[Ballistic_BW]

Howdy folks,

Stoked to be a sponsor for Snowboardingforum.com and to get a chance to show you all the Bomb Bag we have been developing!

First off some quick background info. My name is Vaughn and I have been snowboarding for 18 some years now. I am a PSIA-AASI certified snowboard instructor up at Silver Mountain. My company Ballistic Boardwear is a snowboarding startup based out of the Pacific Northwest.

This will be our first season with something to actually sell after a few years of getting everything designed, developed, and all the other crap that goes along with starting a LLC and getting a patent.

Gonna save you guys the trouble of a few thousand words and just show you the goods.

So, to address the elephant in the room. Yes, this has been done before in the form of the Highback Bag from Bakota and Neff Highback Backpack - Binding Accessories | Backcountry.com, the Hybrid Bindingpack, and a few other products.

What sets our product apart is how it mounts, its size, and the fact that it is 100% waterproof. No other product to date has given us 100% waterproof storage on our boards.

Our goal when developing this was to give snowboarders a safe, dry spot to put anything they might break in a fall, or that might injure them in a fall. Keys, snowboard tool, flask, smokes, glass pipe, herbal supplements, phone, etc.

The Bomb Bag mounts to a lightweight Laser cut aluminum bracket that mounts under your binding(the binding itself is what keeps it in place, it does not attach directly to your board/binding in any way.) The Bag and Bracket weighs less than a pound and mounted behind your lead foot you can't even tell it is there.

We designed the bag to be small enough to work on any teen/adult board, but still big enough to be useful. It's made from super thick 500D Urethane Coated Nylon w/ radio welded seams to keep it air tight. It has foam padding sealed into the base to keep your stuff safe from board chatter. And uses a 2 buckle design making it super easy to use with gloves (even mittens) At 8.5" x 4.5" x 6.5" you can fit quite a bit of stuff in there. Personally I keep my wallet, keys, extra glove liners, gopro mounted on 3-way stick and a flask with room to spare.

Finally it is 100% waterproof. We utilize the 3 fold design used in whitewater kayaking bags. We took it to a water park for a day and did our best to get water in the bag and throughout it all it stayed dry.

At $49.88 it is half the price of a lift ticket at most resorts these days and provides a nice quality of life improvement by getting stuff out of your pockets where you might break your it or it might break you.

The Bomb Bag will NOT work with the Burton EST system. We hope to have a model compatible with EST for next season.

Sorry for the wall of text!:blahblah:

If you have any questions please let me know and I will be happy to address them.

Our website is BallisticBoardwear.com

If the bag just isn't your thing but you still want to support a fellow snowboarder, give us a like on facebook to help spread the word!

https://www.facebook.com/ballisticboardwear

Thanks!

Vaughn

 

[Argo]

what are the two small pieces of aluminum on the front and back for? I can assume they are shims to fill the space made between the board and binding from the mountain bracket but how do they stay in there when the board is flexing? The majority of boards/binding interface areas will flex enough that those would not stay in just being a shim slid in there.....

interesting concept, my son rides with the airblaster leg back a lot of times.

 

[Donutz]

I have a concern about the extra clearance required by the aluminum bracket. One of my sets of bindings (can't remember which) has so little slack that I have to lean my weight onto the screwdriver when screwing in the base bolts, just to get the threads to engage. An extra 1/16 inch would totally screw me. Maybe the product should come with an extra set of longer bolts. :embarrased1:

 

[mojo maestro]

Herbal supplements....oint:

 

[Ballistic_BW]

Hey Argo.

You would be correct. They are Heel/Toe support plates that you can adjust depending on how you like your stance setup. You can see the interlocking teeth that connect the support plate to the bracket. They adjust out to 20+ degrees. That way the binding is fully supported front to back.

As for the flex you are right on that as well! We had issues with a early prototype on boards with a lot of flex. The support plates/shims would pop out during a major flex on the board. We resolved it by moving the connection point in closer to the center of the aluminum bracket.

We haven't been able to make them pop out since that design change.


I used to ride with the blaster as well, it was part of the reason I started designing this. Wanted something bigger, waterproof and in a safer spot (a good slam can mash that bag pretty good)

 

[Ballistic_BW]

I have a concern about the extra clearance required by the aluminum bracket. One of my sets of bindings (can't remember which) has so little slack that I have to lean my weight onto the screwdriver when screwing in the base bolts, just to get the threads to engage. An extra 1/16 inch would totally screw me. Maybe the product should come with an extra set of longer bolts. :embarrased1:

Howdy sir!

You are completely correct. And the bag actually comes with longer screws to account for the extra height from the bracket under the binding. If you look in the 2nd picture you can see the baggy with 4 SS screws.

 

[Nivek]

How much market research did you do before you spent gobs of money making this a reality?

 

[Kevin137]

I am lucky enough to already have this product, i haven't had the chance to ride with it yet, but it is fitted to my board, and is very well made, the 1st thing i did was get the hose out on it while it was closed to see if i could indeed get anything wet inside, i failed miserably

For me it is simply that i have stuff i don't want in my pockets, and this fits the bill i think... A couple of my friends have already seen them, and love the idea of being able to chuck there rucksack to wherever (we are pretty lucky with so little crime) and just keep valuables in this...

I hope Vaughn does well with this, i can see it being very useful. It might be nice though, to have the option to buy the fitment on its own as well though, just an idea, but as loads of people have 2 or more boards, this may make more sense than having to buy 2 complete kits... Just an idea though...

 

[Ballistic_BW]

How much market research did you do before you spent gobs of money making this a reality?

Hey Nivek,

I've ridden all the products that fall into this niche and for one reason or another found them lacking for me personally. I used to ride with a backpack as well but it was overkill for me. I didn't need that much storage. But on the flip side, what I did need to bring, was enough to fill up my pockets.

Basically I designed what I wanted, but wasn't available on the market. Took an idea that's been done before and in my mind improved upon it by a good long margin. Like pretty much every product we use anymore.

As for the market. Snowboarders are bringing more and more crap up to the mountain with us every year. GoPro's and the million accessories for them come to mind, along with the new wave of goggles with magnetic lenses. I am not sure there are any snowboarders that couldn't benefit from waterproof storage that they can't even tell is there. Keeps them safer, their stuff safer, and makes for a better ride experience.

Your mileage may vary however

 

[Nivek]

Hey Nivek,
Basically I designed what I wanted, but wasn't available on the market. Took an idea that's been done before and in my mind improved upon it by a good long margin. Like pretty much every product we use anymore.

So no then. Gotcha. Maybe should have talked to some major shops, shop kids, or anyone other than yourself and closest friends to the sales viability of this. This is an unnecessary product that solves a problem that doesn't exist. And I have also never had anyone in the last 4 years ask for a way to store anything other than a backpack. Lenses go in your jacket. Nearly all jackets have space for that. Tools are all small enough to be unobtrusive in your pocket. GoPros are not that big either and with the new one it's even less of a problem. And with the size of that if you did need that much space for stuff you will end up unevenly waiting your board. And I have never in my life heard anyone wish their deck was heavier.

Good luck to you, maybe I'm way off. But if this product showed up in my store, I'd be pissed it was taking up space.

 

[Ballistic_BW]

Hi Kevin,

Thanks for weighing in on your experience so far sir. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts once you get it on the snow as well.

And that is actually a great idea about offering the bracket separate. I will get available on the website ASAP.

I am lucky enough to already have this product, i haven't had the chance to ride with it yet, but it is fitted to my board, and is very well made, the 1st thing i did was get the hose out on it while it was closed to see if i could indeed get anything wet inside, i failed miserably

For me it is simply that i have stuff i don't want in my pockets, and this fits the bill i think... A couple of my friends have already seen them, and love the idea of being able to chuck there rucksack to wherever (we are pretty lucky with so little crime) and just keep valuables in this...

I hope Vaughn does well with this, i can see it being very useful. It might be nice though, to have the option to buy the fitment on its own as well though, just an idea, but as loads of people have 2 or more boards, this may make more sense than having to buy 2 complete kits... Just an idea though...

 

[mojo maestro]

Need pics or description of how the bag fastens to the bracket. Black board, black bindings, black bag..........hard to see in the pics. Nevermind.....saw pics on website.

 

[Ballistic_BW]

Appreciate your thoughts on this Nivek. I talked to a few local shops to get their feedback while designing it and out of the 6 shops I have approached so far to carry it all 6 will be carrying it this winter. I think the idea is sound, judging by the various products that have hit the market over the years. I feel the reason that they haven't been wildly popular is due to the design and execution as opposed to the idea itself.

As for the weight on your deck, like i said it weighs next to nothing unless you throw a brick in there, which you would obviously notice while riding. I don't foresee many people riding around with bricks in their bomb bags however

So no then. Gotcha. Maybe should have talked to some major shops, shop kids, or anyone other than yourself and closest friends to the sales viability of this. This is an unnecessary product that solves a problem that doesn't exist. And I have also never had anyone in the last 4 years ask for a way to store anything other than a backpack. Lenses go in your jacket. Nearly all jackets have space for that. Tools are all small enough to be unobtrusive in your pocket. GoPros are not that big either and with the new one it's even less of a problem. And with the size of that if you did need that much space for stuff you will end up unevenly waiting your board. And I have never in my life heard anyone wish their deck was heavier.

Good luck to you, maybe I'm way off. But if this product showed up in my store, I'd be pissed it was taking up space.

 

[Ballistic_BW]

Need pics or description of how the bag fastens to the bracket. Black board, black bindings, black bag..........hard to see in the pics.

Hey Mojo,

We have more details on the website, I didn't want to start this thread off with too big of a wall of text.

Here is a picture of how the bag attaches to the bracket and a view of the roll top without the flap unfastened.

 

[Nivek]

I think the idea is sound, judging by the various products that have hit the market over the years. I feel the reason that they haven't been wildly popular is due to the design and execution as opposed to the idea itself.

Again, your OWN thoughts. Again, good luck, but I would never put this on my shelf, especially for $50.

 

[mojo maestro]

Not to mention............you obviously can't take this thing on a plane.:eyetwitch2:

 

[Ballistic_BW]

Not to mention............you obviously can't take this thing on a plane.:eyetwitch2:

We do joke about that somewhere...i think its in the product description on the website. But we didn't put Bomb Bag on the bag itself anywhere, so as long as you aren't telling the guy sitting next to you how great it is (or awful haha) you should be fine!

 

[f00bar]

I'll stick with my fanny pack

 

[Neilyo]

I had a similar idea some time back, I never got past the sketching stage. Kudos to you on trying to fill a niche. Despite Nivek's negativity, a product doesnt have to be loved by EVERYONE to find success.
I do find $50 a bit heavy handed for a bag. Thirty dollars would be considerably more palatable IMO, but I assume once you get some mass production it can drive down the price.

 

[Ballistic_BW]

I had a similar idea some time back, I never got past the sketching stage. Kudos to you on trying to fill a niche. Despite Nivek's negativity, a product doesn't have to be loved by EVERYONE to find success.
I do find $50 a bit heavy handed for a bag. Thirty dollars would be considerably more palatable IMO, but I assume once you get some mass production it can drive down the price.

Thanks for the support man! I feel the same way. If we listened to the naysayers, 50 some years ago we wouldn't have snowboarding to begin with. So my feathers are far from ruffled.

As for the price, we could have hit much closer to the $35-$40 dollar mark had we gone overseas with production. And closer to $30 had we gone with cheaper materials.

We decided that we would rather have a high quality product made in America than something we are not proud of coming out of Asia.

We won't know that we made the right call till after this winter...but hopefully the majority of people agree with us. As we all know, our sport is far from cheap. The convenience and safety benefits of the bag are well worth half a life ticket in price. At least that's our theory :hairy: