Bike Panniers

So you have finally decided to go all ecologically friendly and use a bike. The next dilemma is how to luggage your stuff about on it without doing damage to yourself or others. Pannier bags are the ideal choice for carrying your personal belongings on your bike.

There are many styles of bicycle panniers to use depending on your needs. Touring panniers come in both rear and front styles, usually sold in pairs, intended to hold enough equipment for self-sustained tours over days or weeks.

Depending on which side of the pannier religious war you ask, individual preference is either a pannier with lots of little pockets to store each item in their own place but you take the risk that the item being to big for the pockets or one big pannier which can fit a wide range of item sizes but at the disadvantage of emptying the whole pannier to retrieve the item at the bottom.

Commuters who bicycle have pannier options designed to hold laptop computers, files and folders, changes of clothes or shoes and lunches. With the laptops you need to have the pannier to fit snugly to minimise the movement and vibrations.

To save costs or even to have a custom bag for their needs some cyclists create makeshift pannier bags out of grocery bags, grocery baskets, garment-bags, convertible backpacks, and various multi-purpose bags.

As occasionally with bicycles you are caught in rain, it is a good idea to choose a pannier which is water-repellent or waterproof without resorting to putting your items in plastic bags. However, some panniers include built-in rain-covers, or rain-covers are offered as accessories.

Panniers are usually built to attach to a rear rack or front rack already fitted to the bicycle. Removable panniers hook onto the top edge of the rack and are often held in place by a spring, hook or elastic cord that connects to the near of the wheel axle at the bottom. Various other options exist for further securing the bag, for example, Arkel uses a cam-lock system, and previously used an adjustable locking mechanism

If carrying fairly heavy loads ensure that the weight is evenly distributed, this helps with the stability of the bike, especially when taking sharp corners.

Main established brands of panniers are Ortlieb, Arkel, Delta, Topeak, Axiom and Carradice to name but a few.

Ortlieb

Ortlieb tends to be popular panniers for expedition touring especially in Europe. The bags are simple one main compartment design with the possibility to attach external pockets., hard-wearing, 100% water proof and very convenient attachment mechanism to remove and add to the bike. Both Ortlieb front rollers and rear Ortlieb rollers panniers are available.

Arkel

A Canadian company called Arkel offers a range of fairly distinctive panniers. Compared to European designs of Ortlieb, Arkel panniers are complex with a lot of individual pockets, zips, internal liners and detachable bags to try and cater for every need. Additionally there is a range of thin and tall panniers specifically catering for mountain bikes. The attachment mechanism used is a hook and bungee.

Carradice

Uk based Carradice have a long established history in making panniers. Their Super C range of panniers are made from a hard-wearing and water resistant cotton duck material. They also have produce a range in PVC. A large proportion of bags (especially the traditional cotton duck ones) are exported around the world with a particularly strong following in the Denmark, Germany and the USA.

Delta

For more than 20 years, Delta has been creating and selling useful cycling products. They offer only a small, concentrated product line that aims to represent the best there is in each category. Bags are constructed from 600D woven polyester with sewn stiching and Scotchlite® reflective tape, they several models ranging from the compact pannier to the larger expedition panniers.