Carrying the Pilot backpack style?

[bootsmctoots]

Hello,
Has anyone attempted to carry the Pilot in something other than the messenger bag style? I bought the Absolute shoulder strap, but I don't want to carry it as a traditional messenger bag. I did that for years with other brands before discovering Tom Bihn. I started with the Snyik 30--it is the first backpack I used in twenty years and I love it. I also love the backpack carry style now and want to find a way to do that with my Pilot.

When I carry the Pilot messenger style on one shoulder, it sticks out, gets in the way, and bounces horizontally as I walk. If I carry it cross-body, it still gets in the way and the strap messes with my sunglasses which are tucked into my shirt. Is there another strap or a strap hack that might work to carry it like a single shoulder carry backpack? I'd be fine with carrying it at a 45 degree or even 90 degree angle.

Thanks!

[Aeon]

TB used to make the Q-AM Shoulder Strap, which I think you're looking to find something similar. Alpaka makes a strap stabilizer that appears to be very similar and may work with the Pilot.

HTH.

[bootsmctoots]

Thanks! There are worth looking into!

[RosemaryZ]

Hm I think either of those options would need another attachment point (like the webbing loops on a lot of TB backs to accept the gatekeeper waist strap) that the Pilot lacks. You might be able to sew some webbing loops onto the sides of the pilot and then you could use the gatekeeper.

FWIW I carry my co-pilot sling-style all the time: cross-body, with the strap cranked up pretty short (I had to remove the sliding shoulder pad to do that; it takes a little patience to wiggle it off, but wiggle off it will) and the weight of the bag nestled into the small of my back. It works really well.

I’m 5’4”, maybe 145 pounds, and very short-waisted, so I doubt I could manage something similar with the Pilot, but if you’re even a little taller or bigger than I am I bet it’d be possible!

[Awesomepants]

I know you're looking for Pilot options so this doesn't apply to you, but if anyone is interested in a Co-Pilot option, I've had great success carrying my CP inside an A30 packing cube backpack. The CP fits perfectly in the bottom compartment with a little room to spare heightwise. The A30 PCB is really lightweight (I have the halcyon one) and the top compartment is a little bigger than a HLT 2.

[moriond]

I know you're looking for Pilot options so this doesn't apply to you, but if anyone is interested in a Co-Pilot option, I've had great success carrying my CP inside an A30 packing cube backpack. The CP fits perfectly in the bottom compartment with a little room to spare heightwise. The A30 PCB is really lightweight (I have the halcyon one) and the top compartment is a little bigger than a HLT 2.

The Pilot can be dropped into the Daylight Backpack. See, for example DayLight BackPack & Pilot: Perfect Match!!

[moriond]

There was a detailed set of posts about modifying the Pilot to carry it on the back with the Quick-Adjust Messenger strap, as @Aeon mentioned. One of the earlier forum moderators, tpnl claimed this was the most comfortable way for him to wear the Pilot. You can see him wearing the Pilot this way in the pictures included in my post number 5 dated 6/14/2021 from the Best Pilot Hacks thread. This is one of the extracted pictures.


Since I wrote and posted this after the vBulletin5 forum upgrade of early 2021 that reindexed and destroyed the accuracy of earlier links, the linked entries in my post will all work

At the time, the forum mods usually checked all the proposed bag hacks, so I tried this. I can make this work as illustrated, but there is an issue which makes this less optimal for shorter individual (I'm just under 5'4" tall with petite build, and some other forum members who are Pilot fans, but who are a few inches shorter, like @bchapman, would fall into this category).

The original Q-AM strap was designed to connect into a bag via a toothed slide that was attached to the side of the bag. This design was used in the Imago, the original version of the Parental Unit, and countless old TB messenger bags (ID Bag, Ego, Super Ego). In those bags the weight of the bag hangs down in a line through the length of the strap when carried high on your back.

By changing the connection point from a toothed slide to a clip-on shoulder strap attachment point, you basically introduce a hinge in that continuous line. If you're sufficiently tall (e.g. 5' 10") you still preserve most of that continuous line. If you're shorter, you have to carefully position the bag so that the hinge connection point doesn't spoil the way that the bag carries when you hoist it higher on your back. If it shifts too much in vertical position you won't find the carrying experience as comfortable. That's the qualitative description of why this particular hack doesn't work as well if you are a shorter person.

HTH

moriond