Over the years, Jeff has had various packs made to fit the Truss Fork’s rack-like structure, and for the last few of those years, he’s been working toward a new design. For some background, check out this blog post about an early experiment with using the Truss Fork as a rack, this blog post about the first generation of Truss Fork Pack from 2009, this post about second generation prototype from 2012, and this post about the last pair of the third generation that went out in 2015! The process to arrive at this fourth generation has taken much longer than Jeff wanted, but the final product is worth the wait because it’s easily the best design yet, and has a much larger capacity than any of the preceding versions!
Designed in collaboration with, and made by Revelate Designs, the latest Truss Fork Packs are our largest and most secure Truss Fork Packs yet. We’re really excited to be able to offer a pack that mounts to the Truss Fork again, because the sides of the fork are some of the best storage locations on a bike, after the framepack, (which we also have available in our store here). The Packs keep the weight low, close to the steering axis, and importantly, behind the front axle which centers it on the bike, thereby maintaining neutral handling. These packs blend the best traits of the low-slung weight of traditional low-rider panniers with the secure mounting and lightweight design of a bikepacking pack to deliver the ultimate in high-volume, low-weight storage for your Truss Fork!
The Packs will fit all of our Truss Forks with 135mm spacing and up, so whether you have an older version, or the latest Plus Truss Fork, the packs will mount up easily and securely!
Jeff was really excited to have the Packs back in stock after such a long time without them, so he loaded them up with the bulk of his usual camping kit, with some random bits thrown in to fill out the bags completely, and rode his bike around the neighborhood here in Talent to try the final production packs out. He jumped the bike, spun it around, rode with no hands and no feet, hopped around on the front wheel, and did tight turns to see how the packs would affect the bike’s handling. Watching him do all of that, it was pretty clear that if the packs added a bit of weight, they didn’t hurt the handling of the Jones Plus that Jeff was riding, and also that all of the jumping and jostling didn’t affect them at all. They stayed put, and Jeff didn’t have to so much as stop and adjust the straps! Of course it goes without saying that riding around the neighborhood jumping curbs and doing wheelies isn’t a perfect representation of how the packs will fare after 2 weeks of being bounced-around for 10 hours a day on bumpy trails, but from testing that Jeff did while we were prototyping the packs, we’re confident that they can handle that too!
Below is a little frame-by-frame of unpacking the packs. It’s best in full screen
Here are some specs:
Made of VX-21 polyurethane-coated X-Pac with a bright orange liner so you can see what’s inside easily.
Huge #10 zippers with with two pulls and rubberized storm flap are durable and easy to close.
Compression straps allow you to cinch-down your load.
Small mesh pockets on the outside rear of the packs for small items you don’t want to keep inside the pack.
Elasticized accessory pocket inside the pack will fit a standard water bottle.
17.5″ tall x 4-6.5 wide x 4-5.5″ deep (tapered design, hence the ranges)
765g/1 lb 10oz per pair.
