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Saw this over on the Fatbike forum and thought it might be of interest here. Shame but I'm sure there are a few reasons why.
"Wildcat Gear will be closing its doors at the end of March 2019.
With approaching 10 years of UK-made bikepacking gear behind us, it hasn’t been an easy decision, but life constantly unfolds to present new challenges and we want to make the most of those opportunities.
Wildcat started from very humble beginnings, and developed into a well respected small brand that produced simple but innovative kit that just worked. Feedback from our customers has been constantly amazing, and a big thanks for your support over the years.
All remaining stock is discounted by up to 50% and availability of some items is fairly low. When it’s gone, it’s gone. So be quick!"
Thats a shame. I guess the market caught up with them. I wish them well with the future.
II've got some great kit from wild cat. We'll made, lasted well.
There's a thread on Bearbones - https://bearbonesbikepacking.co.uk/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=14240 including responses from Ian.
We've a lot of Wildcat gear, significantly better quality than their competitors (we've got some so can directly compare) but of course you don't see that on a screen.
Sad to see one of the UK bikepacking pioneers disappear.
That would be Carradice, would it not? Bikepacking is just bike touring with a new name to make think it is something else to try/buy - or have I completely missed what it is?
Always a shame when someone closes, even more of a shame when the kit they made is so good.
@DickBarton - yes and no. Carradice make road touring kit, that's not to say people didn't use it off-road, but Carradice didn't, to my knowledge, design or make off-road specific bags. Look at their saddle bags: they all have their major axis at right angles to that of the bike, not the best thing if you are off-road and want to move your weight back. Bags like that also get in the way when you have to get off and push.
Off-road "bikepacking" gear tends to be in-line with the bike so that you don't snag the bags when riding single track. It's also much lighter, sometimes due to material, sometimes due to how the bags attach (racks and panniers).
It's a bit of a usage continuum rather than one or the other and for a given situation it just means there's options as to what to use. The Iditarod Trail race is underway at the moment and a lot of riders will be using a rear rack and panniers simply because they need to carry a lot of bulky kit as well as food and fuel for the ride. They'll also have "bikepacking" frame bags and handlebar rolls.
Shame, awesome kit. I already have all their bags for my bike, just bought another one of everything they had left (think I got the last Drover, sorry!!) so the GF can come bikepacking too!
Bikepacking is just bike touring with a new name to make think it is something else to try/buy – or have I completely missed what it is?
Touring tends to be traditional camping or B&B and hostel, and mostly road. Bikepacking is mostly MTBing and bivvying in the wilds. Because of that, the luggage requirements are different. Racks tend not to last long on mountain trails.
You could use the same word for both, but you'd be going against the grain and confusing a lot of people. And before anyone mentions marketing, the term bikepacking was in use long before there was even the tiny amount of commercial involvement there is now. Most of the kit available now is directly derived from the inventions of individuals and small businesses like Wildcat.
That and touring to me means heavy panniers packed for every eventuality, planned stops and changing for dinner/bed, bikepacking means going for a ride and sleeping wherever you run out of daylight/energy/trail. Bikepacking is going for a very long ride, touring is going places.
@molgrips & @thisisnotaspoon - I don't think the demarcation is as simple as either of those but bikepacking does tend to be more low key without relying on "facilities" in the way that traditional touring does. There's definitely some grey areas in categorising things hence molly's "tends".
I've done a week's road touring using less kit than when bikepacking for example - it was credit card touring with pre-booked accommodation so rather cushy! On the other hand there was pressure to keep moving because you needed to catch the last ferry of the day ... Equally I've used commercial facilities when bikepacking.
Bikepacking does tend to be: "I've got X litres of capacity. What do I leave behind?" whereas traditional touring tends to be: "I've got X to take, how much capacity do I need?". Not always like that of course. An analogy might be Light and fast alpine climbing vs expedition style trips.
Companies like Wildcat, Alpkit and stateside, Revelate were in at the start of what might be considered the "modern" bikepacking wave and basically created the market. Contrast that with firms who've basically sat on the sidelines and only introduced lines when they've felt they could sell it as the "next thing" and make money from it. Sure, Wildcat et al. weren't doing it to lose money, they are businesses after all, but they'd a commitment beyond that.
Traditional as that what was done back then...if mountain bikes were a recognised product then they'd be doing it on those...bit like what the rough stuff fellowship did (and do)...
I'm not bothered about it, having a crap week and looking to vent and found this as an opportune thing to vent my annoyance (this just happened to be it).
It's always great to work for a company that produce great product and Wildcat Gear was absolutely superb.
I'm sure I'll be using mine for years to come, as will my children.
Good luck to Ian and Beth in their future endeavours!
Got Wildcat gear on my bike and will be using it on the Badger Divide - love it, quality and a joy to use. Thanks folks 👍
Have some of their kit and really rate it. Right up at the top beside Revelate IMO.
I'd buy something but I've got a lion and tiger already which does me for what I need, I've added in a couple of the drybags to round things off. Cracking bits of kit and sorry to see Wildcat go, probably made life difficult for themselves by being too robust.
Bought a Lion yesterday. I've already got an Ocelot. Shame that they are shutting.
Traditional as that what was done back then…if mountain bikes were a recognised product then they’d be doing it on those
Of course, and people have been moving around and sleeping rough since there were people. There are recognised 'styles' of doing something, because that helps people know what to buy and manufacturers know what to make. But in terms of what's actually done there's a spectrum including everything between the two extremes of say Tour Divide style or fully supported road event.
If I go bikepacking, and I decide to use a rack with a drybag strapped to the top, and anything cages on my forks; and I stay in a bothy a couple of nights - am I still bikepacking or am I touring? Doesn't really matter of course. But if I am in a shop and I ask for touring kit or bikepacking kit - I'll get shown different stuff.
Wildcat are coming back according to a post on Facebook. Unable to link, sorry
The post was copied over to Bearbones, here it is:
A few months ago, we updated our website with a message thanking our customers for their support over the years but that the time was right to close the doors on Wildcat for good.
Well, we got it wrong and we've changed our mind! We have new products and new people and we're excited to say we'll be back up and running very soon.
Head over to the website and sign up for our newsletter and keep an eye on our social media for all the latest updates.
New model, the Phoenix bar bag?