I imagine traditional box style bags, pannier bags or rack bags when I think about Swift Industries bags, but the bags they’ve been making recently are mostly rack-less bags.
I think the Ollie Pack saddle bag and the Hold Fast frame are masterpieces from the recent selection.
To be completely honest, I was a bit disappointed when they stopped making bags that required racks, but I didn’t have that feeling so much after getting the two mentioned above. (Though, I would be very happy if they made their traditional bags again)
I’ve been using the Ollie Pack a lot for bike trips, but I decided to pick up the Hold Fast frame bag for this trip.
I think the width of the bag is perfect. This is crucial for a frame bags because, I don’t want my thighs to be rubbing on the bag when I pedal my bike. Simple.
It’s pretty common to stuff too many things in these type of bags, so the bag would often get bulky, and would touch my thighs.
In line with that, there’s a clever design feature on the saddle side near the thigh: the zipper on the left-side pocket doesn’t extend all the way to the thigh. It stops at the front.
This makes the bag to not get bulky around the thigh. It’s a very well thought out design.
In reality, the left pocket doesn’t have much depth, so I rarely put large items in it. At most, just my smartphone and a few small things, so it’s more than enough.
Another subtle but nice feature is that the frame bag sits higher than other frame bags. This helps prevent the frame bag from interfering with the water bottle.
For taller foreigners, the frame’s overall triangle is larger, so this isn’t much of an issue, but for us Japanese, who tend to be smaller in stature, this slight difference in height eliminates the annoying problem of the frame bag blocking the bottle cage.
I’ve been in multiple situations where I wished the frame bag would sit a bit higher so that I could use the cage mount on my frame.
And here is a feature that most owners of the bag might not have found.
It has a little tunnel from the velcro part to the main pocket.
You might be wondering, “What is this?” Well, the idea is that you can stash a portable charger in one bag and place your smartphone in another bag to charge it (or use a hydration hose).
If you put your smartphone directly into the frame bag, the large opening means other items might fall out.
By separating them into a stem bag or tank bag, you can avoid that risk.
The velcro strap for attaching is made longer to fit all sorts of bike frames. If you think it’s too long, I suggest cutting them since the extra part of straps tend to rub your thighs, which can be very annnoying.
