Bootzipper Is an Affordable Steel Machine Designed for Limitless Bikepacking Trips

Ladies and gents, the machine before you has been dubbed the Bootzipper. It's a steel bike created for one purpose only: exploring the greater outdoors. Even its manufacturer, On-One Bikes, sells it as you see in the cover photo, bags and all.

You may have noticed that the team behind this creation is On-One. But this team is only one of the brands by Planet X, a designer and manufacturer of bikes that's been active for over 30 years. It's this sort of history that's poured into each Bootzipper.

Now, there are several reasons as to why I chose to shed some light on this bike, and one of them is its price. Believe it or not, this sucker is priced at no more than 1,000 GBP (1,310 USD at current exchange rates). And, as I mentioned earlier, you'll also receive all the bags and three water bottle mounts, but you'll also be getting a machine built from steel.

Sure, steel sounds outdated and all, but some of its "elastic" properties, coupled with advancements in bike manufacturing technologies, still yield exceptionally capable bikes, and as you can clearly see, for a pretty dang good price too.

One thing you can keep in mind if you ever make eye contact with a steel bicycle is that steel will bend before breaking apart (on a molecular level). The same can't be said about aluminum and carbon fiber; these materials break apart first before a visible bend is witnessed.

With the frame material aside, we can start looking at other components that make Bootzipper what it is. One of these features is the fork, which is steel too. This means you'll have to rely on the Panaracer Comet tires for cushioning. While I'd love to throw a suspension fork on the bike, On-One mentions that Bootzipper is a "throwback" to a time before suspensions; it's designed to work best like this.

As for the drivetrain, most people expect to see one particular manufacturer for this sort of money, Shimano. Surprise, surprise, it's not Shimano that'll be handling your shifting, but SRAM. At the rear of Bootzipper, a PG-1210 Eagle cassette with 11-50T will be giving you more than enough gear range to ride some pretty rough terrain, and an SX Eagle derailleur will be moving an SX Eagle chain. Everything is then tuned to the sounds of 12 speeds and is powered by an SX Eagle DUB crankset.

Since On-One brings a very long component manufacturing history, most other components are provided in-house. Grips, handlebar, stem, and seat clamp are all On-One. While brakes are also provided by SRAM, the rotors are a pair of Avid Centerline with 180 mm (7.1 in) and 160 mm (6.4 in) diameters. The only thing you may need to purchase for yourself is a pair of fenders or a dropper post. In all, a medium-sized Bootzipper is rolling in with a weight of 13.8 kg (30.4 lbs), but I'm not sure that's with the cargo bags.

Finally, if there are any features you don't happen to like, the nice thing about this bike is that it'll leave you with enough cash in your pocket to make some serious upgrades if you'd like. Better yet, because of that price, even if you end up destroying the frame, you shouldn't feel too bad about it. If you are looking for a budget machine that can go the distance, Bootzipper is one bike to consider.