The backpack/packing cube looks quite nice on their website:

http://www.tombihn.com/page/001/PROD/ACC/TB0925

But it does seem as though in backpack mode you can put more in than folded inside out into “cube” mode – the extra zipper compartment on the bottom seems to disappear into the inside of the bag when you turn it inside out – but I guess that’s the only way to make the bag tall enough to be a good pack, but then shorten it up to fit their Western Flyer.

I like Bihn products. They are extremely well made with good materials choices.

On the model, the pack looks gigantic – although due to its thinness, it only holds 975 c.i.

Look forward to seeing your pictures (always better, even better than Bihn’s which are good) and reading your impressions.

Today, unannounced and certainly not anticipated, a Bihn “Backpack/Packing Cube” arrived on my doorstep. Per its tag, it’s intended for use with the Western Flyer or Tri-Star. The main compartment unzips almost all the way on 3 sides for packing, and there’s an extra pocket on its front for stashing brochures, maps, etc. And in the main compartment: an O ring with a (provided) key tab. Gotta love it. This is like the Kiva keychain backpack, but more substantial. Very nice – perfect for bopping about around town, picking up souvenirs, and so forth.

2. In light of your recent preview of the Eagle Creek 18″ Pack-It (dual folding boards sandwiching your clothing, all in a Velcro’d wrapper), would it be worth revisiting the Duffel in combination with the Pack-It? As I re-read this review months later, it seems kinda sad to take a voluminous, but lightweight, alternative to a simple day pack and eat up the volume with the 3-stack of foam padding…the Pack-It would solve the rigidity problem, methinks, while putting the volume to good use.

But your point about the variability we encounter with TSA agents is well taken.

I just got an Acer Aspire One. At first I though the graphics were too slow to handle Hulu videos, because there was a lot of jerkiness and stuttering on the first feed I tried. But on other feeds the motion was smooth. ABC.com wasn’t happy with the maximum screen resolution for its “hi def” stream on Lost, but it looked ok. My Acer screen is not LED backlighted and could be brighter; is your Asus led backlighted?

The Atom processor seems surprisingly capable for a processor designed for smartphone applications.

I deactivated the McAffee antivirus – it was sell-ware and only free for 90 days or so – and installed AVG, which has worked well on my other computers.

I can’t get hooked up to the wireless at home. Must be doing something wrong. SO glad I am working with XP which I know pretty well, and not having a painful learning curve with Vista or even more painful curve with Linux. It’s amazing how much setup work is left to do on a new computer – and hour or so of downloading and installing the inevitable updates to Windows XP, setting up an antivirus, trying to activate wireless (at least a good old ethernet cable ALWAYS works), installing my preferred browsers.

I can’t believe that Windows XP doesn’t automatically require a signin password, and gives ALL users Admin privileges right off the bat – I have to go in and fix that now.

Fortunately I bought it from Costco, which meant I got a full 6 cell battery, and have a 90 day return privilege. I was almost tempted to return it and cough up the dough for a “white” Macbook, but the 5 pound weight of the Macbook killed it for me.

I will probably take the netbook to LA this week, and MAY take it to Thailand – depends on whether I feel the need to access email or bank accounts etc. over there – I’d feel safer doing anything more serious than reading the NY Times and favorite blogs on my own computer, not an internet cafe computer. Truth is, even at the lightweight of this computer, I may not want to carry the extra weight to Thailand.

BTW 10.1″ is pretty miniscule as far as screens go. That doesn’t sound much smaller than the 12″ and 13″ screens we started out on years ago, but since it’s a “wide” screen the usable top to bottom distance is quite small, while hardly anything really needs the extra width. And the type is eyestraining! I even have to put on my 2.0 diopter readers to be able to read the tiny type (I usually use 1.25 readers – I keep the 2.0’s around for “legal fine print” only – and now the netbook).