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Carry Collaborations
The ultimate travel capsule, given a slick upgrade.
Introducing: the GORUCK x Carryology Kaidan 2.0.
Styles available in Black, Olive, Coyote and Blaze Orange
LINKS TO ORDER KAIDAN
ORDER the Kaidan 2.0 Collection
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A Special Forces quality collection. Ready to combat any travel scenario. Overbuilt in VX21. Delivered with special limited edition leather artist patches.
In one limited edition run.
Score yours today!
Dimensions / Specs:
GR2
Primary Material: VX21
34L Dimensions: 12.5"W x 20.5"H x 9"D
Laptop Compartment: 34L: 12"W x 18.5"H
External Slant Pocket: 34L: 11"W x 11"H
Internal Elastic Pocket: 34L: 12.5"W x 12"H
Outer Compartment Mesh Pocket 1:34L: 11"W x 11.5"H
Outer Compartment Mesh Pocket 2: 34L: 11.5"W x 12.5"H
Outer Compartment Cordura Pocket 1: 34L: 9"W x 5.5"H
Outer Compartment Cordura Pocket 2: 34L: 10"W x 5.5"H
Bullet 15L
Primary Material: VX21
Dimensions: 10"W x 18.5"H x 5.5"D
External Slant Pocket: 10.5"W x 11.5"H
Internal Mesh Pocket: 10.5"W x 11"H
Internal Cordura Pocket: 10"W x 6.75"H
Plate Pocket: 10.5"W x 11.75"H
GR2 Field Pocket
Primary Material: VX21
9”W x 8”H x 3”D
Capacity: 4L
Features:
GR2
Lightweight, Orange RVX25 on the inside for interior visibility
Waterproof YKK AquaGuard exterior zippers
Includes a limited edition Leather Patch
2 leather handles on the top and bottom for quick grab and go
Opens Flat making it easier to pack and organize
YKK zippers on the interior with silent, glove friendly zipper pulls constructed from parachute 550 cord
Limited Edition Leather Patch designed by Argentina based Artist/Illustrator, Sebastián Cabrol.
Bombproof Laptop Compartment fits 17"+ laptop
A removable, hard plastic frame sheet stabilizes the laptop compartment and allows you to carry more weight comfortably
2 Compartments: Inner compartment and outer compartment with 3 pockets and a built-in field pocket
4 rows of internal MOLLE webbing let you customize GR2 how you want
Built in the USA
Bullet 15L
Quick Access Zippered Pocket
Lightweight, Orange RVX25 on the inside for interior visibility
Waterproof YKK AquaGuard exterior zippers
YKK zippers on the interior with silent, glove friendly zipper pulls constructed from parachute 550 cord
Limited Edition Leather Patch designed by New York City based Artist/Illustrator, Celia Calle
Opens Flat making it easier to pack and organize
Built in the USA
GR2 Field Pocket
Lightweight, Orange RVX25 on the inside for interior visibility
Waterproof YKK AquaGuard exterior zippers
Exterior grab handle
3 interior pockets: 1 large mesh zip pocket, 1 Large zip pocket, and 1 mesh pouch pocket
YKK zippers on the interior with silent, glove friendly zipper pulls constructed from parachute 550 cord
Built in the USA
THE ICON THAT IS THE GR2
To look to the future, we often refer to the past Carry Awards winners for inspiration. And this one was easy. One of our favorite and one of the most iconic travel packs of all time, the GORUCK GR2. Like its little brother, the GR1, they both have a cult-like following. For great reason. Back in 2013, the GR2 won 1st place in The Carry Awards for “Best Carry On” for its perfect balance of utility and ruggedness, and has been carried and loved by our team all over the world.
The GR2, a One Bagger’s dream. This pack would act as the driving inspiration for this project – a bag made for travel and adventure. After our extensive testing over several thousands of miles using the 34L and the 40L size, unanimously we found the 34L to be the perfect size (for an overhead bin) and weight (once filled) for travel. It would be the heart of this travel collaboration.
BULLET AND 2-BAG TRAVEL
Now, this term “One Bag” doesn’t necessarily mean ONLY one bag. One Bag travel is a practice, a philosophy, a challenge.
And sometimes it actually can mean more than one bag.
Give me a moment to explain the concept. After you’ve deplaned, the immigration officer has stamped your passport, and you’ve checked into your sleeping quarters, the first thing you want to do is put down your 34L travel backpack. It’s too cumbersome to carry on daily missions.
You don’t want to walk through the tightly crowded streets of Tokyo with the volume of 34 liters on your back or walk up snowy mountain inclines of Zermatt with the weight of 34 liters worth of gear on your back.
The solution? Drop your large One Bag backpack onto your bed. Then, like a Matryoshka doll, pull out your 10-15L “walk around bag” that was packed flat inside your GR2 among your other gear. Toss in just your essentials and you’re off to explore with a whole lot less on your shoulders.
So to build upon the famous GR2, we selected a finalist in the Carry Awards IV (“Active Backpack” category) and another cult classic from the GORUCK brand, the Bullet 15L. Slim, agile, rugged – the perfect day trip pack.
THE FINAL PIECE – THE FIELD POCKET
The third necessary component for a proper travel capsule is an organizer pouch. For tech, for toiletries, and all your little essentials. A favorite among Carryology readers as well as the Carryology team, the GORUCK GR2 Field Pocket. It’s padded, it’s simple, it’s complex, it’s perfect. We selected the larger GR2 size to make it more versatile for changing setups and uses.
There we had it, the ultimate travel capsule: GR2 34L, Bullet 15L, and GR2 Field Pocket.
CAPSULE UPGRADES
UNDER THE RADAR
Now, functionally speaking… how could we tweak these legendary icons? First, just like we did with the GRXC1 Guerrilla X, we’d opt to strip down the exterior of both the GR2 and the Bullet from the Kaidan v1.0 collection. GORUCK calls this styling “Slick” and we’re cool with that. While it does eliminate the functional rows of MOLLE/PALS webbing to attach stuff, the clean aesthetic makes it easy to fly stealth under the radar in familiar domestic locations and unknown international territories. We dig minimal, but functional. Slick, stealth, clean.
VX – IN FOUR COLORS
Variety in life is super important (even for those in the #allblackeverything gang). Opening our book of X-Pac fabric swatches, we selected a range of colors from badass to absolutely wild for the v2.0 collection. Black, obviously, for color #1, in VX21 for the GR2 and for the Bullet. Then, for color #2 we selected a rich Olive color X-Pac as well as a Coyote color X-Pac for color #3.
Finally, for the bold ones, colorway #4 would be in the blazing eye-piercing Dimension Polyant RVX25 Hot Orange. All four GR2 and Bullet colorways use the RVX25 Hot Orange as the liner fabric throughout.
WATERTIGHT
Arguably the second most important part of a pack is the zippers/hardware. Since we’re using waterproof X-Pac fabric, we swapped the zippers to YKK’s AquaGuard water-resistant zippers, in #10 and #8 sizes. While standard YKK coil zippers handle moisture just fine, this AquaGuard zipper upgrade allowed us to remove the fabric zipper rain flaps, giving you even easier access to your contents while keeping out the wet.
Additionally, we removed the drainage ports at the bottom of the Bullet 15L. In a rucking scenario, crawling through mud and dragging your pack through streams, you want water to drain out. But here, in a travel scenario, you want water to never get inside in the first place. A complete system sealed away from nature’s elements.
GR2 RAINFLAP?
One of the number one asks from the folks out there using the GR2 Kaidan was to remove the rain flap from the front slash pocket. We were already using the mighty YKK AquaGuard zipper underneath the flap, which is plenty water-resistant against nature’s wrath, so why complicate things? Just like with the Slick modification above, we’re big fans of removing anything unnecessary… so we pulled it. Now it’s clean and easy to access. Plus, it looks even cooler, in our humble opinion.
LEATHER HANDFEEL
Now, we clearly love X-Pac fabrics. But they can easily take on a “tech” aesthetic if not balanced out with some other elements to even it out. I had been watching an episode of Tony’s where he travels to Rome and he’s “driving” a 1966 Alfa Romeo Spider in front of a green screen. In 1966, this vehicle was the pinnacle of performance and tech, yet it was balanced with luxury and class, and timelessness via the beautiful leather interior. To luxe it up, we borrowed elements from the Alfa Romeo as well as the GR1 Heritage, adding full-grain leather to the GR2's grab handle.
Oh, by the way, did I say “handle” as in singular? We meant “handles”, plural. This is a travel capsule, after all. When you’re traveling in trains, planes, boats, and automobiles, your bag gets shoved in all kinds of weird tight spaces. And pulling your bag out of these areas isn’t always the easiest. The obvious example is an overhead bin on a passenger jet. Once it’s up there, you need a handle on the bottom to pull it out of there. So we added one. And we made it leather like on the top grab handle. Because every time you grab this pack, it should be an enjoyable experience.
To keep the Bullet 15L ultra packable and lightweight, we opted for ultra heavy duty nylon webbing construction in the place of leather.
QUICK-ACCESS STORAGE X2
One small but absolutely awesome upgrade we included with the GRXC1 Guerrilla X collaboration was the trick quick-access pocket up near the grab handle. When you’re traveling, having an easy and fast pocket for “the thing in your hand” is critical.
And differing the Kaidan 1.0, we'd added this pocket to the GR2 and Bullet this time round.
MORALE PATCHES
It wouldn't be a GORUCK collab without patches.
We'd find the illustrator of Anthony Bourdain's 'Hungry Ghosts' and commission special artwork. Artwork that spoke to the story. Artwork expertly done by an artist with a clear line to our travel hero.
Celia Calle. Based in New York City, Artist/Illustrator Celia Calle (Instagram: @CeliaCalle) created the patch artwork for the Bullet 15L. This artwork depicts a menacing Hannya face (Japanese demon mask) in the center. There is a lit candle on the top of the mask, with two extinguished candles on the left and right, these representing the “Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai” game.
Sebastián Cabrol. Based in Paraná, Argentina. Illustrator and Comic Book Artist (Instagram: @Sebastián Cabrol) created the GR2 patch. The inspiration for Sebastián’s GR2 patch comes directly from a famous Edo-period woodblock print, “Takiyasha the Witch and the Skeleton Specter” circa 1843 to 1847. Sebastian recreated this image via ink and paintbrush on paper in simple bold lines for our patch design.
Taylor Welden
Creative Director | Industrial Designer
Taylor designs for countless carry brands, across every carry category. He’s contributed to the lost art of manly moustaches, and earned a reputation for reviews that keep our core carry nuts learning.
WAYS TO CARRY