Magnetic Adventure Pack Goes on Hips or Handlebars: Gossamer Gear Piku Sling Review

The wildfire smoke rolled in quickly and was thick enough that I felt it in my lungs after just 20 minutes. When I started hiking, it was clear out, but the wind changed and haze from the forest fires now obscured the mountains around me. I felt wheezy, my eyes started itching, and I stopped jogging the flats. I was suddenly glad I was testing an ultralight hip pack instead of the heavy backpack I could have brought instead.

Luckily, the Gossamer Gear Piku Sling had been my primary quick-trip hike, bike, and run pack for most of the summer. It replaced a burlier, feature-rich hip pack that I was really fond of. But the minimalist approach, scant weight, and svelte look of the Piku made me curious to switch things up.

Those attributes were just the tip of the iceberg, though.

In short: The Gossamer Gear Piku Sling Pack ($75) is a minimalist ultralight pack for fast and light adventures on foot or two wheels. It has two removable rubber straps for attaching to a bike’s handlebars, a magnetic roll-top closure design, enough space for all your day excursion needs, and a removable panel to reduce weight even more. For gram-counting runners, hikers, and cyclists, this small bag packs a lot of versatility.

Compare the Gossamer Gear Piku Sling Pack to others on GearJunkie’s guide to the Best Mountain Bike Hip Packs.

Gossamer Gear Piku Sling Pack Review

Hip packs (aka sling packs or fanny packs) are having a moment right now. Growing up, my dad was the only person I knew who wore one. Now they’re everywhere — from trails, to breweries, to beaches, and everywhere in between. Many are just basic pouches with a strap. Others, like Gossamer Gear’s Piku Sling, offer a lot more.

At 9 L, the pack is big enough for most day excursions. It’s made with lightweight “Riptide fabric” (100D recycled ripstop) and very durable stretch mesh on the outside pocket. It has a removable lumbar pad (what Gossamer Gear calls the “Small Sit Pad”) that you can use as a seat or leave at home to lighten your load even more.

And the Piku’s big reveal is that it also doubles as a handlebar bag for bikes, with two removable rubber straps at the top.

I’m not normally an ultralight guy, but that kind of versatility gets me excited about a piece of gear — and so does the Piku’s price. It’s hard to ignore the value in a $75 pack that works for running, hiking, biking, and probably even skiing.

Magnetic Roll Top

Personally, I find there’s something clean about a pack that closes without a buckle or zipper. The Piku uses a roll-top closure that seals magnetically. It’s a very satisfying design and one that won’t blow out, snap, or break. A metal clasp with an adjustable strap hooks over the roll-top to hold the pack closed.

The roll-top also allows you to adjust the Piku’s volume. If you want to stuff a fleece or rain jacket inside, just unroll it slightly for more space. Or, roll it closed all the way and empty the air from within, for a lower profile and less volume.

Removable Small Sit Pad

A small foam pad provides some light lumbar padding on the Piku. That can be removed and used as a seat or kneeling pad if you’re taking a trailside break, doing some quick bike maintenance, or sitting on snow.

It’s also a weight modifier. If you’re really counting grams, you could remove this pad and make the Piku 232 g (1.8 ounces) lighter.

Two small rubber straps at the top of the pack allow you to attach it to the front of a bike. The small, adjustable rubber straps lock easily around handlebars and grip well, holding the pack in place.

You can remove these straps if you aren’t using them (reducing the pack’s weight by another 17 g). However, I found them useful for holding other things. I attached my bike hand pump or light layers to them for fast access and to free up space in the pack. These straps are a very useful feature that I wish more packs (backpacks included) had.

Notably, there is no dedicated strap to secure the back of this pack to the head tube of the bike (which other bags do). This would help prevent the bag from flopping on rough terrain — more on that below. The waist belt serves this function to a certain degree, but this didn’t entirely work in my testing.

Gossamer Gear Piku Sling Pack: In the Field

For the last 4 months, I’ve been using the Piku Sling for day hikes, trail runs, and bike rides. This pack has generally been great. Its meager 9-ounce weight was drastically lighter than my previous hip pack. It’s also much lower-profile and sleeker-looking.

The form factor is small enough that you could take the Piku on a multiday backpacking trip as a daypack, if you were basecamping.

I found that the descriptor “ultralight” had me looking for the lightest gear to load in the Piku when I hit the trail. For hiking or trail runs, I’d throw in a soft flask water bottle, a bar or two, a sun layer, my phone, and car keys.

I almost never maxed this pack’s capacity when I was on a day hike or run. Had I needed to pack a wind or rain layer and a midlayer, I could have. But for beating trails in fair weather, I kept this minimalist pack light.

Unfortunately, I don’t own road or gravel bikes, and the Piku wasn’t ideal on my mountain bike’s handlebars. It was fine for uphill and for mellow downhills, but on more intense downhills, it bounced up off the brake hoses quite a bit.

So, more often, when I wore the Piku for biking, I’d just strap it around my waist like normal. For less aggressive biking, that’s not an issue, but it’s worth noting for downhill mountain biking or riders tackling pitted, gnarly gravel roads.

I could also see this pack being great for hitting the skintrack in wintertime. When I can safely afford to go fast and light, I’ll be eager to take the Piku skiing. The removable sit pad will be great for taking breaks in the snow.

Worn as a sling pack, the Piku takes on a totally different personality. Gossamer Gear used an extra-long strap on the Piku that can be tucked away when not in use. When fully extended, clipped closed, and slung around your shoulder, the pack hangs at waist level (like a satchel).

That makes it feel more like a travel or day-to-day bag than a technical, active pursuit pack. It could make for a great carry-on bag during flights.

One Gripe: Bounce Factor

Compared to many hip packs, the Piku uses a somewhat insubstantial strap. That, paired with the Piku’s shape, which holds its weight below the strap, makes it bounce a little when you’re using it like a hip pack (or handlebar bag).

I see why Gossamer Gear designed it this way: It’s supposed to be ultralight (not stiff and bulky), and it’s supposed to work as a sling, hip pack, and handlebar bag. Big fat straps aren’t in line with that design.

Still, that meant when I rode mountain bikes or ran downhill, I could feel the pack bouncing on my lumbar. It was never exceedingly annoying or functionally problematic, but I noticed it on all of my descents, whether on foot or two wheels.

Gossamer Gear Piku Sling Pack: Who Is It For?

I used to wear a much bulkier hip pack when I rode bikes and went for trail runs. Switching to the Piku made a notable difference (especially on my runs) right away.

If you gravel bike, trail run, or hike, you can use the Piku for all three sports. It won’t weigh you down, it will easily carry everything you need, and it will quickly transition from one sport to the other.

It isn’t ideal as a mountain bike handlebar bag, but for road and gravel biking, it would work well. Then, when you park your bike, you can take it off and use it like a daypack.

This is my new favorite day pack for hiking. I rarely need a full day pack, and the 9 L of volume offered by the Piku is more than enough for me, most days. I might also start taking it when I travel. It’s just the right size for an on-your-person pack for plane flights.

And, this winter, I’ll definitely be hitting the skin track with my Piku. For cross-country skiing and mellow spring skins, this will also be a great companion.