Swift Industries

Have a look at what the people cycling and touring with our bags have to say about their bags and what other people have posted! Thanks to everyone who’s contributed!

Russ Roca, the author of The Epicurean Cyclist recently reviewed our bags, as an artist and cyclist, his eye is keen and the review is honest. I like that.

one less car:

You may have all read my touring story. If not, i’ll sum it up quick. Torential down rain, cold, leaky tent, raccoon. Those are the highlights. The one really good thing about the trip was it gave me chance to really try out the swift industiers panniers I bought. Swift industies is a small buisness. I think it’s run out of a house by Jason and Martina. Im always looking for the little guy because…well I myself am a little guy. I contacted them through email and few weeks later I had my panniers. I had looked at a ton of panniers online and they all looked cool- tons of pockets, zippers, waterproof bags- everything it was almost too overwhelming! that’s why I was so excited when I pulled these out of the box. they’re simple with just enough pockets to hold the stuff you need. They come with a huge main compartment a small zipper pocket on the front and a big zipper pocket on top of the lid to the pannier. I also had them add the pockets to the back to hold tent poles and water bottles. i also paid for the waterproof option, which looking back was a really great decision. The pannier hooks up the way most do- with two hooks on the top of the back that go over your rack and an s-hook attached to an adjustable elastic cord that attaches to the bottom of the rack to stop the panniers from falling off when you hit bumps. The only slight problem is I wish the main hooks were rubber coated because the bare metal was pretty rough on my rack. I carried plenty of stuff in the inside and it all stayed dry as could be in a serious rain. I was really impressed! They held up to a raccoon trying his hardest to rip them open ( he eventually unzipped the zipper on the lid! I wrote to them and asked if they could make the zipper raccoon proof- they said they will look into it.) they laid in the mud one night and got pretty muddy on the road, and it all washed right off in the rain and still look brand new. Swift industrias also makes a roll top pannier and I bet it would be bombproof. They offer plenty of options as far as material- cool, and thread you can design your own to mach your bike or what ever. Im really happy with these panniers. I feel the price is good, the service is great, and im sure my legs will wear out long before the panniers will. If you are looking to get panniers you should definitely consider swift and know you’re helping a small company grow.

http://www.1lesscar.com/reviews/swift.html

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http://www.boxdogbikes.com/blog/?s=swift+industries

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Chris and Erin toured Portland to the Bay Area in August:

 

the bags are great, i still use them daily (well, one of them cause they are huge) and they look really especially great, by far the best looking panniers i have ever seen. there was enough room in them for everything (and more) we needed to get down the coast. pdx-sf. 15 days. it was great. the “water bottle” pockets are still my surprise fav thing about these bags, cause you can stick the tent poles in there and put the rest of the tent in the bag. also you could put a water bottle in there, OR THE BEST OF ALL A 16oz COFFEE MUG! well, mine fits there really good, and keeps the “one last sup” from getting all over the inside of the bag. the rack i used with them is the axiom streamliner, which is the best value rear rack on the market, and it keeps the bags REAL far back so there is no chance of heel contact. i think its great you put an extra set of holes to move the mount hooks around, cause you can really get the bags where you want them on the rack. other than that, the water stayed out and the stuff stayed in, so you pretty much nailed it! thanks again for making them so quickly!
- chris

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My 4 Swift panniers arrived in a box in San Francisco and they mounted effortlessly to my bike racks–good guess Martina!  I’m not a light packer, but my 4 bags carried all of my gear (and some of my girlfriend’s..) for 3 weeks through the Pacific Northwest in late April/early May 2008.  Joyce and I rode the train to Vancouver, B.C., with a stopover in Seattle, then ferry hopped the Gulf Islands and San Juan Islands (sweet), around the Olympic Peninsula via Port Townsend-Port Angeles-Crescent Lake-Sol Duc Hot Springs-the Hoh Rainforest-Kalaloch-Lake Quinault-Humptulips, then across the Astoria Bridge and into Oregon, along the Columbia River to Portland, a 110 mile day in the driving rain, beyotch!  I liked not having to line my bags with trash bags (like Joyce had to do with her garage sale panniers).  I appreciated the tent-pole pouch on the back of the bags, as we camped a lot and had a lot of gear.  The Swift bags also feature a patented border patrol deterrent spray so the 2 border crossings were hassle-free!  

Thanks, Swift Industries, for keeping my food dry and my socks tasty!     P.S. The bags are good-looking and elicit heaps of head-turns…and they are jonesing for the next trip.            

 

 

 

 

 

 

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This write up is from John Speare’s blog out in Spokane, Washington. He has a Seattle-made rack from a hobbie builder named Alex

Sounds like this porteur bag is off on some short and sweet adventuring:

 

New front bag

    

I’ve been looking for a big front bag for a while. I wanted something that I could use for overnighters and that I could use for daily commuting. I didn’t want something with a bunch of pockets: it just needed to be big. It also needed to fit my favorite Alex-rack nicely and it needed to be weather proof.

The top is a roll down deal. Kind of like Ortliebs. I’m thinking you could pretty easily fit two half racks in here. The standard version of this bag has a roll down top that is another 6-8 inches higher.

My new Pelican Porteur bag from Swift Industries meets all criteria. Swift Industries is a 2-person shop in Seattle that makes panniers and other bike bags. They were super easy to deal with: I just filled out a form, specifying the color fabric I wanted and the custom dimensions that I wanted, and I have a bag less than a week later. It was pricey: $200. That’s a good value compared to other bags of its size/quality. It also has custom-dimensions and is made here in Washington — these two attributes really increase the value to me.

A couple months ago, I sold off some stuff (mainly my Rivendell Atlantis forks) to fund this purchase, so it felt more like a trade, which is somehow warmer and fuzzier, if only in my own little fantasy land of commerce.

The bag attaches to the rack with two of these straps: one on each side. There’s also a strap to secure it to the back of the rack. See the next picture.

Anyway, I don’t have much to say yet about this bag, since I’ve only had it on my bike for a day. But I ran to the store yesterday and loaded it up full and heavy and it worked fine. My S24O load this year will be this bag and a sleeping bag under my saddle.

I may have to rework this part. The buckle falls right on the rack’s vertical support, so it doesn’t really get super tight. I doubt I’ll ever change it, but if I were to have a change — it would be to put the buckle on the other side, but that’s specific to my rack. This bag was originally designed for the CETMA rack which has two big stays that attach to the h’bars.

6.5.09

Hello all,
I received the bag last night and it looks awesome. I am very excited,
and having a hard time being patient for my rack.
I prefer supporting handmade and local whenever I can. I will probably
be contacting you guys in the future at some point for some rear
panniers as well.
Thanks again for making a unique and quality product.
best,
Kina

Olympia Wa.