2026.02.04
Design
4 min read
Design note: taking a hip belt down to 38 grams
Cutting weight is not about removing things. It is about re-asking why they exist.
The hip belt on the first Yuxing 22 weighed 71 grams. It was not a bad belt. We had simply never asked why it existed. Last autumn we decided to bring it under 40 grams without losing stability at 8 kg.
Taking it apart showed where the weight sat: double-layer 25 mm webbing, two metal ladder locks, and a reinforcement stitch added only so the webbing could pass through the hardware. The webbing itself was 28 grams. The rest existed to make the webbing work.
The final version swaps the ladder lock for a flat 7075 aluminium piece, moves to single-layer high-density weave, shortens the reinforcement from 12 cm to 4 cm and hot-cuts the end instead of folding it. Total saving: 33 grams. Measured weight: 38 grams.
The trade-off is 6 cm less adjustment range, which is not enough for waists over 110 cm. We keep the old belt as an accessory and will send one free with any repair request.