Paper Roads bags are not seam welded or taped (with the exception of dryrolls). The seams are sewn, and wherever there are needle holes, water has the possibility to penetrate. The fabric used is DWR coated and some are ripstop backed, which provides ample waterproofability for bikepacking. Seam welding is a factory process, where you won't get customisation. If you're familiar with bikepacking or tramping, you'd know that not everything needs to stay watertight. It takes significant torrential rain for your bags to become saturated.

I may consider small, uncomplex, custom bags from time to time.

Sewing a bag from scratch is the last step in a custom process. An hourly rate begins from consultation (which is the trickiest because what you have to tell me exactly what's on your mind, then what you think you need may not be what you need or how you think something is made is not how I would make it). Paper Roads stock certain materials & plastic hardware and not likely able to custom source because a lot of my suppliers are overseas and expect bulk order. Often bags have hidden structures which is labour to customise. Dimensions have to be determined then broken down into sewable pieces. In the end, it's probably 4 times more expensive than what anyone would pay for a bag.

Every product in the Paper Roads collection has been designed, prototyped, materials sourced & ordered in volume, then handmade in batches. Products are available at these reasonable prices because of this process.

Paper Roads is focussing on bikepacking gear, suited for off road racing and minimalist bikepacking. Trail Panniers are now available, designed for off-road adventures. Traditional panniers, basket bags, randonneuring bags and other bags not for bikepacking are not available and cannot be custom made.

Not for now. From personal experience, I'm very impressed with the Wayward Riders Louise Dropper post Harness, made in Wellington. It's the minimalist solution for short riders (to a certain height). You can grab a Paper Roads compression dryroll (if in stock) and slot it in.

Depending on which product, best to ask. Sometimes it's an easy tweak, sometimes changing a measurement leads to a slew of other adjustments.

I'll trace your frame for dual suspension bikes if you can bring me your bike. For other bikes, it's straight forward - just follow the instructions linked on the Framebags page. If you're at a loss, bring me your bike to trace.

The cost of the bag does not include providing you with design options. A coloured sketch can be provided by request, of the order you submitted, free of charge. If you then change your mind about the colours you picked and request to see your new colour choices/design sketched out, there will be extra hourly charge similar to paying for graphic design services (expect $30 per half hour, roughly the time it takes to talk to you, scribble and colour a set of bike bags).

Tip: use the colour swatches on the Fabrics page and play around on Microsoft Paint!

I can provide digital mockups of bags on your bike in Adobe Illustrator. This takes three times longer than sketching.

I'm only repairing Paper Roads gear. I understand you may have sentimental feeling towards your broken bag or want to avoid adding to the landfill, but repairs on bags made by another brand are often more work than the naked eye can see. I also do not have the range of equipment, materials or skills specific for repairs and to be honest, I'm not the right kind of person for it.

It is extremely rare for bags to fall apart in a major way. Paper Roads have done 3 minor repairs to its products at no cost, within the first 2 years as a side hustle. I will acknowledge certain problems as my fault and repair and return at no cost as long as you can deliver me the bag. Bags can get misused, like zipping up an extremely full bag repeatedly, causing the zip to break; or rubbing a hole in the bag due to incorrect use or installation – Paper Roads will charge for parts replacement/repair in such cases.

Yes, please see contact page. The Paper Roads home workshop is in Auckland and is not far from Benny's Bike Shop.

Paper Roads can ship within New Zealand and to Australia at the checkout. Please enquire if you'd like a shipping quote to other destinations.

Every order is tracked by NZ Post. Economy post tracking scans the parcel at basic points along the way and may not be accurate in real time. If a parcel is lost in transit, Paper Roads takes no responsibility for the loss. Please note at the checkout if you'd like to upgrade to Courier.

Please choose carefully – Paper Roads cannot accept returns, offer refunds or exchanges for custom orders that are complete. Framebags are made to the template you provide and checked against the template at completion, so there will be no compensation offered for ill-fitting bags.

This will be decided at the discretion of Paper Roads based from case to case.

Please contact me ASAP if you want to leave the made-to-order queue or want to tweak the details in your order. If your bag is already well in production, you are obliged to follow through with payment – by joining the queue, you are commiting to engage Paper Roads in spending their services, time and resources to attend to your specific requests. Paper Roads has chosen to not take your money (except for $1 per queue) before making your bag, as a fair exchange for the variable and possibly lengthy wait times before receiving a product. Paper Roads therefore expects all customers to respect the deal and follow through with payment if it is too late to pause production or change the design if the customer changes their mind (at the fair discretion of the maker). The bikepacking community in New Zealand is small and we are generally genuine people who should not be expected to cause this sort of problem for their bag makers, however this is said in writing for the records, should the situation occur where there is missing payment.