Panniers?

sleepyholland

Does anyone have any advice on where to buy panniers? And what ones to buy?
Here is the cyclesuperstore selection:
http://www.cyclesuperstore.ie/shop/pc/showsearchresults.asp?idCategory=187&order=3

I'm doing a 10 day trip in Spain in September, and need to carry all my gear.

Been keeping an eye on Ebay, but not much comes up.

Any advice?

Ghost Rider

I recommend the Ortlieb Back Roller Classic. The upside is that they're tough, easy to open, have a brillliant clip-on mechanism for attching to your pannier rack and they're as rainproof as you would need them to be. The downside is that they cost about 90 brick for a pair and don't have any exterior pockets.

http://www.cycleways.com/store/product/11927/Back-Roller-Classic-Red-Blk/

sleepyholland wrote:

Does anyone have any advice on where to buy panniers? And what ones to buy?
Here is the cyclesuperstore selection:
http://www.cyclesuperstore.ie/shop/pc/showsearchresults.asp?idCategory=187&order=3

I'm doing a 10 day trip in Spain in September, and need to carry all my gear.

Been keeping an eye on Ebay, but not much comes up.

Any advice?

ba

i got the same ones, in blue. 20 litres each. i recommend them. i think mine were intended for the front forks. however you should consider larger ones, especially for 10days.

i toured for a 8 days, and i could have used some more space but this means i would have had to carry more weight. hmm.

in total i carried 9kgs of luggage with 40litres space.

cycleways, drop in to them. or the great outdoors on catham street, off grafton st.

sleepyholland

Cheers for that.

I'd heard they we're expensive - and thought that they we're 90 brick each!! But 90 for a pair seems reasonable if they're as good as you say. It seems like they'll last a lifetime.

can you explain to me what this deal includes?
Is the 'back roller' the rack for holding them?
http://www.cycleways.com/store/product/11924/Back-Roller-%2B-Panniers-Red-Blk/

Morgan

"Back Roller Plus" is the model name. It's a different material and has a slightly different attachment mechanism. You just get the two panniers. "Back Roller Classic" is the cheaper model.

Ghost Rider

No, they don't come with a pannier rack. I don't think panniers ever do. You need to get one separately; they're fairly standard, I think.

"Back Roller" is just the model name. You can also get Front Rollers, which attach to a front rack. Might be useful to have both if you're going to be away for 10 days, though I believe cycling with fully loaded front panniers takes a bit more getting-used-to than with just the rear ones.

By the way, it's always worth testing your bike with fully loaded panniers before you go away, just so you know how stable it is when you turn corners and such. Not all bikes react the same way with the extra weight on the back.

Ideally, the chainstay (the bar that extends from the bottom bracket to the rear axle) will be long enough so that the downward load of the panniers is exerted in front of the rear axle, rather than behind it. If too far behind, the weight can (apparently) make the rear wheel more likely to slip out from under you when turning.

Touring bikes are supposed to have a longer chainstay than your average road bike or hybrid for precisely this reason. The bike I use for touring is a hybrid, of the flat bar road bike kind, and I have noticed the wheel slippage phenomenon on wet road surfaces. In general, though, it's possible to manage it pretty well i.e. by not turning too quickly.

sleepyholland wrote:

Cheers for that.

I'd heard they we're expensive - and thought that they we're 90 brick each!! But 90 for a pair seems reasonable if they're as good as you say. It seems like they'll last a lifetime.

can you explain to me what this deal includes?
Is the 'back roller' the rack for holding them?
http://www.cycleways.com/store/product/11924/Back-Roller-%2B-Panniers-Red-Blk/

CarPark

sleepyHolland
Thanks for this thread. I am also going on a cycling holiday and need to get pannier bags. Hope i am not hijacking your thread, but i have a few added questions, if anyone can help.

- Do i need to buy a pannier rack separate to the pannier bags?
- Are any of the pannier bags likely to fit a tent and groundsheet?

Many thanks

blorg

CarPark wrote:

- Do i need to buy a pannier rack separate to the pannier bags?

Yes, if you don't have one on your bike already.

CarPark wrote:

- Are any of the pannier bags likely to fit a tent and groundsheet?

I stick the tent across the top of the panniers and secure with a bungee; this also helps keep the panniers attached to the bike.

blorg

Ortlieb do indeed have a very good reputation. You can get cheaper though, for example have a look here, pairs from 34 EUR. Chain Reaction are a great shop, I ordered stuff from them most recently yesterday and it arrived this morning, free delivery. Generally it takes 48 hours.

I would question the need for waterproof ones if you are touring in Spain. I have a pair of Karrimor ones that I got second-hand, they work fine. I bring a plastic sack so I can line them if neccesary.

Civilian_Target

I have a pair of Vaude panniers and they're excellent (can't remember the name, they're certainly out of production but they resemble the World Tramp bags)
They have clips exactly as Ghost Rider described, and an adjustable bottom strap for clipping to the bottom of your panniers or your back axle, so they don't bounce. They can fit a towel, 3 A4 ring binders and a change of clothes (excluding shoes) in each bag and when you haven't got them on the back of your bike they have detachable sling-straps that seem to be made of the same material as a car seatbelt. They also seem to happily expand or shrink to various sizes, handy in traffic. And they're waterproof.

Downsides are they're not breathable (if it smelt bad when you put it in, it'll smell worse when you take it out) and because they only have one small internal pocket, everything ends up at the bottom of the bag, which is a pain.

The pair of bags cost £55. And I wouldn't recommend buying cheap panniers, (eg. Avenir's) they're more hastle than they're worth, especially when the zips break.

[EDIT]How about these ones? http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Bike-touring-pannier-bags-rear-100-waterproof-black_W0QQitemZ110150710393QQihZ001QQcategoryZ56198QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem[/EDIT]

blorg

Civilian_Target wrote:

detachable sling-straps that seem to be made of the same material as a car seatbelt.

This sort of thing is well worth looking out for, carrying the things off the bike can be very annoying indeed.

adrian.s

don't want to hijack this thread either, but while we're on the subject of panniers :-)

I'm planning on bringing my son on a child seat to child care later on this year, is it possible for panniers and a child seat at once, is there space and most importantly is it safe? It's only a 10 minute journey, but since I need to carry my stuff for work as well, I was wondering where I'd be able to put everything.

Thanks,
Adrian.

Morgan

adrian.s wrote:

don't want to hijack this thread either, but while we're on the subject of panniers :-)

I'm planning on bringing my son on a child seat to child care later on this year, is it possible for panniers and a child seat at once, is there space and most importantly is it safe? It's only a 10 minute journey, but since I need to carry my stuff for work as well, I was wondering where I'd be able to put everything.

Thanks,
Adrian.

You can put the child seat on the back and then carry your panniers on a low-rider rack on the front. Most of the child seats I've seen won't allow rear panniers to fit at the same time. Anyway, that would put an awful lot of weight over the rear of the bike and would reduce control. Spreading the weight front and back is the best option.

p

adrian.s wrote:

don't want to hijack this thread either, but while we're on the subject of panniers :-)

I'm planning on bringing my son on a child seat to child care later on this year, is it possible for panniers and a child seat at once, is there space and most importantly is it safe? It's only a 10 minute journey, but since I need to carry my stuff for work as well, I was wondering where I'd be able to put everything.

Perhaps a child trailer might be worth considering. They're very popular in nordic countries.
http://www.bicycletrailers.com/For-Children/Child-Bike-Trailers/index.cat

Shaymoboy

I bought a pair of classic ortllieb also about two years ago in Great Out doors off Grafton street.

You can't go wrong with them, only downside is its hard to get to stuff in the bottom of the bag without removing everything above.

S

Ghost Rider

Agreed. The whole lack-of-external-pockets thing is a drawback, but I guess it's part of the price you pay for the waterproofing.

Shaymoboy wrote:

I bought a pair of classic ortllieb also about two years ago in Great Out doors off Grafton street.

You can't go wrong with them, only downside is its hard to get to stuff in the bottom of the bag without removing everything above.

S

Sean02

I've done four long tours with the same Argos Panniers amd Rack. Excellent but I'm not sure how waterproof they are as I always use a plactic bag liner in case.

Trojan

Louis Garneau Traveller 2 (http://www.louisgarneau.com/eng/catalog_prod.asp?catalogue=CE4&section=AC&subsection=044&style_no=1493166) panniers - 100eur: