Tom Bihn Western Flyer

The Western Flyer is a luggage bag developed by Tom Bihn and can be worn in a variety of ways. The bag comes with straps to wear as a backpack, and these can be stored away when not in use, it also has a padded carry handle to carry as a briefcase. Lastly, there are two attachment points to clip on a shoulder strap too - however the strap is not included, any strap can be used and not just Tom Bihn's own-brand one.

The bag comes in two types of material, either 1050D ballistic nylon or a lighter weight 400D Halcyon. Many colour ways are available for both materials. The ballistic nylon is stronger and tougher than the Halcyon and also retains its shape better, however it is more heavy. Meanwhile the Halcyon is a lighter weight material and can also be more forgiving when packing as it can bulge more due to its lack of rigidity.

The bag itself has a total 5 pockets, including 2 main compartments (one of which can be separated to create 6 total pockets) along with a water bottle pocket and 2 smaller pockets. The two main compartments are identical in size, however the first has an added bit of fabric which can be zipped up to separate the compartment. The water bottle pocket is positioned on the front of the bag and to the right of the two 'accessory' pockets, it is curved in shape and is fairly large. It will fit a 1L Nalgene bottle, but not a 27oz (800ml) Klean Kanteen bottle. Lastly, the two side pockets are located just to the left of the water bottle pocket and both are significantly larger then thought out to be. The smaller pocket (bottom) stretches all the way up to the zipper for the top pocket, while the top one stretches up to the thin black lining of the bag. The larger of the two pockets can accommodate an A5 notebook, just be wary of thickness.

Internally, the bag features a 200D Halcyon lining and also sports a total of 6 o-rings scattered throughout the bag. These o-rings are designed to be used in conjunction with other Tom Bihn accessories, but are handy nonetheless. All zippers are water-repellent and are either size #8 or #10 YKK zippers. There are also two carry handles at either end of the bag, while they are less padded than the main one at the top of the bag they are very useful to drag the bag out from under a table or pulling it out from an airplane locker.