Mr. Stoskopfâ
Regarding your âStump the Trunkâ post. With me, itâs more like âStump the Chump.â But I think I can give a little insight to the Seaway pack you post.
In the 1970s, lots of folks produced frames and packs that mimicked the classic Kelty. I think my first metal-tube external frame was made in Taiwan and I actually got it with Blue Chip Stamps. (Anyone remember those?) It was a truly inferior knockoff, but better than the red-and-silver wooden external frame (pictured earlier) that Iâd been carrying. The Seaway looks like one of those knockoffs. Not that itâs terribleâI really canât say. But back in the day, virtually all of them were inferior to the genuine Kelty. In person I could probably identify it no problem--I still have five (!) old Kelty pack frames, and used to have more. I mean, I humped those things for almost 30 years, so I got to know them pretty good. You have one of my old frames, and my brother has a couple more. Between the knockoff and the first Kelty I had a Camp Trails with a screwed-together frame. Like Misanthrope says, that pooch squeaked with every step.
And a Kelty wasnât just a static item eitherâhe kept evolving the design, always making them better, not cheaper. As time went on, he incorporated hip belts, covered zippers, better straps and backbands. You mention the extra-wide backband on yours. That wasnât original eitherâI put that on, but that was 40 years ago, and I canât remember if it came off another Kelty pack or something else.
And all Keltys arenât the same either. The originals were made in Sun Valley, and then Glendale (both in the greater Los Angeles area). This is very near the old Lockheed aircraft plant, and after the war Dick Kelty got most of his aluminum tube from themâthose first Kelty packs in the 1950s were probably made out of leftover P-38 Lightning fuselage stringers! He welded up the first frames himself, then got Lockheed welders to moonlight in his shop.
Eventually Kelty sold the company, and while the new packs were produced overseas, for a while they did a good job. I still own one of the 1990s Kelty Super TiogasâI kept it after I sold off or gave away a lot of my old external frames because it still works. But I have to say, I donât think the current Keltys are really of the same quality that the originals were, and thatâs not just me being nostalgic. Too bad, but time moves on. If I wanted a good external-frame pack now, Iâd either buy an old Kelty or (as mentioned previously) a Terraframe (also used). The Terraframes were maybe not as bombproof as a ladder-frame Kelty, but they sure carry nice if youâre using them as a conventional backpack.
Ddennisâ
You mentioned the old ALICE pack. Here are some photos for you, and a story. As a packframe I think the ALICE design is pretty poor, but I do have a couple and they are useful. In fact, I used one just a couple of months ago.
I wanted to enter a mountain-bike race, but I donât have a decent mountain bike. So I borrowed a 20-year-old Klein from a colleague at work. But hereâs the problemâI had to transport it 100 miles home on a motorcycle. My solution? I took the wheels off, strapped the frame to the old ALICE pack frame, strapped the wheels to that, and then strapped the frame to my carcass. I must have looked pretty interesting riding down the Hollywood Freeway, but I got the whole mess home.
The bad news? I got my ass kicked in the race (the Hellfire Fat Tire at Camp Pendleton)âthe fast kids beat me up and took my lunch money. (I did manage a mid-pack finish that wasnât totally embarrassing, though.) The good news? A few weeks later I scored a silver medal in the Heartbreak Ridge cross-country run. Sweet! Margaritas tonight! Guess the Nine Fingered Rat Bastard just isnât high enough up on the evolutionary scale to make the move from running on foot to using something as advanced as a bicycle.
George of the J--
Those old Jansports were pretty good packs. Not my personal favorites, but I know Ron did a little R&D for them decades ago. I used to carry the students' Jansports on Ron's backpacking trips in the CSUN days--I preferred my Kelty, but a lot of women in particular liked the Jansports because they were so adjustable.
(Photos of the bike-on-a-packframe lashupfollow)
--ML