WF color and size questions

[thisisme]

Hi,
I am considering buying a western flyer to attach to the top of a wheelie I just bought. I intend to use the western flyer for my kids' clothes (they are 4 and 6). Each child will get a packing cube.

My questions are:
1. Will my kids' clothes fit? My kids' clothes seem to fit the 'Large' 15 x something eagle creek packing cubes nicely. The western flyer's large cubes are bigger, so I'm thinking everything should fit, but I just wanted to confirm with the experts here :-)

2. The western flyer is available in crimson. This looks to be a dark red in the picture - darker than the bright red I've seen on the tristar and older versions of the WF. Is 'crimson' actually darker?


thanks!

[gmanedit]

The western flyer is available in crimson. This looks to be a dark red in the picture - darker than the bright red I've seen on the tristar and older versions of the WF. Is 'crimson' actually darker?

I just got pouches in the new ballistic colors and am planning to post on them. Meanwhile, I would say, it depends on the light. In subdued light, the new red is darker. In sunlight, the new and old reds are virtually indistinguishable.

[thisisme]

ok. i guess the first question was kind of silly.
OK. so it IS a different colour, but only slightly different. Good to know. :-)

[gmanedit]

No, not silly. I don't own a Western Flyer, so I can't comment on it.

[moriond]

Currently Available Western Flyer Colors

@thisisme, when I check the currently available colors at the Western Flyer page, the version of the WF with the Rolling Luggage Handle Pocket is only available in Steel/Solar, Steel/Ultraviolet, Black/Steel, and Black/Iberian. There is a version of the WF in Crimson/Steel with backpack straps that is available, but you stated that you want to attach the WF on the top of a wheelie. How soon do you need your bag?

There may be new versions of the WF with the Rolling Luggage Handle Pocket made in the new colors of Dyneema in a few weeks, but that won't help you if you plan to travel in the near future. Also, for people who are thinking about the backpack version in Crimson, I suspect you might want to check on the available stock, since Crimson has been discontinued, and the bags that are in stock will just be the ones made in their last production run.

moriond

[thisisme]

I'm flying at the end of August.
Yes, I've sort of decided that I'd prefer the wheelie pocket over the backpack straps
When you say that there will be new colours of Dynema, will there also be new exterior colours?

Of topic a bit: I don't understand why certain colours become discontinued. There was a beautiful indigo blue/solar version - I would have loved those colours! I guess it's that they don't sell well enough?

[dorayme]

I use smaller packing cubes for my kids and they would easily fit into the WF.
As for the colors, TB has certain colors that run for a long time and others that have a limited run time. Why, I do not know, but if you see a color you like, snag it, or at minimum call customer service to determine if it is going away any time soon. I have seen some ones I wanted go away, it's not fun!

[Lani]

Of topic a bit: I don't understand why certain colours become discontinued. There was a beautiful indigo blue/solar version - I would have loved those colours! I guess it's that they don't sell well enough?

I don't work for TB so I can't speak for them, but I do have a little experience with retail stuff so maybe I will offer my personal suspicion.

As wonderful as Tom Bihn bags are, in the grand scheme of travel bags, his company is very small. If we were to compare the volume he sells against companies like Jansport, Travelpro, Samsonite, or Eagle Creek, TB is just a little drop in the bucket (of course for most of us I think this is one of the reasons we love TB so much).

So when he makes a decision to offer something in a new color, it probably has to be done after a lot of thought, keeping in mind the need to balance inventory. Don't forget, TB makes all their bags right in their factory in Seattle. It's not like he says, "Hmm... I need to order more red bags. Let's call our manufacturer in China and they can make some more." So I have a feeling when they make their decision on colors, he orders a huge roll of that cloth, made to his specifications... and once he's done with that roll, he has to decide if he's going to order it again, or try a different color. I don't think he can afford to (money or space-wise) to keep BOTH. See where I'm getting at?

Some colors he will always have on hand, like black and steel. As much as we love the unusual colors, I'm sure he still moves mostly the standard fall-back colors of black and grey.

So... here's incentive for you to buy an item when they make it in a color you like, because it might not be offered in that color once it's gone. After that, it's called eBay. lol

Something to keep in mind: Those big companies? They rotate through colors, too. Most of them decide on the colors for their next season's collection based on what's officially announced by the Color Association (at least in the U.S.). And companies like Jansport, when they come up with new prints for their Superbreak line, will only use those prints for a season, then they'll move on and not make them after they're done with them for the season.

[moriond]

Factors Behind the Color Options for Bags

There may be new versions of the WF with the Rolling Luggage Handle Pocket made in the new colors of Ballistic Nylon in a few weeks, but that won't help you if you plan to travel in the near future.

I'm flying at the end of August.
Yes, I've sort of decided that I'd prefer the wheelie pocket over the backpack straps
When you say that there will be new colours of Dynema, will there also be new exterior colours?

See correction: I meant to say "Ballistic Nylon", so yes, there will be/are new exterior colors.

Of topic a bit: I don't understand why certain colours become discontinued. There was a beautiful indigo blue/solar version - I would have loved those colours! I guess it's that they don't sell well enough?

Lani's post does a good job of addressing this -- it's not that colors like Indigo don't sell well, but that the economic realities don't allow them to always keep all colors in stock at the same time. And, on top of that, they usually tool up production batches for the Western Flyer, Tri-Star, Aeronaut, and other bags in groups. When one of the popular colors sells out, it does get replenished -- but when they do the next production batch. For example, when the first clear organizer wallets started shipping as a new product, plum sold out within 6 days of Darcy's post. (I know dorayme will get a kick out of reading about how quickly plum disappeared in the Clear Organizer Wallet Now Shipping! thread)

I don't work for TB so I can't speak for them, but I do have a little experience with retail stuff so maybe I will offer my personal suspicion.

<snip>

So when he makes a decision to offer something in a new color, it probably has to be done after a lot of thought, keeping in mind the need to balance inventory.

<snip>

Some colors he will always have on hand, like black and steel. As much as we love the unusual colors, I'm sure he still moves mostly the standard fall-back colors of black and grey.

So... here's incentive for you to buy an item when they make it in a color you like, because it might not be offered in that color once it's gone. After that, it's called eBay. lol

If you read back in the forums, there's a long thread on If the Brain Cell came in only two colors… that basically heralded the move to more restrictive color selections in late 2007. Up till then, the 500d cordura options spanned the range shown in this blog post picture of Brain Cells (dated lated September 2007): steel, crimson, olive, wasabi, black, and deep blue. Cayenne replaced crimson in 2008. You'll recognize these as the lining color options for your Imagos, Cafe Bags, and Ristrettos. Basically, now we have steel, wasabi, and cayenne. The last of the 500d olive has been used up.

The situation with Ballistic Nylon is interesting, because we suddenly have three new, great colors in 1050d for bag exteriors: Navy, Cardinal Red, and Forest Green. Incidentally, that first blog post link for navy describes some of the factors that Lani was writing about: minimum dye lot quantities and their implications for product offerings. And in the past, it was just not possible to get these colors produced to the exacting standards of Tom Bihn craftmanship.

The tricky thing will be to balance all the offerings to work well together: the 500d Cordura lining colors, the Dyneema colors (now Solar, Iberian, and Ultraviolet; the extended range of fabric options that are being used with the Little Swift and other bags, that includes Cork and Vulcana Hemp as in the new Cardinal/Hemp Imago, not to mention more ultrasuede combinations. This is all going to make for interesting new bag combinations!

moriond

[thisisme]

Wow! Ok. I totally understand where Tom Bihn is coming from now, colour-wise. I'm also looking at the current colours vs. older colours and noticing that the new colours are more subdued, which I like better, now that I think about it.

[Lani]

Wow Moriond, I bow to your great wisdom!

<lots of great info snipped for brevity>

...the Dyneema colors (now Solar, Iberian, and Ultraviolet

I for one am a huge Dyneema fan. I wrote in a post elsewhere here where I am now even more impressed with the sturdiness of the fabric when I tried an experiment to scissor up a swatch from a Dyneema knit bag. Whatever Dyneema colors they introduce for the Packing Cube Shoulder Bag, I will buy one!! [I still wish they made the 3D organizer and even the Side Effect in Dyneema--I would buy those, too!]

[moriond]

I for one am a huge Dyneema fan. I wrote in a post elsewhere here where I am now even more impressed with the sturdiness of the fabric when I tried an experiment to scissor up a swatch from a Dyneema knit bag. Whatever Dyneema colors they introduce for the Packing Cube Shoulder Bag, I will buy one!! [I still wish they made the 3D organizer and even the Side Effect in Dyneema--I would buy those, too!]

Lani and others, if you want to read more about Dyneema and the start of the Packing Cube Shoulder Bag, I'll point you to this forum post from a thread on Aeronaut packing cubes in which Tom announced (two posts up) their intention to introduce what became the Packing Cube Shoulder Bag. As for the sturdiness of Dyneema, and its nearly slash-proof nature (alluded to in the linked post), this derives to the fact that the Dyneema (white fibers) are used in bullet-proof vests, as pointed out in the excerpted sections of the Wikipedia description given in this later post on Dyneema.

Tom originally wrote a short blog post on Dyneema that pointed to the Wikipedia definition. The definition that was current at the time of his blog post is linked in both the above two linked posts. The second post also gives links to the updated definition that replaced it within a few weeks, which I personally found less clear.

Incidentally, I do enjoy reading the small commentaries about design and materials that Tom occasionally introduces in the forums. They provide a lot of insight into the process of what goes into making the bags we all love. There are some nice comments in a very old Bleeding Edge Video interview with Tom that includes how he designs his bags. (Note that the only link I could easily play was the iTunes/iPod/H.264 format in the "Friday, August 4, 2006 The Bleeding Edge 019: A Visit to Tom Bihn" box). YMMV.

moriond

[Darcy]

We're a little company, though with a few exceptions, we offer more colors and color combinations than many of the larger companies. We love color and trying new colors and color combinations, and that's why we have and offer such a wide variety of colors. Few of the fabrics we use are off the shelf; most are made or at least dyed to our specifications. When introducing a new color, we sometimes need to retire a color that's been around for a while. That's mostly a matter of space in the factory but also an attempt to reduce the complexity of our offering -- at some point we have to say enough is enough! For example: the Aeronaut is now available in 10 color combinations. Any new color combinations of Aeronaut that we offer in the future will likely replace current color combinations.

[Janine]

Aside: Is there a way to automatically like anything that @lani or @moriond post? Clicking the like buttons individually is starting to be a real chore.

[Lani]

Aside: Is there a way to automatically like anything that @lani or @moriond post? Clicking the like buttons individually is starting to be a real chore.

I clicked "Like" on this post. Teehee!