I first made contact with Domnic after seeing his 'enduro bags' on instagram on the countdown to the Waiau-toa Odyssey expedition and it seemed like a great space to poke my tools. I set about trying to find Dirt Bag Utility on the internet, to no avail?! I dug around the seedy underworld of instagram and found out Dom takes orders through the messaging facility on instagram. Sweet, touched base and whamo a week later a cool lil bag appeared in my post box. He's got patterns for most santy cruisers and other popular brands but if you ride something more boutique you may have to go in for a measure up.
The Enduro bag on the Tweed faces. Stirling Images pic.
When I took delivery of my Salsa cycles Pony Rustler I asked Dom if he could make a frame bag for it, he was keen as...almost scarily so. I took it in for a template measure, his bags are getting popular so there was a bit of que to join but it still only took a couple of weeks.
There's been serious attention to detail with this bag. It fits like a glove and he's put material against the frame to limit rub, but any bikepacking bag will rub your frame. Dom's even put a smaller zip on the non drive side for smaller items. Probably snacks bars, nuts or gels. Both zips are water resistant but the bag is not seam sealed.
The drive side zip runs the length of the bag and tucks away nicely when done up. I could fit 3 x 500ml beer cans in there, of course I never would...but in the picture below it has my Esbit cooker set in it. I would suggest carrying heavier items to keep the centre of gravity down low. I reckon on a Sub24O (sub 24 hour overnighter) or even a sub48O ( you'll work that one out) I could get the kitchen and all non perishable food in it, remembering that it's not waterproof. Most importantly no rub through the pedal stoke.
I'm looking forward to getting lots of miles into this bag, it's definitely the best thing since sliced quinoa and ancient grains bread. If you're interested in one get a hold of Dom on instagram at dirtbag.utility.co
The trade expo at the NZ Mountain Film Festival