Donations & working bee (aka. drinking session!)

It seems this entire blog is out of chronological order; so what is one more post to mess it up?  All these events occurred around a month ago, but what's wrong with a very late post?  Better late than never right?  

Firstly, a big thank you to Mountain Designs Australia for donating two overflowing pallets of backpack shoulder straps.  These backpack straps were manufacturing errors (through no fault of Mountain Designs) and would have been relegated to landfill.  While there is nothing physically wrong with the materials in the straps, they don't have reinforcing strips of fabric behind key bar tacks.  What this means is under heavy loads the straps could potentially break; thankfully the problem was discovered during stringent quality control checks, with MD realising that this needed to be fixed.  Unfortunately, from a purely financial perspective it worked out cheaper for MD to get the straps re-manufactured, rather than fix the current straps.  What this means is thousands of shoulder straps could potentially enter the landfill.

Enter stage left, Luke Reynolds, product manager for equipment at Mountain Designs.  Being a greenie to the core, and not wanting to see anything wasted he contacted us here at BOgear and offered the straps.  We jumped on the chance to collect these straps, as they contain numerous components which are usable to us.  Examples include webbing, buckles, tri-glides, miscellaneous plastic components, as well as EVA foam.  

These components will soon be used in future products, and will help increase the reclaimed content of our bags.  Keep your eyes peeled for these components in future products!

This donation is much appreciated as it is acts like this that help a small business with big ideals make headway!  A huge thank you goes to Luke and Allan at MD for making this donation happen.

Now that we had the shoulder straps, another dilemma faced us; how were we going to recoup the usable components, without being exorbitantly expensive?  The shoulder straps would take hours and hours to cut apart, separating webbing and plastic component from foam.  From a paid perspective this would cost a small fortune; negating the positive financial effects of the donation in the first place!  Finding a way around this conundrum, we armed ourselves with piles of scissors (some which didn't work), an esky full of beer, a bbq choked with meat, and two bottles of spirits.  And then we invited around six friends.  Two bottles of spirits and an empty esky later, all of our fingers were covered in blisters and we had made our way through just short of half of the shoulder straps.  We were also incredibly tipsy!

Thank you to Annette, Bri, Vanessa, Mike, Chris & Simon for helping us cut up the shoulder straps removing each usable component, and separating them into piles.  Your time and effort is much appreciated!  It really does help us gain ground, towards the right direction!  Cheers guys!

Mini update: We have two products in the works using these reclaimed straps and materials.  The products contain near to 99% reclaimed materials, so stay tuned!

New Logo

We have finally finished our new logo.  We have taken our time with this design as our logo is the representation of our company and would be very hard to change at a later date.  FYI: Our previous 'logo' was something scratched together quickly for the Double Trouble tag team alley cat.  It seemed stupid to sponsor an event yet have no public image (read: logo) so we had to make do with a simple design... that being said, make way for our new logo:

The story behind our logo:

Being designers we could wank on about how our logo symbolises the evolution of our products.  About how they start off in our hands before being used and dirtified by you.  Once the product has come full circle in its life it ends up back in our hands ready to be evolved into a new product.  Or we could talk about how there is an infinity sign in there, representing our aim to close the loop.  But really that would be postulating for the sake of it.  Truth is we no longer have to appease our design lecturers with loads of bullshit about "how the harmony of the piece... blah, blah, blah."  Point is it's a 'B', and an 'O'.  And that's our name... BOgear.  So now you know the history of our logo, go dirtify your gear!

Manbag Alert!

After much deliberation I have decided to create a very small bag in the courier bag range.  This size was suggested to me by fixed gear enthusiast Dave and is really small, intended to carry only the essentials.  Wallet, keys, phone, 600ml of water, a spare shirt and a D-lock... Check, check and check.  The bag fits it all, but not much more.  It is designed to be worn over the shoulder, or around the waist as a hip pack.

Enter the Babycandy.  It features our quick access D-lock holster on the outside, as well as two internal pockets.  Unlike the other bags in the range it isn't guaranteed weather resistant; but we're working on it.

The bag is currently undergoing testing, and will be ready in the very near future.  Many thanks to Dave for the push in this direction.

Seeing things differently

I love it when people see things in a different light to those of the norm.  Their ingenuity and inventiveness gives me little kicks.

Below is an example of such a different vision. 

 

I walk by these clothes hooks every so often, and think nothing of them.  Yet one individual looked at them in a different light; instead seeing them as little mice... or elephants... or anteaters.  In fact I don't know what it is, but what I do know is that it is no longer a metal hook on a wall, but now something with animalistic qualities.  Every time I walk by it now I get a little grin!  I love things from the left field.  Things that are totally unexpected.

Saturday Morning Fixed Ride

Just letting everyone know that there is a ride happening this Saturday morning.  Fixed fanatics come out in force!  The Brisbane River loop is the aim, led by our own Antmandan.  It is our plan to tack onto the back of a roadie crew, who complete with gears will hopefully be more than a little peeved that we are keeping pace!

Its going to be early (meet at 5.30am) but I hear the muffins provided by Mrs Ant are awesome.  Thats probably the only reason I am dragging myself out of bed at that ungodly hour!  See you all there!

Details:

Meet: 5.30am @ Gear Brisbane

Depart: 5:45am

Planned route: Brisbane River loop

Distance:  Not chaffing-ly long.

Pace: Chillaxed (I need lots of coffee for a fast pace)

Find out more: fixed.org.au

The Weekend of Bike

Well its been 5-ish days since the Weekend of Bike, and I have only now managed to scrape together some spare time to talk about it.  I have been flat out moving studio/work space and really have to thank my brother for all his help.  Without him I wouldn't have managed to shift two ridiculously heavy industrial sewing machines, one oversized cutting table, and all the paraphernalia that goes with running the BOgear operation.  So many thanks Chris!

Enough about me, and now about the Weekend of Bike.  And what a weekend of bike it was!  Saturday was the Double Trouble Alley Cat event, while Sunday was bike part swap, and polo, followed by a relaxed Monday cruise.  It was a long weekend here in the Sunny State so all the events were managed to be squeezed in!

Saturday's Alley Cat as the name suggests used a team of two format.  Riders had to compete individual legs as well as some dual events.  Overall length was around 25km, with individuals competing for roughly 13km each.  The particular checkpoint that I was man-ing (along with Jules and Zoe - very friendly chicks to hang out with for an hour!) had contestants riding up probably the second steepest street in Brissy.  Some people didn't even make it all the way up, having instead to resort to hauling the bike over their shoulder.  One particular contestant nearly losing their lunch at the top was a highlight (or is that lowlight?)!

Some photos from the event:

Pre-race milling.  We had the whole footpath as well as most of the space inside Alibi Room.  Lots and lots of bikes.  It was awesome to see everyone out in force.

The pre-race briefing.  24 individuals; 12 teams altogether.

More of the pre-race briefing.  It was fantastic to see lots of new faces.  Something like the top 6 or 7 people had never raced before.  If that isn't an incentive to give it a try, what is?  It was also fantastic to catch up with the regular crew, meet some people who we only knew via email or forums, as well as meeting people who we had crossed paths on the street yet never been formally introduced!

Sunday's bike part swap meet was a first for Brissy, with lots and lots of people gathering to collect some schwag.  The turn out exceeded expectations!  Local rider Dan managed to haul his BBQ on his bike trailer, while riding fixed.  And if that wasn't impressive enough, I later discovered that he rode through Highgate Hill which is a very steep area!

Polo later that afternoon was intense, with the court being rotated 90 degrees to allow more room and thus more players at a time.  At one point I believe we had a 5 on 5 game.  Very, very intense!  Shenanigans between races included a bike stack/pile.

All the bikes shown were self supported.  The two bottom bikes were leaning on their own pedal cages, while the upper bikes were precariously balanced on top!  In the end I believe there were 5 bikes in total.

In case I haven't mentioned it enough before, come along to Polo!  It is held every Sunday at Musgrave Park in West End, starting at 3pm and running till dusk.  Find out more here...

Mondays event was a Fixed gear cruise to Wynnum.  Unfortunately I was unable to make this cruise, but I did hear that Kath's muffins were ridiculously good!  The cruise was so popular that it looks like it may become a regular monthly event!  Bring on the muffins and ride I say!

And that ended the weekend of bike.  Back to the grind we go!...

The Sindrome

Well I promised you all a sneak preview of the Sindrome; which I failed to do.  In the run up to last "weekend of bike" I was busy in the studio perfecting the pattern and running up a very small batch of Sindromes.  Time was of the essence, so I had barely finished the bag, photographed it, and then had to blast off to the race.  So I failed in the sneak preview... BUT!... here are the photos that I promised!

First a little about the Sindrome.  The Sindrome has the same back shape as the Elephantitus, but with a smaller depth and volume.  For all you volume freaks, it can neatly carry 17 bottles of rum.  It has a weatherproof liner, which is semi-removable so you can separate your dry stuff from your wet stuff.  It has a large inside pocket, and a large expandable outer pocket, complete with multiple pen slots.  There is also the quick access D-lock pocket which is featured on the Elephantitus.  Essentially you can reach your D-lock without having to take off your bag, nor opening it up.  Multiple clipping points are included should you wish to carry extra stuff on the outside of the bag.  Oh, and I almost forgot... the Sindrome features a hidden pocket as well.

And now about the prize bag!  First off... its flame red!  It really is a gorgeous red, that just glows in the sunlight.  Everyone knows red goes faster so it seemed fitting to donate a red prize bag!  (It also has speed stripes to make you go even faster) This particular bag happens to be the first production Sindrome, and has a neat little feature that I have been thinking about for a while.  Anti-dangle straps.  Normally if you forget to buckle up your bag, the straps can potentially dangle into your rear wheel.  This particular bag has some retainer loops, that stop this happening.  Its a bit hard to explain, but easy to understand if you can see it.  If you look at the second image with the sternum/anti-sway strap you will see what I mean.  It has a little plastic loop that joins the end of the webbing to the main part of the webbing.  What this essentially means is no more dangling straps!

The bag was randomly won during the Double Trouble Tag Team event by Goose, who picked up a box containing the bag.  He wasn't at the after party so I didn't get a chance to see him collect the prize... Perhaps it is still available, which means Skippy is next in line (or so he thinks!)

And it's launched!

The official Brisbane Outdoor Gear website has now been launched.  Visit it at www.bogear.com.au

I am very excited to see this up and running, as it has been a work in progress for the last 4 to 5 months.  The website is basic at the moment, but will have more features added slowly over time.  Features to come include videos, tons more photos, more products, a 'how to' section, and bio's on our staff, testers and customers.  So as you can see it is a constant work in progress!

There are still a few glitches that need to be ironed out; which we are working on.  But for the time being, visit us, and let us know what you think!