INTRODUCTION

E V E R Y B O D Y D E S E R V E S A G O O D BACKPACK.

A good backpack is so much more than a sack with straps. Backpacks like shoes have different fits, sizes and intended purposes. A backpack sometimes seems to be the most underestimated piece of equipment. Look at people’s faces when they carry a pack around at airports, train stations, in the city, on their way to a hostel or a camp site. Even better, look at their bags. Backpacks always tell the story. You’ll see people struggle through their day, all the while their packs are hanging and dangling.

It’s common in everyday life for people to complain about (minor) backaches. If you plan to carry a backpack on your next adventure or even daily, invest a little extra time to seek out good advice and pick a pack that fits your back and your needs best.

BACH builds packs that fit and accompany you for a long time. It is our mission to design backpacks that carry lighter, so that you can enjoy the journey more.

This year we celebrate 40 years of making packs better and it has been a good ride so far. We are excited to share with you some of our highlights on the following pages and look forward to hearing your experiences with our packs soon.

Your BACH team INTRODUCTION 01 40 years of Bach history 02 Colors 2020 04 News 2020 05 Backpack adjustments 06 Fit guide 08 Individual fitting | service 10 Materials 12 Weatherproof concept 14 3D smart divider 15

TREKKING 18 Overview 28

TRAIL 30 Overview 38

TRAVEL 40 Overview 51

URBAN OUTDOOR 52 Overview 62

PROFESSIONAL 64

ACCESSORIES 66

SPECIAL THANKS TO THE CO-DESIGNERS: Barbara, Bridget, Chris, Christa, David, Egon, Frank, Yoonji, Jb, Luzia, Maarten, Maria, Marlies, Martin, Nielsli, Noah, Takuya, Thuy, Sarah, Céline, Chantal, Lionel, Simon, Tony and various Swiss mountain guides

The Great BACH Packing and Construction Company is established on Michael Street in Kilkenny. The first packs made by the 7 employees were external frame packs based on the famous Camp Trails backpacks from the USA.

As buyers for the Swiss Outdoor and Travel chain Transa, Martin and Beat travel to Kilkenny looking for outdoor equipment made in Europe. Overwhelmed by the Minimal Order Quantity (“less than one piece could be difficult”) they bring the first 20 packs home to sell at the Transa shop in Zürich.

The birth of the BACH Overland. A true BACH classic which was named after the first extended overland Trans Sahara expeditions by the founders of Transa in the late seventies. Even after ist fifth makeover the key-features never changed. The Overland still has the shape and usabilty of a suitcase but the carrying comfort of a trekking pack.

1979 1985 1991

1982 1989 1995

In the eighties BACH witnessed and participated in the biggest innovation period ever in backpacks. From an external frame, packs were now developed with internal frames. BACH was present right at the beginning of this exciting period in history and were the first to introduce an internal frame system that was truly adjustable. It was called Orthoflex and the patent was pending for years….

In the summer of 89 the Swiss caused a little uproar in rural Kilkenny. After a sudden and unexpected bankrupt they took over the factory, inventory and all its workers and re-named it «TransBach Ltd». Although everybody worked hard, the first achievement was that turnover of the local pub became inversely proportional to the BACH turnover. As it seemed, the world was not yet ready for the influences from a young ambitious Swiss mountain guide by the name of Martin Wiesmann.

It was a rough start in the late eighties. Finding out that speaking English is not the same as understanding Irish. But with the help of clever Swiss engineering and Irish work ethics, de velopment starts to head in the right direction. Ultimately better products result in better sales and this in turn results in a brand new building on Hebron Industrial Estate in Kilkenny. Finally we get more space. Bridget is now in charge of 30 employees and all BACH products are crafted with pride in Ireland. The latest dream is to buy a forklift.

Things go fast now. The company is growing and this results in a demand for more products that we can produce in Ireland. The stable economic and political climate of Vietnam looks appealing so we start producing there.

BACH now even has a website, but still no forklift.

At the outdoor show in 2013 a nice Japanese guy shows up with a catalogue from the 90s in his hand, asking if we still offer the ‘Flintstone’. We don’t, but ask Bridget if she still has the original patterns. She does and she makes two pieces. Before we know it, we are big in Japan. It is the start of a new adventure and new friendships.

2 0 0 0 2013

2004 2 0 1 6

BACH EQUIPMENT and SCOTT Sports have agreed to join forces for the future. This will help BACH to strengthen its global position and further spread its mission to make better packs available for everybody.

2019

2017

The forklift finally arrives! Tony is a happy man and no longer needs swiss mountain guide biceps for shipping boxes. In the name of love for the mountains and his girl, Martin moves back to Switzerland and with him the BACH design studio.

Long lasting partnerships with ACAPULKA lead to numerous expeditions to the poles and other remarkable achievements carried out with pulling harnesses and covers made by BACH.

For Leica we designed and produced a Red Dot Award Winning product which caries their measuring device.

The launch of our Weatherproof concept and positive response from the market provides BACH an entry to the USA. It is too early to say but time will tell if America is already ready for BACH.

BLACK

PEARL GREY

BLUE

SNORKEL BLUE

ALPINE GREEN

YELLOW CURRY

SECURITY ORANGE RED

WHITE

LITE VENTURE 60 Multi talent for backpacking and trekking with a smart packing solution. Page 25

TRAVELSTAR 40 Style meets functionality. Tons of options for a week-end with friends or a business trip with maximum carry-on size. Page 45

ROC 22 Sporty commuter or a stylish sportsgear for the easy to advanced hike. Or a mini trekking pack for younger explorers. Page 37

TRAVEL PRO 45 & 65 Rugged and practical travel companion with the carrying-system of a trekking backpack. Page 44

OVERLAND 70 Travel backpack with zip-on daypack and suitcase-like packing capabilities. Page 43

TRAVELSTAR 28 Smart pack for university and the office with a laptop pocket and proper organisation inside. Page 46

ROC 28 Simply a great pack for a day outdoors. Rugged and comfy to carry. Page 37

DICE 15 The clean-looking, stylish and robust daypack. Page 55

THE POCKET A robust, clean and chic hero for any small item it can carry. Page 60

BACKPACK CONCEPTS

A backpack should primarily fit on the back. It should be as easy to carry as possible and still offer enough space for your equipment. However, “one size fits all” doesn’t exist. That is why BACH offers different volumes, back lengths and models with differently adapted components (hip belt, shoulder straps, packing bag).

A. THE APPROACH OF STEADY & HEAVY LOADS Traditionally, hip belts were padded very rigidly, fastened as stiffly as possible to the packsack and braced like a barn door. The very firm fit of the hip belt is often an advantage with loads over 25kg and in rather gentle terrain.

However, since the body wants to twist against the backpack when walking, a fixed hip belt leads to lateral swinging of the load in the shoulder area and often to abrasion points on the hip bones.

B. THE DYNAMIC APPROACH The movement of the hip and the twisting of the upper body (torsion) should also be possible when the bag is loaded.

With every step, your upper body slightly twists against your hips. When walking, your hip moves sideways as well as forwards and backwards. BACH constructs the back system in such a way that does not interfere with the dynamics of your movements. With normal loads in the trekking range (15-25 kg) and uneven terrain, the advantages of the dynamic approach clearly outweigh: the load is better balanced on the back. For heavier loads, it can be advantageous to be able to further fasten the hip belt.

06 1

TRAIL | TRAVEL <40L

2

TREKKING I TRAVEL >40L

LOAD LIFTERS

The load lifters perform two functions: · stabilization of your load and prevent the pack from falling backwards · take some weight off your shoulders and transfer it to the hip belt The correct size of your backpack is determined by the angle of the load lifters to your shoulders. On the other hand, this angle depends on the activity you’ll be doing with your backpack. The higher the weight of the pack, the bigger the angle needs to be to perform the above functions. However, the bigger the angle of the load lifters, the less headroom you get. Therefore, we differentiate between (1) Trail | Travel and (2) Trekking | Travel.

1

4

PROPERLY ADJUST YOUR BACKPACK

Put some weight into your BACH pack. Slightly loosen upper and lower load control straps. Put pack on your shoulders and slowly tighten shoulder straps until your pack feels comfortable. If you close hip belt now it will nicely hug your hips. To distribute more weight to your hips, you may loosen shoulder straps slightly. Position the sliders of the load lifters slightly in front of your shoulder. The load lifters stabilize your load and prevent pack from falling backwards. For best result tighten the load lifters slightly. You may (in uneven terrain) or may not (in even terrain) tighten the lower load control straps for firmer fit of the hip belt.

1. Set shoulder straps By adjusting the shoulder straps (or exchange them for another size) you’re able to make two major modifications: varying their length and setting the angle between the two straps around your neck. A. (M.A.D.) Pull out yellow straps from behind lumbar pad and loosen 25mm buckles. Set shoulder harness 10-20mm below the highest possible position. If you are a small or slim person you may set shoulder straps lower down and vice versa. Tighten the yellow straps and tuck them away. Check: when correct the shoulder harness sits 10-20mm below the highest possible position. B. (Expedition) The clip-in harness can easily be adjusted at the given positions.

2

3

2. Insert hip belt Insert hip belt behind lumbar pad and anchor in lowest position. Connect lower load control straps to the 25mm buckles.

3. Connect Angel Wings Our M.A.D. back system comes with Angel Wings. These diagonal straps bring the load closer to your back and reduce the lateral movement of your pack. Please thread and adjust buckles as shown. Try the effect of the Angel wings once you are on the trail. Most people like Angel Wings slightly tightened when walking in flat areas or downhill. Since the pack is sitting more stable on your shoulders we consider this approach the best solution for normal loads (15 to 20kg) and uneven terrain. When walking with heavier loads, it can be an advantage if you can fix the hip belt more stable.

4. Chest strap To reduce pressure points on shoulders and arms close the chest strap. For easy breathing you may have to slide the chest strap up or down.

YOUR TORSO LENTGH MATTERS. WHICH BACH BACKPACK SIZE FITS YOUR BACK?

Since each person has different body proportions, most BACH backpacks come in different back lengths. Basically, the larger the volume of the backpack (and thus the weight carried), the more you want to relieve your shoulders and carry the weight on the hip belt. This can only be achieved with a correspondingly steep angle of the loadlifter. The following illustration will help you find the backpack size that fits your back.

STEP 1

MEASURE YOUR TORSO LENGTH

...from the middle of the hip bone (iliac crest) to the “C7” neck bone (you feel it best when you put your chin on your chest) «C7» neck bone

hip bone

STEP 2

PREFERRED POSITION OF YOUR HIP BELT

slightly above hip bone middle of hip bone slightly below hip bone

STEP 3

1+2 = YOUR TORSO INDEX

Check your corresponding pack size. - 3 cm 0 cm + 3 cm

TREKKING

47

short

45-55 regular

52-62 long

59 Xlong

TRAIL TRAVEL

47

short

45-55 regular

52 long 55 regular

52 long

A few comments on this:

1. This approach is meant as a general guidance for you to find the size of backpack based on your specific needs. 2. Our packs will join your life for quite a while. It’s best to try one before you buy one to be sure it fits your back. 3. If you are unsure which back length will fit you best: opt for the larger size of the backpack (especially for large volume backpacks).

NEW RIVER 60-100

SLIM MAC 80

SPECIALIST 75 W‘S SPECIALIST 65

DAY DREAM 50

JOURNEYMAN 48

PACKMAN 44

OVERLAND 70

SLIM MAC L

SPECIALIST XL

SLIM MAC R

SPECIALIST L

LITE MARE L SPECIALIST R W‘S SPECIALIST R

torso-index [cm]

LITE MARE R

W‘S LITE MARE R W‘S SPECIALIST S LITE VENTURE L

W‘S LITE MARE S LITE VENTURE R W‘S LITE VENTURE R

SHORT REG

LONG XLONG

34 36 38 40 42 44 46 48 50 52 54 56 58 60 62 64

HIKING

80

75

70

65

60

volume [l]

DAY DREAM S JOURNEYMAN S

PACKMAN S DAY DREAM R JOURNEYMAN R DAY DREAM L JOURNEYMAN L

PACKMAN R

SHIELD PLUS S SHIELD PLUS L

PACKSTER R SHIELD PLUS R PACKSTER L

SHIELD S SHIELD R

torso-index [cm] SHORT REG

LONG

34 36 38 40 42 44 46 48 50 52 54 56 58 60 62 64

TRAVEL

55

50

45

40

35

30

25

volume [l] LITE VENTURE 60 W‘S LITE VENTURE 60

LITE MARE 65 W‘S LITE MARE 60

SHIELD PLUS 35

PACKSTER 33

SHIELD 26

OVERLAND L

80

OVERLAND R

TRAVEL PRO R TRAVEL PRO L

44 46 48 50 52 54 56 58 60 62 70

60

volume [l] TRAVEL PRO 65

INDIVIDUAL FITTING

Bending the aluminium stay Adjustable HDPE-framesheet with aluminium 6082-TF stay To further improve the fit of your pack you may bend the aluminium stay. Use a plier to take the stay out of your pack without removing the HDPE frame sheet. The stay should follow the contour of your back in slightly bent forward position.

Trekking Series: 2 different shoulder straps: Men: long, straight | Women: shorter, more contoured

Trekking Series: 4 different sizes of hip belts Standard = M | Women = S

LOAD YOUR PACK

For best carrying comfort we recommend distributing load as shown above. Heavy gear close to your back. Light stuff close to bottom and outer part of your pack. Medium weight in hood and side pockets.

RECOMMENDED MAXIMUM WEIGHT

A very common question is how much weight one can carry with our packs. Simple questions don’t always have simple answers.

Although we engineered our different carrying systems with different loads in mind it is not going to be the pack that will complain first. Our trekking and travel packs easily take 100kg. Question is; will you?

SERVICE

Cleaning Clean your pack with a damp cloth and a brush.

Storage Do not store a laminated hip belt folded or concealed behind the cover flap of your travel pack. Incorrect storage may dramatically reduce the performance of your hip belt and may result in permanent damage. Any laminated fabric should not be stored and exposed to high humidity.

Repairs Should you be one out of 10’000 people ever needing our repair service, take a deep breath, look at yourself and let the feeling sink in: you are one of the few people in this world to have this experience. If ever possible we will repair your companion. Your pack has gone a long way with you, so why should we shred your shared memories by simply replacing it.

Warranty All BACH gear is warranted against defects in material and workmanship for a period of 5 years after purchase. Normal wear and tear such as broken buckles or worn out zips cannot be claimed under this warranty. The lifespan you can reasonably expect depends rather on the amount of abuse your pack gets than on the actual age as such. But don’t worry: If BACH built it, BACH will stand behind it.

BACH materials are lightweight yet strong. We think going the extra yard is always worth the price.

FABRIC CORDURA® has made its name as the best yarn for fabrics with high demand on abrasion and tear resistance which is a must-have for technical backpacks. Most of the BACH fabrics are made by Leejo Textiles in Seoul, Korea who was the first CORDURA® licensed fabric manufacturer outside the USA.

1000D CORDURA® Classic is the toughest fabric BACH uses. It is extremely abrasion and tear resistant. The yarn is air-texturised, creating a matt and structured appearance and it is a good bit more abrasion resistant than Oxford Nylon or Polyester fabrics of similar weight. Comparing the 1000D CORDURA® Classic with the 420D Oxford Nylon it adds only about 30% extra weight by showing a tensile strength which is about 2.5 times stronger. It is used on exposed and important parts of our packs where compromises are not an option.

500D CORDURA® Classic is a little lighter than the 1000D and still convinces with excellent abrasion and tear resistance. The yarn is air-texturised, thinner and the weaving is denser resulting in a matt and soft appearance. N/420D CDR NH Dobby is a CORDURA® Nylon fabric. The weaving technique produces great tensile strength for its weight. It offers different technical arguments compared to 500D CORDURA® Classic fabrics.

Power Mesh 840D is a bi-elastic 300g/m² mesh produced by the Korean company Young Poong. It is not only beautifully stretchy but also offers impressive abrasion characteristics – which is important for its often exposed position on stuffed pockets on the outside of our products.

The 4-way Spandex with a reinforcing PU lamination is a stretchy fabric which is used on the inside of shoulder-straps and other places with body-contact where flexibility is important. The dense weaving with the PU lamination makes a nice soft touch by not absorbing any sweat or transferring colour.

STRAPS / WEBBING BACH is using Nylon webbing. Nylon webbings are strong, abrasion and UV resistant, do not absorb any water and are well known from seat-belts in cars. BACH does not recommend the use of Polypropylene webbing on backpacks due to its lower resistance against UV-radiation which results in higher stiffness after few years. When buying webbing for the BACH packs we take special care to make sure that the webbing qualities are compatible with the buckles we use. It can be quite tricky to make sure that the combination webbing/buckle holds the required load. The webbing must not slip through the buckle but should be easily adjustable at the same time. And not only once but for all the years to come!

ZIPPERS Little parts - big difference! On all packs BACH is exclusively using high quality YKK zippers. Wherever applicable we use no. 10 zippers and don’t go smaller than no. 5. Since BACH started 40 years ago we have resisted the temptation to use smaller sizes and cheaper brands and this decision has proven to be right over the years. BACH always uses the zipper chain on the visible outside because it lasts 30% longer than the zipper chain used inside out with the webbing on the outside. BACH only uses silver nickel-plated zipper sliders, as these have a longer lifetime as their coloured counterparts (no matter if powder coated or any other dyeing technology).

FOAM Foams are available in a wide variety of specs. This is one of the reasons why it is important to assign a clear function to each foam. Basically, a distinction should be made between padding functionality (close to the body) and support functionality (further away from the body).

Shoulder-straps BACH only uses 15mm or 20mm thick EVA foam between 22-25 kg (per cube yard) in the shoulder-straps of the large backpacks (45-100l). Over the past 40 years EVA 22-25 has proven to be a good compromise between comfort (soft), durability and equal weight distribution (hard, tough) with a high resilience. For our smaller models we mostly use 12mm thick EVA 20-22kg. This makes the straps subtler and adapts better to the shape of the shoulder with lower weight and the movement by keeping its supporting and protecting purpose. Because BACH uses high-quality EVA, the shoulder-straps retain their original properties over the years.

Hip-belt The foams in our M.A.D. and Expedition hip-belts are glued to the outer fabric, making them particularly rigid and three-dimensional. The interior padding is multi-layered, consisting of two layers EVA foam (closed cell) and one layer of PU foam (oben cell). In addition, the hip-belt is reinforced with an HDPE plate. The slightly lighter hip-belts of the Shield Pro carrying system consist of a layer PU foam for padding reasons and one layer Atilon foam for support.

Back-panel In the back-panel we mainly use PU foams (open cell) that allow good ventilation, absorb little moisture and therefore dry quickly after rain and during perspiration.

BUCKLES BACH has consistently been using Nylon buckles for the past 40 years even though the whole world seemed to use the cheaper POM (Polyoxymethylene, also known as Acetal) buckles. The polar expeditions supported by BACH and demanding customers in the cold Norwegian winters proved the decision for Nylon to be the right decision and accepting the higher price and the colour variety being reduced to black.

EVERY PACK IS AS GOOD AS THE SUM OF ITS PARTS The field of polymers science has made huge progress in the past few years and BACH developed a range of new side-release buckles together with YKK that are especially designed for the newly created T-POM (Tough Polyoxymethylene). After intense testing down to -40° degrees Celsius in the lab and on many tours in harsh winter conditions BACH and YKK guarantee the same strength as the previous buckles even in these cold temperatures – immensely improving the usability of the side-release buckles. Most other buckles are still made of Nylon from the high-quality brands Duraflex and Woojin.

same construction for sizes 20, 25, 38 and 50mm

T-POM (Tough Polyoxymethylen: high-performance Acetal)

anti-break

center guide: to prevent one-sided miss operation

anti-hook: asymetric & closed design for fast and easy plug-in

reduced and light construction

wide release-lever for easy access even with thick gloves

4 points engagement system for load spreading and maximum strength loads of space for maximum usability, even with gloves

thick and strong construction (can easily withstand a mans step)

drain hole: exit to wash out of dirt and ice

WEATHERPROOF

WEATHERPROOF CONCEPT

PACK

TPU-LINER WEATHERPROOF

We decided to call our bad weather series WEATHERPROOF and not waterproof. for two reasons: 1. in order to improve every day handling the new packs all have waterproofed main chambers combined with not waterproofed features and pockets (e.g. to separately store a wet tent from your dry stuff). 2. our personal experience shows that rolltops are perfectly protecting your stuff from rain in general, but they all ultimately leak when used for swimming or for instance, kayaking.

NO COMPROMISES

by allocating specific functions to an inner, sealed layer and an outer protective surface we could avoid most compromises which normally hinder the every day performance of waterproof gear and were even able to add some so far not available functions and features.

· no compromises regarding the design of the backpack itself: the taping of the TPU-Liner doesn’t need to follow the complex structure of the seams of the (outer) pack. This strongly increases the durability of the taping as (waterproof)-taped seams are known to be the most fragile part of a waterproof pack. · less taping is needed which reduces the risk of failure. · we used the strongest and most durable tape for our TPU-Liners in order to guarantee a long life of your WEATHERPROOF-pack.

OPTIMISE ABRASION & WEIGHT

3D SMART DIVIDER

3 D S M A R T DIVIDER

BACH 3D SMART DIVIDER:

Perfect Load Control - Optimized Carrying Comfort The BACH 3D SMART DIVIDER is a clever solution that solves the very common problem of heavy stuff wanting to sink to the bottom of your pack. As we have seen in a separate chapter we want heavy stuff to stay close to your back for the most comfortable carrying experience.

We cannot defy gravity but with the help of the diagonal 3D SMART DIVIDER heavy stuff now stops sinking sooner than with a traditional horizontal divider and it will stay close to your back.

By packing the heavy items from the top and the light stuff stowed from the bottom you ensure the most ergonomic and efficient way of carrying your pack.

You may choose to roll-up your 3D SMART DIVIDER and easily hide it to convert the pack in a one compartment pack with a comfortable front zip for easy access to all your gear from the top and the front of the pack.