry-on regulations to find the lowest common denominator for bag dimensions and weights."
........
"The TB Western Flyer at 18 x 12 x 7” is one of the few bags I know that fits comfortably under the size limits."

Read: Lowest common (carry-on) denominator @ One Bag, One World While you're there, help OBOW pick its new domain name.

Above: the Tom Bihn Western Flyer.

Excerpts:

Review by Kristine LeFevre:
"I love the Cafe’ bag look to it and the ease in which I can insert and remove my computer. It comes in great colors and is sturdy. This bag is great for someone on the move whether by car, train, bus or bicycle. "

And from Wayne LeFevre:
"Me, I think this is about the most perfect (man) bag of it’s type. It is my absolute favorite Tom Bihn bag. It will hold a MacBook, a magazine or two, and a few gadgets, maybe a book, but not much else."

Read the full review or see the Ristretto.

Excerpted from "Another reason to love Seattle - Bihn bag lost and found", posted by timothy at his Slashdot journal:

"I would perhaps not admit to losing my nice new bag, if it hadn't been found. But it was, so I will: on Tuesday morning, I set out for a bagel at The Bagel-Deli Company (340 15th Ave E # 201 Seattle, WA 98112). (Chose one of the lunch specials, the Gobbler, with no mayonnaise, of course.) I had brought along a book to read as I ate, and was carrying it in my Tom Bihn Super Ego bag. But somehow, somehow I forgot I had the bag along with me, and left with the book in my hand instead. On the way back to the house, I stopped for some yogurt, bought two of the (quite good, reasonably priced) QFC house brand fruit-on-the-bottom ones, and walked about, now with the book under my arm, a yogurt in each hand. Still hadn't occurred to me that I could have had a bag along, one capable of carrying dozens of yogurts and bunches of books. This is called being absent-minded, if you enjoy euphemisms."

Did Timothy find his Super Ego? When did he realize it was missing? Was there a happy ending? To find out, visit timothy's journal and finish the story.

Above: a picture from the Imago Metrics review of the Super Ego.

Below: "Me in Prada". A Large Cafe bag is worn.

Tom says:

"For many years, customers have asked for a removable waist strap on the Brain Bag - they had no need for the waist strap and wanted to temporarily or permanently remove it. The available options for making the strap removable were never very appealing: you always ended up with some large piece of hardware left behind on the bag, in my mind more-or-less negating the idea behind removing the strap in the first place.

But now we've started using a new plastic fastener that allows us to offer completely removable waist straps on most of our bags, including the Brain Bag.

The part is called a "Gatekeeper" and it works sort of like a mini carabiner: it has a tiny stainless steel gate that keeps it closed. It's very tough and best of all, if you choose to remove the waist strap from a bag, all that is left behind is a small, rather innocuous loop of nylon webbing. No more clunky hardware to forever remind you of the waist strap that isn't there! We've been transitioning to the new part over the last few batches of bags, so now all new Brain Bags are shipping with this new option.

Be warned: Gatekeepers have shown themselves to be quite tough and very secure, and the trade off is that they require some patience and dexterity to clip and un-clip. You probably won't find yourself taking the waist strap off and on that often because of this. But otherwise, you'll be impressed."

Bags that now have or will have the Gatekeeper waist strap include: Brain Bag, Synapse and Smart Alec backpacks, ID, Imago, Ego and Super Ego messenger bags, Small, Medium, and Large Cafe Shoulder Bags, and the Buzz sling bag.