Curtis Williams wasn’t satisfied with the commuter backpacks and panniers on the market in 2008, so he started hand sewing his own pack in the basement of the house he rented with a few other people in Berkeley, Calif. Today he runs a full-blown pack-making business in Portland, Oregon, with eight employees who still hand sew packs, panniers, hip packs, duffels, dopp kits and more for his company, North St. Bags.
From the get-go, his products have been geared toward cyclists, including his latest, the North St. Micro Pannier intended for bikepacking, although the duffels and packs in the Weekender series has appealed to professional types outside the cycling arena. For the new North St. bikepacking collection, Williams wanted to capitalize on his heritage of making pannier-style packs (vs. a front triangle frame pack) to keep the products versatile for the rider.
“In an ideal world, I want each pack to serve more than one purpose for the user.”
Take a dive into the evolution of North St., from the principles we were founded on to some of our latest releases in the world of bikepacking in this profile by Mountainflyer’s Trina Ortega.
Trina tested our revamped Pioneer 9 hip pack for mountain biking.
Read the full article here
Shop the Pioneer 9 here