In the summer of 2020 we reached out to Mark i.e. Solo Bikepacker to test our bags in the humidity of the jungle trails in Vietnam where he is living. We wanted to see how they worked, not just in European Bikepacking trails or in winter conditions, but in different climates.
At first he said no as he has bags already made by Bike Bag Dude in Australia and Jpaks in good old USA, and has been happy with his bags for years.
We pushed again and asked him to take a look at our old website. He came back and asked one question of us – did we post on a Bikepacking Facebook group last year, asking bikepackers to put down ideas on what they like to see in Bikepacking bag designs? Yeah that was us…
He said he filled in the questionnaire and had put in that he’d like to see a larger stem bag design, as he was using 4 bags as he had space on his handlebars, and was happy to see the popcorn bag with large capacity. We listened…
We offered to send him our complete range, free to test and provide us honest feedback. But after hearing we were still students living on beer and Ramen noodles and just starting out; he bought a complete set at full price with the condition that some day Merit would design him a solo expedition collection.
Over the last year, we’ve worked together sharing ideas and we’re proud to say he replaced all of his custom Bikepacking bags with Merit Gear.