« Always the dream of having your own production »

Rachel, who goes by the name of Rachel in the West, and Alan talked to the Blade of Life and Existence, how it came to them ending up in design for outdoor products, Alans’ huge adventure trip, operations and dream products that they want to market.

Rachel has an Icelandic father but her mother is from the United States. They met in France where Rachel was born, but then moved to Isafjord for a short time before they went west through the ocean where Rachel has lived since. She says the father’s family now lives around the country, but her father was raised in Grindavík and so the family home is now, like most other houses in town, abandoned. She has siblings both in Reykjavik and Selfoss and others are then distributed throughout the country.

« I grew up most in Seattle, » says Rachel, but Alan is from a small town about 30 miles from the city. They were both interested in design and it was through such studies that they met in 2001. Alan had previously been in visual arts and Rachel in industrial design.

They were both brought into outdoor activities, but after completing their studies, they worked for almost two decades for the various signs in the design and development of outdoor products. For example, they include REI, Mountain Hardware, Outdoor Research and many more. For example, Alan specialized in gloves and other extra stuff.

Alan says cycling and especially bicycle travelers have always been deeply sneaked into him, but he started traveling young on a bike with his parents and they went his first multitude together when he was about 12 years old. He says they have been a lot of cyclists who have traveled on wheels, but it has been and is even more uncommon.

He then started competing in cycling 14 years old, but as we expected, other sports articles were considerably popular. Thus, he was the only kid in a secondary school competing in cycling, but in the town there were a total of six people competing in cycling. He continued to compete in his forties, but then he took a bicycle tour with him.

8 month trip with his father

Alan recalls that in the years 1999-2000, when he was about 26 years old, he went on an eight-month cycling trip with his dad who has completely changed his outlook. They decided to go through Pakistan, south along the west coast of India and back north of the east coast and then to Nepal. « Life Changing » repeatedly reiterates their journey.

He mentions that there they were often 12-14 hours a day cycling or pondering bicycle-related issues, such as how the equipment could be better and how best to design something to reduce wear and damage. « There, my interest in design arose, » says Alan, but when he returned home to the United States, he began working in a bicycle shop and subsequently he entered the above studies and met Rachel.

Rachel also says she has always been very interested in cycling and cycling tremendously when she was younger. Thus, in her teens, she had her father joined in about 300 km bicycle events, which were cycled between the cities of Seattle and Portland in the United States. Then she says that the first big one she bought for her own money was a diamondback bike. « I was always cycling, cycling at work and stuff, but then I met Alan and then I met the bike scene (competition cycling), » says Rachel.

Rachel and Alan specialize in designing and producing custom -made wheel bags.

Photo/Spencer Jones

A large bike culture nearby

Today they live in the town of Bellingham, Washington, but they say that there is a considerable bicycle culture in the area, especially when it comes to mountain biking. « Enduro, mountain biking, all » off-road « is popular in Washington, » says Rachel.

Rachel is joking with the fact that the weather in Bellingham is not so unlike what happens in Reykjavik. « Wearing and rainy, warm in the summer, but not too hot and mild winter. »

They both say that through their work over the last few decades, they have come to know a lot of people in the business, manufacturers, designers and salesmen and that today they take over and we have some projects for the bigger signs.

Designed bags for himself

However, it had always been a nap in them to test themselves on their own feet. « It was always the dream to have her own production, » says Rachel. It was then in 2017 that the idea of ​​loam came to light. « First, it was more just drinking beer with my friends and sewing bags together, » says Alan laughing. At this time, Alan was on the way to cycling the Baja Devide route, which is almost 2,800 km cycling through the Baja California county in Mexico, which is a border with California in the United States.

He designed his own bags for that trip and subsequently they began to receive inquiries and requests from friends and acquaintances and later other people to customize bags for cycling. « It was the first side project, but two years ago we decided to go full -time to this adventure and now the other day we were moving into a larger space, » says Alan. Today, they have one full -time employee and a few contractors on the sidelines when there is a lot to do.

Most in the custom design

They have specialized in bags, even though they undertake all kinds of other tasks, but the main focus has been on posture bags, ie. Bags that go into the triangle on a wheelchair. Although they produce and sell bags in predetermined sizes and formats, they both say that people are increasingly looking for bags that both fit perfectly with their wheels and to get custom -designed graphics. « We are the most designed design, both posture bags, but also by having special colors or graphics, » says Alan. « It seems that demand is highest when it comes to specially designed. »

Today, they sew dozens and over a hundred bags a month, according to Rachel, but in addition to posture bags, they also sew bags on top of the top rod, steering bags and small bags at the steering wheel or beverage. « This is not a fast process, but it is very fun to sew like that and most of all is it handmade, » says Rachel about the production.

Their design office is in the city of Bellingham, Washington,.

Photo/Spencer Jones

Basket biking

Alan also mentions that the so -called « basket touring » has been somewhat in the Northwest in recent years. This is actually the simplest arrangement of bicycle travel and is especially popular among those who, for example, want to use existing transport bikes to go beyond the asphalt or out to the countryside without having to add any equipment. The only thing that needs is a basket (or parrot bearer) on the front of the wheel and then a waterproof travel bag is placed in the basket and people cycle, for example, to a guesthouse on the country or just for a long day’s tour. They have designed and sold a lot of these bags that people also use when they go to work or to the store.

Loam’s main market is still on the west coast and mainly in the northwest, but they have begun to sell across the United States and even abroad, according to Alan. What makes such an expansion on the international market is difficult for transport costs, but they still say they expect such sales to take over over time.

Collaboration with bicycle manufacturers

In addition to selling products themselves through their homepage, they have also collaborated with breweries nearby and have, among other things, designed a wheelbase on the front of a wheel that fits perfectly for beer tipping. Finally, they mention that they have recently partnered with the Corvus broad -wheel mark, which now offers the company’s bags with wheels they sell.

Asked about the sequel and how they want to see the next few years, Alan says it would be fun to increase cooperation with wheel manufacturers, either by the fact that the bags are sold with wheels, or that they come up with a database of issues for certain wheelmarks and that they are referred to as a purse manufacturer.

Bike part of mooring equipment

Finally, Alan says that with great development in the material for outdoor products in recent years, various ideas have sprung up. He then wants to take advantage of his experience of long cycling and design products that fit for those who look to the concept of super -light tourism. He says that recent materials that are exceptionally lightweight have been on the market for hikers who want to travel super light and that he wants to transfer it to some extent to tourism.

He mentions, for example, that today there is a very light rainfall material. His idea is to develop some kind of cover that uses the wheel instead of rods and thus the mooring equipment can be relieved somewhat. This is at least a project that he has started to work on and it will be interesting to see if he eventually gets out on the market.

The news first appeared in the Morgunbladid Bicycle magazine April 11.