Aeronaut Internal Frames

[bchaplin]

So, those of you that have one... what do you think? Extra points for answering if you are short like me and trying it on an Aeronaut 30.

I'm trying mine out and trying to decide if it makes a difference. It doesn't seem to add a lot of weight, but I don't know if it is more comfortable for me or less. I need to try packing it, and installing the hip belts as well. Please share your impressions.

[BWeaves]

I'm still waiting for mine to arrive. Since I just used my A45 fully loaded, my back remembers what it feels like without the internal frame. I'm really curious if it makes a difference for me.

[nimikor]

I tried the A30 Frame with a test pack of a normal load and felt it made a significant difference. Especially with the Hip Belt attached. The bag didn’t sag at all on my back and when I loosened the shoulder straps the bag stayed stiff and rested all the weight onto the Hip Belt.

I felt that the curve in the aluminum post was too pronounced for me and hit too far up my back so I had to adjust it. For comparison, I am a 5’8” male with a slight build.

I then tried both the A30 Frame and the A45 Frame in my Western Flyer and both fit, however, I feel the A45 is the better fit. It is a little harder to slide into the back shoulder strap pocket than the A30 Frame, but once in the A45 Frame seems made for that bag. I attached the Hip Belt to the WF and loaded it up and my beloved WF felt like a real backpack with full support and full weight transfer to the hips.

These two accessories will make standing in long lines much more pleasant now that I can transfer most of the bag’s weight to my hips.

Today I fell in love with the Bihn system all over again.

[kathryn]

Mine's arrived but still in the box... between work, illness, and car shopping this week, I just haven't gotten around to testing it out.

[KAB]

Arrived, fitted, test packed.....felt good! However that was a test run within the home so I haven't had a chance to test "for real" yet.
It doesn't seem to add to the weight of the bag, it is very easy to fit into the earlier A30 (pre-secret zip pocket) and seems to help the shape of the bag which is Halcyon, which is usually a bit prone to the relaxed look!
I can see that it would be harder to squish the A30 into a small or awkward space with it installed, but I think it really is going to depend on "what & how" the trip is!

[moriond]

Hi @bchaplin,

I think you need to install the hip belt to get the full benefit of the frame. This hip belt is much more effective in placing support on your hips (as opposed to around your waist) for the Aeronaut than 1" hip belt that works well for the Smart Alec. (I'm guessing that you tried that out on your Aeronaut when it debuted, but the problem is that it connects to the waist strap attachments and sits too high for weight bearing on the hips. The Aeronaut hip belt works with the inset connector for the bag's backpack straps; they can angle the hip belt connector attachment into these so that the belt sits at the right height for your hips. You'll also note that the material and surface of the Aeronaut hip belt takes its cue from some of the newer materials used for Luminary's backpack straps, and is very nice to the touch.)

@nimikor's comments about frames matching his back are very interesting, because for me the A30 frame sheet has the gentler curvature, compared to the A45 frame sheet, and that's the one that fits my back the best. You can go read my comments in the thread about using these frame sheets for the Smart Alec and Western Flyer: I tried fitting each frame sheet directly to my back, and the A30 sheet fits me better. I'm closer to your height (just under 5'4"). But I found his comments about the aluminum post being too curved interesting, because for me, that was true of the A45 frame sheet, while the A30 frame sheet's curve fit my back pretty well. And I could see, just from looking at the frame sheets out of the box, that the default curve on the A45 frame sheet was more pronounced than on the one for the A30, and that this was also more than the curve in the frame sheet for my Synapse 25 (from the Guide's Edition S25 in Deep Blue/Coyote).

So, maybe adjustments of the frame sheet curvature for optimal fit might factor in to its comfort?
BTW, the A45 frame sheet is not very much longer than the one for the A30. I really look forward to hearing from more forum members, and from @tpnl for his impressions.

HTH

moriond

[BWeaves]

Are the Aeronaut frame sheets adjustable / bendable, so you can make it fit your back better? I remember the Synapse frame sheets had instructions for doing this.

[nimikor]

@moriond, I agree that the curve on the A45 Frame is more pronounced than on the A30. So much so that I could see the bulge on the outside of my WF when it was inserted. Granted that it’s not designed for the WF but I had to flatten it out a bit before it felt ok for me.

I think that the issue for me is that I tend to wear my backpacks a little higher than many so the curve on the A30 hit my back an inch or so too high (for my comfort). That is what made me adjust the A30 Frame bar.

I agree that the Hip Belt is key to optimizing the Frame’s value. It is really a nice padded belt and it holds the weight of the pack very comfortably when I relax the shoulder straps. The design also makes it look like it is integrated as part of the original bag. The padding by the belt’s attachment points that tucks into the side of the bag integrates well with both my A30 and my WF.

@BWeaves, the bars are the same as on the Synapses so they can bend with gentle pressure over your leg.

[Nadia]

Still waiting for my set of frame and hip belt for the Aeronaut 30 that I ordered on June 12th!

[akbailey]

Do any of internal frames fit stably in a Brain Bag?

[moriond]

Do any of internal frames fit stably in a Brain Bag?

Hi @akbailey,

I don't have a Brain Bag, but I was talking to some of the TB Customer Support folks this morning about some of the points discussed in the A45 Frame in the SA or WF? last week (with respect to the experience of trying the frames in Smart Alec, and other bags), and one of them may try this out with the Brain Bag based on this discussion. My guess is that you might be able to suspend the A45 frame sheet from the webbing loops of the Brain Bag, but in order to do this experiment for the Smart Alec, I had to disassemble one of my Synapse frame sheets to use the plastic T-bar in the Smart Alec.

Maybe one of the other forum members who has both a Brain Bag and one of the new frame sheets can try this out and report back? It may also be a question of whether you are simply holding the frame sheet in place against the back of the bag using the contents of a fully packed backpack -- that sort of worked for the Smart Alec -- but if you want to also be able to suspend a cache with rails on the back of the bag, you'll probably need a plastic T-bar to suspend the frame sheet from the webbing loops. In the Smart Alec, I was able to set this up with the A30 frame sheet. In that bag, the A45 frame sheet may have also been usable that way, but it is almost too tall for the back, because the top of the frame sheet just fits within the back of the Smart Alec -- so in order to "suspend" the A45 frame sheet from the webbing loops with a T-bar, I'd have to slot the T-bar in place into the frame sheet, and then try to "flex" the edges of the plastic to bend them into the webbing loops, 'cause there's no room to "drop" the T-bar into the back of the metal bar on the frame sheet with the Velcro flap pulled up -- the bottom of the frame is already at the bottom of the Smart Alec. I'm guessing this is possible to do, but you're also going to force the webbing loops up slightly higher than they'd sit, so adding the rail attachments for a cache may be tight. I just didn't have the incentive to experiment this much fiddling the T-bars and (A45) frames when the A30 frame sheet that I had worked more easily. But with the taller Brain Bag, you might be able to do the same thing with the A45 frame and have it work well. I just can't check this out.

HTH

moriond

ETA: If @bchaplin, or any of the other posters who also have Smart Alecs (and plastic T-bars from other Synapse frame sheets) can check out the fit of the Aeronaut Frame sheets to the SA, and report back, that would be of general interest. (For this usage, the 1" hip belt for the Smart Alec should work fine.)

[Darcy]

Still waiting for my set of frame and hip belt for the Aeronaut 30 that I ordered on June 12th!

Hmm, seems like you should've received them by now! Could you emailus@tombihn.com with your order # so we can look into this?

[Fluff]

ETA: If @bchaplin, or any of the other posters who also have Smart Alecs (and plastic T-bars from other Synapse frame sheets) can check out the fit of the Aeronaut Frame sheets to the SA, and report back, that would be of general interest. (For this usage, the 1" hip belt for the Smart Alec should work fine.)

The A30 frame is the best fit in the SA, if you're suspending it by the cache loops using a T-bar. The S19 frame is too short (it ends too far from the bottom edge of the bag to provide the weight transfer to the hips). The A45 and S25 frames are almost the same length and are both too tall to rest straight down the back of the SA from the cache loops to the bottom edge of the bag.

In fact, I'd say that the A30 frame fits really well in the SA. The second picture shows how I've installed the T-bar neatly, pulling the velcro pieces totally together.

However, note that I am 5'1" and the SA isn't a very long bag. The hip belt does rest on my hips so even without the frame, the hip belt works for me to transfer some weight and with the frame+belt now, it'll probably be even better for me. But if the SA hip belt is too high for you, even a perfectly fitting internal frame might not be a vast improvement.

[Fluff]

I should add that as with the Synapse+frame, you have to have some stuff in the bag to keep the bottom edge of the frame against the back of the bag. The SA's main compartment is wider than the Synapse's so the frame in the SA has even more freedom of movement if the bag is very underpacked. But in that situation, the bag wouldn't be heavy anyway and one wouldn't need the frame to transfer weight.

[moriond]

@Fluff,

These were pretty much my conclusions, too. I'll add that I was able to use the A45 frame, just held in place by the contents of a fully loaded SA, and not suspended from a T-bar, since the top of that frame goes all the way up to where the zipper teeth are when the bag is closed, but I'm not sure how well that would work for long term carry. @nimikor can probably report on his experience with these frames and the SA, and @bchaplin is just about an inch taller than you, and may have had an opportunity to experiment with the A30 frame in her Smart Alec by now.