Panniers

[dasgeh]

I have the Ortliebs, and while they are wonderfully water resistant, they would be better if they had external pockets for things already wet. My brother in law has an Arkel pair that’s less cute, but has external side pockets for water bottles and a mesh front thing for a helmet/jacket.

[worktheweb]

I commute everyday with an Arkel Bug and an Arkel TailRider Trunk Bag. The Arkel Bug converts into a backpack and does so very well. It holds a lot of stuff, and the optional rain covers keep things pretty dry in the rain. Daily it holds a change of clothes, shoes, lunch, gloves, and its own cover with room to spare. It holds a helmet when you’re off the bike, and holds your U-Lock when you’re on it. The TailRider I always ride with, it holds my breakdown kit, 2 tubes, my wallet, batteries, you name it. It has even held a helmet once when I didn’t have the bug with me. It is surprisingly capacious and sits right on top of my rack. I have a rear light mounted to it on the handle with some velcro. It has an integrated rain cover, and nothing has ever gotten wet in there. Both of those bags are from several years ago, the newer models have an even better retention system.

When I need to carry more, I use an Arkel Utility Basket which looks to be discontinued, but they have some similar ones, like this. It is big enough to hold a full grocery bag of the giant paper bag variety. I use it when I have to haul a lot of stuff, but not everyday. In the extreme winter, I use it to more easily carry my boots. They fit easily with room or whatever else I want to bring.

On the front I have the Arkel XM-28s (from many years ago, they look to be a lot different now with more compression straps) and they were used to carry my camp stove when touring along with a lot of other essentials. I’ve only used those for tours. With those bags I’ve done the full C&O twice, and the Full GAP/C&O once from McKeesport, the Pine Creek Rail Trail, and some other miscellaneous jaunts. The retention systems are simply excellent (you can flip the bike, the won’t fall). They’re expensive, but they’ve gone thousands of miles with me in rain, snow, tropical storms, and floods and they still look great. Highly recommended.

[FFX_Hinterlands]

I’ve heard good things about the Axiom panniers. I use a big saddle bag because my bike squeezes in the garage and the saddle bag is narrower than panniers. That’s something to consider going from a rack top bag to panniers. I need something that fits a laptop, personally.

[kingman762]

I’ll throw my vote to the Ortliebs waterproofness. I use a pair of Ortleib Frontrollers (on my rear rack). If you need a lot of space you could get the backrollers, but they were too big for my needs.

I would add that, in my opinon, rolltop bags made from a waterproof (drybag like) material are superior to any style of pannier that requires a rain cover for waterproofing. I had a pair of panniers of that style fail on me after one year, while my Ortleibs are going strong after 3 years now. They don’t have pockets… but personnaly I have not felt the need for external pockets. If that is important to you Ortlieb does sell a line of addons, that inlcude a seperate mesh pocket and accessory pouch.

[KLizotte]

I use a Vaude bag and it has worked very well for me. It comes with a separate rain cover that stores underneath the bag. Very similar to the Arkel Bug it appears. Unlike the Ortlieb panniers, the Vaude has quite a few pockets on the inside and outside (some with zippers, some without).

[Emm]

3rd-ing the ortleib recommendation. I use mine on my hybrid. I biked 6 miles through a thunderstorm this past summer and my ipad and laptop stayed perfectly dry. For already wet items, I keep a plastic shopping or trash bag in there. My backrollers came with an inside pouch, which was easily accessible and perfect for keys and phones. The bags are big enough for a weekeends worth of clothes and a laptop, or groceries. I love them.

For “I NEED IT NOW!” items, I actually love my schwinn phone case (it comes in more colors that just the one on the link). It fits my smartphone, work ID, and keys, plus an energy bar. I cant use it on the road bike (doesn’t fit), but it fits great on my flat-handlebar hybrid.

[KayakCyndi]

Ortliebs and Vaudes are almost identical. I have the Vaude’s because they were on sale on the Clymb awhile back. I echo what Kingman says about the size. The “back” ones (i.e. Backrollers for Ortieb or whatever for Vaude) are huge and way bigger than I need most of the time. I use my smaller “front” panniers for most applications (including when we were on the GAP and on my recent trip to Idaho). I have more space I tend to just fill it up with unnecessary stuff!

[CaseyKane50]

@eminva 98606 wrote:

Hello All

Liz

P.S. I know there are threads on this, but I searched and couldn’t find them — feel free to link to them. Thanks.

There was discussion recently in the Covet Thread

I would recommend looking at the Arkel bags. I have used mine for commuting and multi-day bike rides. I added rain covers to my purchase.

[eminva]

Excellent advice, everyone, now I just need to figure out what bike shop carries which brand and check them out in person. Or just go to Friday Coffee Club.

I admit I missed the recent discussion on the “Covet” thread, including the in depth analysis of backpack vs. panniers. Although I McGyver’d the zipper this a.m., I was actually thinking that when that stops working I’ll just switch to my Chrome messenger bag until I get around to buying the panniers. Sometimes I carry a ton of stuff in or out but other than that, I don’t have a strong preference between the two for commuting. It appears most people do.:rolleyes:

Liz

[culimerc]

I’ve got the Ortlieb Back rollers. They carry everything and then some. Commuting, I carry my boat anchor of a laptop, and clothes in on side and everything else in the other. It helps keep my clothes a little nicer that way and reduces the chances of getting spots and stains on them during transport. I rode with my laptop during the deluge on BTWD. I actually walked through a flooded portion of a trail that topped the panniers, everything was still dry as a bone when I got to work.

During my GAP/C&O trip, I was able to carry all my stuff in one side and all the little missus’ stuff in the other. 10 kits, walk around clothes for 2, shoes, snacks, flat kits, etc etc etc and still had room for more.

I my Ortliebs (and the orange color actually makes your bike faster)

[Steve O]

@worktheweb 98625 wrote:

Arkel Bug and an Arkel TailRider Trunk Bag
I use an Arkel Utility Basket
On the front I have the Arkel XM-28s

I, too, am a big Arkel fan. They make an extensive line of excellently constructed panniers. And they last frickin’ forever.

Lately I’ve been using The Shopper for my daily commute. Since I have a short ride in street clothes, I just plop my work bag and lock in it. Summertime I also gently fold my sportcoat and tuck it in also. On the home commute I can stop and fill it up with victuals.

I also have a previous version of something similar to these T-42’s. I used either one or both of those to commute for I can’t even remember how long. They are somewhat dingy looking but still holding up great. I use them on rainy days, because I have the Rain Covers, which I don’t have for the shopper (although I just noticed they make one for it….hmmmmm).

[Ben]

Does anyone have a recommendation on the garment bags that attach to racks? I’m planning to become a daily bike commuter, and I’m trying to decide between buying a suit bag or buying regular bags, so any advice or specific bags that you use would be helpful!

Also, has anyone seen any insulated shopping bags? We currently walk to the market and have gotten great use out of an insulated bag for a few years now, but it would be too big to fit into one of the many options people have posted here so far.

Thanks!

[cyclingfool]

No recommendations on bags, but you might consider taking most of your work clothing (suits, shirts, whatever you might be forced to wear) to work and leaving it there if possible. There may be a dry cleaner nearby where you could drop off/pick up some stuff once or twice a week over lunch, e.g., and you could potentially not have to ferry the items back and forth at all. Just a thought and a strategy I know is often employed.

[Ben]

@cyclingfool 98729 wrote:

No recommendations on bags, but you might consider taking most of your work clothing (suits, shirts, whatever you might be forced to wear) to work and leaving it there if possible. There may be a dry cleaner nearby where you could drop off/pick up some stuff once or twice a week over lunch, e.g., and you could potentially not have to ferry the items back and forth at all. Just a thought and a strategy I know is often employed.

I’d love to do that – but I work in the boonies, and there’s no easy dry cleaners that I can see. And if I were to take the clothes in on the metro, I’d lose a day on the bike. Plus, while we have showers and a gym, we can’t keep the lockers overnight.

[dkel]

@Ben 98727 wrote:

Also, has anyone seen any insulated shopping bags? We currently walk to the market and have gotten great use out of an insulated bag for a few years now, but it would be too big to fit into one of the many options people have posted here so far.

Thanks!

If you’re shopping by bike, your trip will be so fast, you won’t need an insulated bag.

You’re welcome! :p

Seriously, though, I’ve been thinking of the possibilities that would come with even a small trailer. Phatboing has told of his mighty deeds with one…I think you could put a full-size cooler in one and pack all your groceries in.

[Author]

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