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A bicycle is a powerful tool for adventure, limited only by the potential energy stored in one’s body and luck in avoiding catastrophic mechanical failures that sometimes just happen, as if by divine intervention. One of the essential accessories for lengthening two-wheeled adventures are bags that hang off your saddle, handlebars, or both. Swift Industries designs and sews bags in Seattle that help cyclists carry the gear they need on adventures long and short.
For the holidays, Swift has collaborated with artist Wyatt Hersey to create unique variations of its best-selling products to benefit the Appleton-Whittell Research Ranch in Southern Arizona. The limited-edition line is called the Dovetail Collection. A pair of binoculars from Nocs Provisions and a notebook from Mordecai Book Binding compliment the release, and 5% of all sales goes to AWRR.
Swift’s founder Martina Brimmer was initially introduced to the Research Ranch in 2020 when she visited Southern Arizona with a group of friends to ride bikes. The National Audubon Society operates the 8,000-acre ranch, which sits 60 miles east of Tucson, as a sanctuary and field research station. It also served as the location for the collection’s lookbook photo shoot, which features adventure cyclist Sarah Swallow.
Funds raised from the Dovetail Collection will support the ranch’s ongoing efforts to conserve and rehabilitate native vegetation and wildlife populations. (If you want to go deeper and/or make a direct donation, visit the Research Ranch website direct.)
The Dovetail edition of Swift’s flagship Zeitgeist Pack ($228), a 12-liter bag that can mount to either handlebars or saddle, uses a grey X-Pac material reminiscent of, you guessed it, a dove. The embroidered patch bears artwork by Hersey and attaches with Velcro so that riders can swap it out with other illustrated patches available in the Dovetail Patch Kit ($16) or with other pieces they purchase from the collection.
The same stealth grey X-Pac material outfits the Dovetail edition Kestrel Handlebar Bag ($150), which comes with another illustrated patch that appropriately depicts a kestrel taking flight. A pair of matching Sidekick Stem Pouches ($60 each) can mount directly to the backside of the Kestrel via MOLLE loop straps for a neat cocktail cargo set up. There's also the Seeker Travel Kit ($65), which organizes small items like tools and tire levers.
An accompanying set of compact binoculars by Nocs Provisions ($95) builds on the birding theme, as does the Field Book ($14) made by Mordecai Book Binding. A simple Dad Cap ($28) serves as the single wearable piece in the collection.
As with all super cool limited edition things, the pieces from the Dovetail Collection are sure to sell out faster than a Northern Harrier flys through a mixed-grass prairie, so don’t miss out on the chance to grab some gear that benefits a great natural cause.
Published 11-29-2021
