Thule’s Eric Hassett at the Thule Experience expo in Malmo, Sweden.

Carlton Reid

There are no clunky chunks of attaching hardware on the back of the soon-to-launch cycle pannier bags from Thule—instead, a soft sleeve slips over rack-attached small oblong frames and is clamped in place. The frames—integral to Thule’s new InLock system—fit either side of almost any cycle rack on the market, says sales literature from the Swedish brand, famous for its car roof boxes and roof racks.

The system and bags launch early next year. The first bags are designed for commuter and shopping use rather than touring, and were developed, in large part, by Eric Hassett who has recently moved from Colorado to work at Thule’s corporate headquarters in Malmö, 145 miles from the firm’s roof rack factory and test center at Hillerstorp, the one-horse town where the Swedish company was founded in 1942 and where, twenty years later, it made its first roof racks.

The 54-year-old Hassett might be the newest transplant, but he isn’t alone: between Hillerstorp and the Malmö dockside HQ, Thule has employees representing 24 different nationalities.

His move came after Thule announced in April that it would shutter the brand’s satellite office in Longmont, near Boulder, and lay off 22 workers, several of whom, including Hassett, had previously worked for Boulder-based electronics bag maker Case Logic, which Thule acquired in 2007.

“Thule wanted to get into the cut-and-sew space to become more of a lifestyle-oriented brand, so when it bought Case Logic, I moved with it. When Thule management decided to relocate the product part of the team to Sweden earlier this year, I took the chance to move there as well, not just to keep my job but also for the lifestyle. With a newly empty nest, the opportunity came at just the right time.”

Hassett moved with his wife, and their Bernese Mountain Dog, but not their adult children, one of whom hopes to become a professional mountain bike racer.

“Our youngest child went off to college, and so it was really a fresh start for my wife and me.”

Hassett’s wife was a teacher in the US. “She’s still trying to figure out what she’ll be able to do in Sweden,” says Hassett. “She would love to do more teaching, but we’re very happy together, and right now, she’s just a great partner in this adventure as we take on a new lifestyle. She is loving riding bikes around town. One of my colleagues moved to town recently and needed help moving furniture. It was dark, it was wet, but it was perfectly normal to be riding our bikes across town while helping out.

“I’m giving up some outdoor Colorado living that I love, but it’s been great switching to a place where I can easily cycle commute to the office, go run downtown to do shopping, or go to restaurants, and carry the gear that I need on and off my bike just the way I was envisioning. I’ve been here for a month and not driven a car: I really haven’t missed it.

“I’ve always been a cyclist. Here, biking is a part of everyday life. On my first ever trip here, I remember going through Copenhagen to get to the airport in January: it was late afternoon, it was snowing, and everybody was riding their bikes. I thought, ‘This is absolutely amazing; people aren’t driving their cars, they’re riding their bikes in all conditions.’ That was really inspiring. In Colorado, it’s normal to cycle for sport, but then we get in our cars to drive to work or drive to the market.”

Working on Thule’s InLock system is a passion project for Hassett.

“Bike panniers are part of my personal product assortment at Thule. I’m always brainstorming, ‘How could I make this bag nicer to carry off the bike?’ The downside of current pannier attachment systems is the bulky plastic clips on the back of the bag that attach to bikes, making for a poor carrying experience. We married the hard goods and a rack-oriented mounting system with the soft goods in a unique way to get all the hardware off the bag. The hardware stays on the bike, and with the bags unencumbered by that hardware, we can apply that to all sorts of bags.”

Other bags on the market that feature softbacks—of a sort—include Ortlieb’s Twin-City, which hides the brand’s QL2.1 attachment system under a flap. Thule’s new InLock system is patented.

Hassett and his colleagues have been working on the system for almost three years. It launches in February and will integrate with a new rear fender and other accessories.