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I like to think about alternatives.
Repurposed Pack: from Back to Bike

Repurposed Pack: from Back to Bike

In June 2025 I went on a multi-day bike trip with some friends on the north side of the Alps. While using a trucker’s hitch to attach my 15l EXPED Typhoon waterproof backpack to the lightweight detachable rack on the back of my road bike, a thief snatched my bodybag from the table behind me, leaving me without my phone, battery, cash, normal glasses, house key, ID card and driver’s license. Fortunately my phone was locked, my address is unlisted, and I had no plastic credit cards that needed to be blocked, so I could go on to enjoy the trip with the help of my friends. It did, however, make it clear that, as much as I like the trucker’s hitch and a multi-purpose piece of rope, I needed a faster method for tying my bikepacking backpack to the rack.

On that trip I didn’t take rain gear or an insulating jacket; the weather was so warm that a bikini, my little black Arc’teryx dress, and flipflops were enough extra luggage. To be a bit more resilient against bad weather, I got a larger waterproof 25l EXPED Typhoon backpack, red to match my bike, and am now doing my usual thing of cutting off extra-long, dangly straps and will try to repurpose them to make it easier to attach the backpack to the rack.

Repurposing project waiting to be done

I also own panniers, but they are overkill for a trip of a couple of days where I don’t need to bring heels and a formal dress to stand on stage and moderate an event, as I did in September 2025. Panniers are also good for camping gear, but the use case in this post assumes staying in hostels along the way.

It’s nice to be able to carry the pack on your back and not leave anything heavy or valuable attached to the bike in order to be able to get on and off the train or bus quickly and easily. I’m paranoid about getting my stuff stolen, and yet it happened to me, so my paranoia is justified.

So, how to repurpose the extra-long straps on the backpack to attach the bikebackpack to the rack? I could buy four straps but they wouldn’t be the same color and they wouldn’t be attached to the bag for a quick getaway when entering a train with the bike, removing luggage and hanging up the bike. Plus, I like making straps the right length for me and then repurposing the leftovers. Very fulfilling.

The waist band isn’t really needed on such a small backpack so I can use half on one side and half on the other. The shoulder straps are extra long for my short torso, so I can cut some off for the front attachments. I have an EXPED buckle from a previously streamlined backpack for one of the small straps. I just need a second set (a big and a small buckle) for the straps on the other side. Extremtextil.de sells wonderful buckles of all types but I’m sure I have a couple more lying around. So this should work.

Something like this
Or this? The ingenious loops to detach the waist strap from the backpack can be used to attach them to the daisy chain. So practical!
View from below
… and from the side
Do I have enough red strap material to attach the other side of the buckle or do I need to use black to replace the blue strap used here for illustrative purposes?

Sewing is more nerve-wrecking than programming because once you cut the material there’s no “undo” button. So, as a first step, I’ll just use black straps to complete the large straps and test that on a bike ride this afternoon.

My hotknife doesn’t have an “undo” button either, so it always takes some mental energy to use it, especially when I’m destroying a part that someone else has lovingly designed
Another streamlined piece repurposed, freeing up a buckle and good quality strap material. (My 40l pack doesn’t need a chest strap either. Hope I don’t change my mind!)
Thr writing should not be upside down
… and the sewing needs to be “nice side out’
No “EXPED” written on the second buckle, but it will have to do
About this much black strap material is needed
I sewed on both buckles. Too bad they weren’t compatible so they could still be used as a waist strap. But the chances of needing that are low. The chest strap ensures stability if the backpack is worn on the bike.
Ready for the first test! An old simple strap is used on the smaller top side for the test. Note that this won’t stop the bag from rotating around the strap. It’s a much less stable way of attaching a bag to a rack.
That looks ok. Nice and streamlined! The elastic ice axe holder has been repurposed to hold a fleece or jacket, in case it gets warm, and a carabiner can create a second holder strap. No dangly bits!
So far, so good!
Yup, that works!

Early next morning: now for the second set of straps, the ones at the front.

Something like this
Ensure that the pack can’t slide backwards or fall off sideways
The black strap indicates the first rough estimate of the length I’d need, but I don’t have that much extra strap

I’ll see if I can repurpose some black straps and pieces from the chest strap. I could make the ingenious loop from the extra chest strap.

After unpicking unneeded straps from my other EXPED backpacks, I think I have enough material for the two smaller straps.

I’ll use the extra strap length from the chest strap for the loops by cutting the piece in half lengthwise:

That looks ok. I’m using a bit more of the grey strap so I don’t need to cut the shoulders straps off too much
How much of the red strap do I really need?
About this much.

Pictures of nerve-wrecking non-reversible hotknifing not taken. Sewing done under stress of not double thinking and doing it backwards.

Done! No obvious mistakes! Made some elastic strap holders too.

The contrasting colors are actually quite nice

Since the elastic just slides over the end when the flap is turned to the inside, I used the hotknife to cut off the end

… and resewed it in the other direction. Now all the ends match!

Let’s check it out on the bike!

It looks great from the top! Waterproof, stable, easy to attach and to remove!
And a nice color too!

Can’t wait to take my bike for an overnight spin!

Field test 1: It worked perfectly on the back of my rental bike in Holland! Even through heavy traffic and curvy roads I was confident that it wouldn’t slide off!
Field test 2: The straps can also be used to attach the helmet, reducing the number of individual objects to keep track of.
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