Here's the scenario, it's 6:15 and you're walking from the office to your bike. You're on your own for dinner and you're trying to figure out what's on the menu. Cooking for one is clearly out of the question so you run down the rest of the list. Pizza? Nah, the local selection isn’t that great. Chinese… again? No. Indian? Maybe. A burger from the King or the Clown? BLECH! What you really want is a CHEESE STEAK.

    The good news is that there are excellent cheese steaks just about half way between work and home and you happen to have the phone number in your cellular phone book. The bad news is that you ride a sporty little bike on a minimalist tip. No factory hard bags, a small tank bag for the essentials and a bungee net stashed under the pillion just in case. There is no way 12 inches of cheesy, meaty goodness complete with fried onions and sautéed mushrooms will fit in that tank bag and trying to bungee that magnificent sandwich to the rear seat would mangle it beyond recognition. It would be almost criminal. To make matters worse the shop uses plain brown paper sacks. That’s right, no handle. You won’t be able to just dangle the bag from the clutch side grip and hope for the best.

    So what do you do? I suppose you could stuff the sandwich in your jacket and try not to squash it or you could find a comfortable bit of curb in front of the shop and dine alfresco. All terribly uncivilized but you do what you must. Of course this wouldn’t be in issue if you had the forethought to prepare for such impromptu cheese steak transport requirements.  This is where the REI Flash UL comes in.

    The Flash UL is a very cool little back pack. I can only assume that the ‘UL’ bit stands for ‘Ultra Light’. The body of the pack is a very light weight but seemingly durable nylon. There are a few organizational pockets inside but no bulky zippers. It’s a top loader with a stretchy draw string closure. The best and most unusual thing about this particular pack is that it folds to a size small enough to fit in the tiny space under the back seat of my SV650. Not only that but it leaves enough room for a small tool roll and the aforementioned bungee net.

    I’ve looked at other ‘packable’ backpacks but they’ve always been too expensive, not big enough, not packable enough or they had tiny little shoe strings in place of straps that looked terribly uncomfortable. The Flash isn’t huge but it’s perfectly adequate. REI says it has an internal volume of 17 liters. That’s easily big enough haul a full bag of groceries or the cheese steak in our example along with a bag of chips and a soda. The straps are substantial. They’re nice and wide with a sternum strap and a waist strap. Once in place the pack is comfortable, stable and secure. I generally don’t like riding with a back pack on but if I’m stuck with one it better work well and the Flash UL does. As an added bonus you can turn the pack inside out containing the straps inside. You then have a nice little stuff sack and when filled with clothing, a travel pillow. It is certainly a worthwhile investment at REI’s list price of $25.00. In fact, the only complaint I have is that the Flash is only available in a particularly horrid color called 'Boxwood'. I can over look that one obvious flaw.

 
Accessory loops


Straps


Wrapped


Packed with the tool roll