What’s That Thingy For?
about 7 years ago – Mon, Nov 27, 2017 at 09:05:41 PM

Shipped!

I am relieved to say that I shipped all the pre-orders as promised before Thanksgiving!

If you had a pre-order and have not received your tracking number yet please let me know by email at [email protected].

If you place a new order please expect to wait about 48 - 72 hours after placing it for a tracking number. Sorry the system is a bit old school.

Confident

I shouldn’t tempt fate, but I am relatively confident at this point in the shipping process. I am pretty certain I can get any new orders to you before Christmas. So again if you want to get some Xmas shopping done early you can order here. Or if that doesn’t work then try here.

What is that thingy for anyway?

Many of you asked about various features of LiftRider and how they work. Like what the heck is that tube thingy sticking out of the top compartment?

So I created a video showing how some of the features work. It’s a bit long and won’t win any oscars. But hey, you can just fast forward through the obvious stuff.

The video below shows: 

• Installing hydration system 
• Installing earbuds 
• Installing integrated phone charger 
• Glove hook, Helmet carry, etc. 
• Sternum strap break away 
• Removing the waist strap

Here is my daughter Eva again showing off the push button strap release which is pretty self explanatory.

And here is Will again reluctantly demonstrating the break away in case your LiftRider gets hung on the Chairlift.

The size adjustment is pretty self explanatory. You just use the snaps where the bottom end of the shoulder straps connect to the pack. These also act as the safety breakaway for the shoulder straps in case you get hung on a chairlift. Here is a previous update with some more info. 

The top compartment dividers are pretty self explanatory. But here is a photo just in case:

Defects

A few of you have found manufacturing defects. Sorry about that. If you find a defect please email me a photo at [email protected]. I will send you a return slip and send you a replacement right away. If you bought the pack as a present I urge you to open it and inspect the sewing in all the pockets before giving it away.

Fun fun fun!

Think snow!

I'm Leavin' on a Jet Plane
about 7 years ago – Wed, Nov 22, 2017 at 11:13:11 PM

Shipped!

Wow.

I am not 100% sure but I think all the pre-orders for LiftRider have been shipped or are going out shortly. Not sure if EasyPost used the plane pictured above. But it would be pretty cool if they did.

I caught quite a few mistakes while getting backerkit to talk nice to our fulfillment house, EasyPost. I wrote a bunch of software to automate everything and run some checks.

But I am still worried some issues might have fallen through the cracks.

Here is how you can help... 

If you didn't get your tracking number 

You should receive your tracking number by Friday Nov 24. If you haven’t received your tracking number by the end of the day on Friday please send me an email at [email protected] and I will look into it. Please be sure to check your spam so we don’t have to track down false alarms. 

If you got MORE than you ordered 

I noticed some mistakes with orders going out more than once.

If you received more packs than you ordered please, please let me know by email at [email protected]. I will send you a shipping label so you can send them back. Sorry in advance for the inconvenience.

It is really important that you don’t keep them because they may be intended for another backer and we are out of some colors and running out fast of the others for this season. 

If you like your LiftRider 

And you want to grab another one or two as Christmas presents I have enough confidence in the process at this point to guarantee you will get it before Christmas if you order before Dec 10.

You should be able to order here .

BUT

You may find that the above order page on backerkit is locked down post shipping your pre-order. If that is the case then please order on the liftrider.me website instead.  

If you don’t like your LiftRider 

Please let me know at [email protected] . I won't take it personally. I always love feedback!

Ogden or Bust!
about 7 years ago – Sat, Nov 11, 2017 at 08:37:42 PM

LiftRiders are in Ogden Utah!

Woohoo! LiftRiders arrived at our fulfillment center in Ogden Utah on Tuesday Nov 7th and I finally got some pics just now from them to prove it! 

 Man, the guys in the warehouse don’t take the most beautiful pics. But I gotta tell you nothing looks more beautiful to me right now than seeing our LiftRider’s safely in our warehouse :)

What’s the plan Stan?

Good question.

First I still plan to meet my goal of shipping out to you around Thanksgiving.

However I want you to know the full status.

When I promised Thanksgiving way back I had given myself 4 weeks of buffer. But each step post production has taken several days to a week longer than I expected and we have eaten through most of my buffer. In case you intend to do one of these Kickstarters yourself here is the score so far:

• Ship date from factory - right on time to the exact day. Love those guys. Let me know if you are ever making a pack and I will point you to some great folks. 
• Time from factory to port - 3 days over budget. 
• Time in China warehouse waiting for boat - 1 week longer than expected. 
• Time from China to LA - as expected. 
• Time in LA customs - 1 week longer than expected. 
• Time to clear Salt Lake - 3 days longer than expected. 
• Time to be received and scanned at our shipper's warehouse in Ogden - I don’t believe this will be done till Monday which makes it 4 days over budget.

I am gonna try to get the packs out to you around Thanksgiving as I promised. But I am not going to cut any corners this late in the game and fumble at the last minute.

So here is the plan.

• About 40 of you still haven’t chosen your color and given your address. I have sent you repeated emails. You are probably too late at this point to make the first batch of shipments but I urge you to go to https://liftrider.backerkit.com/ ask for a link to your survey and fill it out. 
• I will send a test shipment to myself to make sure there are no quality issues with the pack -- God I hope not :) -- and to make sure the shipping process is working as expected. 
• Then I will send another test shipment of 10 packs to backers to make sure everything is working properly with addresses, colors, tracking loopback etc. 
• Finally I will pull the trigger on the shipments to all backers.

Please don’t be upset if your LiftRider arrives later than you hoped. Please know I am working as quickly as possible while trying not to make any dumb mistakes at the last minute.

If you have been waiting till all risk is gone to order

If you want another pack as a Christmas gift or wish to tell your friends now that it is a safe bet. This would be a perfect time to place an order. It probably won't go out until the first batch is shipped but you will definitely get it way before Christmas. Please use or share this link to order:  https://liftrider.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders

Never been to Ogden but it sounds nice 

Speaking of Ogden I thought I would leave you with some quotes from Ogden Nash. Funnier guy than me...

Candy Is dandy But liquor Is quicker.

You are only young once, but you can stay immature indefinitely.

To keep your marriage brimming, With love in the loving cup, Whenever you're wrong, admit it; Whenever you're right, shut up.    (I should have read that one last night :-)

Progress might have been alright once, but it has gone on too long.

-- OGDEN NASH   (Not sure if he skied)

I'm on a Boat. Yeah!
over 7 years ago – Sun, Sep 24, 2017 at 11:42:09 PM

Woo Hoo! 

Our LiftRiders are on the High Seas!

Check it out, baby.

I am so stoked!

I love, love, love our factory! They shipped on the exact day we agreed to months and months ago. If you are thinking about making a backpack I would be happy to introduce you to them.

Awesome!

Stop! You must act now. 

Our packs will hit our warehouse soon. I want to ship them to you immediately on arrival.

Therefore, I will lock down final addresses, colors and add-on orders for you this WEDNESDAY Sept 27 at midnight PST.

What does this mean?

It means that before midnight on Wednesday is the last time you can do any of the following:

• Add additional LiftRiders as add-ons to your pledge. 
• Change colors. 
• Confirm the shipping address I have for you is correct. 
• Submit or update credit card info to pay for add-ons or unpaid kickstarter pledges

Note you must be paid up on your pledge by midnight Wednesday to get your LiftRider.

You should receive an email from backerkit with a link make sure everything is just the way you want it.

If you can’t find the email then please click here. Enter your email on the “Lost your survey” section and you should receive a link to update your info.

Attention Procrastinators! 

You know who you are :-)

If you are a procrastinator. Please stop what you are doing immediately and follow the instructions in the section above to finalize your order right now.

Attention international customers 

Note if you are a procrastinator and are reading this before having completed the above… Then imagine a finger wag, eye roll from me and jump back up two sections now.

We have nailed down an international shipping agreement for virtually all countries at a great price of $30.

So international backer, if you want to add on additional LiftRiders now that shipping costs are certain please go ahead and do so now. I have left the discount open to you.

Attention backers with skeptical friends 

Folks can be skeptical about kickstarter campaigns because some fail to deliver as promised.

Shipping from the factory is a really big milestone and removes a lot of the risk.

I would really love it if you would take a moment to share this post on your social media and encourage your friends to pre-order a LiftRider now that risk is vastly reduced.

Your friends can still get one at the non-backer price of $125 plus shipping until Wednesday. When packs arrive at our warehouse price will go up to our retail price which will likely be $150 plus shipping or more.

Please stop and share this post on facebook and twitter now!

Thank you!

Thank you again! I love each of you, my backers!

Some good news, some tall news and some short news
over 7 years ago – Sun, Aug 27, 2017 at 11:07:18 PM

First the good news 

ALL FOUR COLORS!!! YAY!!!

We hit our goal of selling 100 extra packs and we are getting all 4 colors! Woo hoo! I am so happy!

I will keep the super discount open to kickstarter backers till the end of this week in case there are a few stragglers. Remember if you are a kickstarter backer you can get additional liftriders at only $85 till the end of this week.

The deal is reserved under your email. Just click here.

Enter your email address where it says lost my survey and you’ll receive an email with a special link. 

Click the link in the email. It will take you to a page where you can get the discount in the add-on section.

If you have trouble just message me on kickstarter directly or email me at [email protected] .

Remember these 5 reasons to get an additional LiftRider or two 

• Get all your Christmas shopping done today! 
• Your ski buddies can carry their own stuff! 
• Your significant other won’t suck your hose in public. 
• Can’t chose a color? Get one of each! 
• When the person on the chair next you says “Where did you get that awesome bag?” you can say “I’ll sell you one. I have 4 more in the car!”

And one more…

You will never see this price again :)

Just click here for your discount. 

And now the tall and short news 

As you may recall the breakaway system on LiftRider also allows the pack to be adjustable to fit any size person from short youngsters to tall adults. 

It works with velcro backed snaps. Just set the position of the strap attach point higher for shorter people and lower for taller people.

So what’s new?

LiftRider 2.0 that you will be receiving has an extended adjustability range compared to the first LiftRider prototype.

Check out my son Will weighing in at a strapping 98 lbs and 5 foot 3 inches alongside my friend Edward at his fighting weight of 220 and 6 foot 5 inches. Will has the pack set with one setting to spare. So it should work well for even more vertically challenged kids.

Sorry for the confusion 

I think I confused several of you with my talk of LiftRider 2.0 vs LiftRider 1.0.

LiftRider 1.0 is the first model I made. I produced 100 of these and tested them with skiers last season. It is the orange one pictured in our kickstarter video. There will only ever be 100 of that model. (If you own one it is officially a collectors item :)

LiftRider 2.0 is the one all of you, our kickstarter backers, are getting. It includes all the wonderful updates I incorporated from all the fantastic feedback I got from our 100 intrepid original owners. It is the one appearing in all of these updates.

Every LiftRider 2.0 will ship with the custom LiftRider hydration system.

Hope that clears things up.

Some last minute tweaks

Grey pack logo

The black and grey pack will have a logo like below not the stealth black logo:

If you want to go stealth you will have to take a black sharpie to it :)

No magnetic waist buckle

As you may recall we featured a magnetic waist buckle in our kickstarter page and video.

I got some complaints from users of LiftRider 1.0 and experienced it myself where if you left that buckle closed for an extended period of time it would sometimes get stuck shut and be hard to open. I think the magnets over time attracted metal dust in the environment that mucked up the mechanism.

Rather than risk it I opted for a standard buckle.

Again I urge you to try LiftRider with the waist strap removed entirely. The waist strap is really not necessary. The pack hugs your back so well I think you will find you don’t need it.

So where did that carry strap go? 

If you have been paying attention you may recall from an early update that I thought carry straps on backpacks are ugly and obtrusive. I moved our carry strap to what I think is a smart location.

Many of you guessed the mystery location.

Well here it is:

Production is underway! 

Production has started on LiftRider and our custom hydration system. Our packs should be on a boat by late September!

I have also engaged a fulfillment service to ship the packs to you when they arrive. If everything goes according to plan they should be in the mail to you before Thankgiving.

THINK SNOW!