Commuting - What box/basket/bag/bin do you have mounted on your rack?

I have a flat rack mounted over the rear wheel of my bike. I had used a milk crate years ago, but need something that isn't as bulky. Need something that would fit my lunch bag and various & sundry groceries from time to time.

Thought about a tupperware container of some type, but would like something that is more sturdy.

Thoughts? Ideas?

http://www.u.arizona.edu/~hankinsj/Mytrek2.htm

http://www.u.arizona.edu/~hankinsj/Gc006.jpg

Milk crate for the win

I use a small trunk bag for small items like keys, wallet, phone, ipod charger, etc. I also have a set of foldable grocery panniers from REI that can be used to carry anything bulkier. I keep one of the panniers at the office and the other at home just in case I need to haul anything unexpected.

I use panniers or a trunk bag. My grocery trips tend to only involve small items.

I would pick up a set of grocery panniers or
http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=466035

First year commuting, doing the milk crate stuffed with backpack. I hate to wear the backpack and only do if I fill the crate with groceries.

http://www.u.arizona.edu/~hankinsj/Mytrek2.htm

http://www.u.arizona.edu/~hankinsj/Gc006.jpg

Milk crate for the win

Great idea!! Have to keep that one in mind.

BTW- not sure what is meant by a "trunk box?" Can someone provide a link?

I use a Banjo Bros. rack top bag. I like it, but there are times I wish it fit more. I rarely use it in the expanded form (top right pic) because when you carry it with the shoulder strap that lightweight fabric can be torn away from the main compartment. This happened to me w/in 30 days of buying it. I had the bag replaced under warranty. Aside from that, the bag is very sturdy and, IMO, well built.

It's large enough for me to carry clean shirt, wallet, phone, keys and other "stuff", two toiletry bags (one contains swimming equipment, the other toiletries), towel, for my trip to the gym in the morning, as well as lunch, a spare tube, rain gear, and whatever tools can't fit in the seat wedge bag.


http://www.banjobrothers.com/imgs/products/01070.jpghttp://www.banjobrothers.com/imgs/products/01070a.jpg

http://feartheriver.net/misc/Commuter%201.jpg

I have a Nashbar Elite handlebar bag on a modified mount so it sits on my canti-mounted front rack. Combined with my Topeak XL AeroWedge, that carries pretty much everything I need for the day: Food, repair stuff, keys/wallet/phone, and some extra clothes for the variable weather right now.

If I need to haul more stuff, I have the matching Nashbar rack trunk. Remove the Topeak wedge bag, and replace with the rack trunk; then I have triple the carrying capacity of just the handlebar bag.

If I really need to haul stuff, I'll throw my 4 gallon bucket panniers on either side.

A pair of homemade bucket panniers.

http://lh3.ggpht.com/eric.speas/SJietovs4AI/AAAAAAAAAOw/ZXH8pjvkrXI/s640/100_2849.jpg

(I need to get a better pic of Fredkenstein.)

Try a wire basket. Wald, are great, cheap and made in the USA. You can find the size you like even if it's a front mount and take the brackets off and zip tie it to your rear rack.


http://www.waldsports.com/index.cfm/baskets.html

http://members.cox.net/netwurkin/punkinbike.jpg

The punkin' isn't permanently mounted, though. :D

Sturdy and free. I like it better than a milk crate because I find the wider and shallower crate to be more versatile. I just use one of those stretchy cargo nets over it to hold stuff in.

Need something that would fit my lunch bag and various & sundry groceries from time to time.

I have this trunk bag from Topeak.

http://www.topeak.com/products/Bags/MTXTrunkBagDXP

I really like it for the exact uses you descibed. It slides off push-button, has roll-down paniers, and it's pretty well put together. You need the Topeak rack to fit it, though. BONUS--The main compartment is cushioned and insulated, and perfectly cradles a 6 pack of bottles. :beer: mmm...beer...ugluglugl

I have a rack with a pair of soft nylon saddlebags hanging pannier-style on the sides. Each bag is big enough to hold my large bulky round skater helmet if nothing else is in there.

I'd like to get proper rear pannier baskets, or a basket that could mount on top of the rear rack while the saddlebags are there. And a front basket for things that I want to keep an eye on when I'm riding.

I've used a milk crate before. Works nicely, except it's a bit tall to manage when you get on and off the bike. I just used bungie cords to attach the crate to the rear rack.

I've since switched to a handlebar bag from Sunlite and a grocery pannier from Axiom. This combiniation seems to do the trick for most trips. I'd still be able to use a crate on top of the rack with the grocery pannier if the need arose.

Wald folding baskets for me. Love them! Perfect for grocery runs and for stashing my usual work bag.

http://homepage.mac.com/awcg/.Pictures/Bike/Full-Commute.jpg

I got a bicycle basket (the kind that is supposed to be attached to the handlebars) and threw away the handlebar mounts and put it on the rack with zip ties and I tied it to the seat with zip ties as well... it handles my backpack with my change of clothes, wipes and asundries, and a thermos of coffee fine... haven't tried to max it out.

you can get one from a sporting goods store, or one of the xmart type places...

I have a rack with a pair of soft nylon saddlebags hanging pannier-style on the sides.

I'd like to get proper rear pannier baskets, or a basket that could mount on top of the rear rack while the saddlebags are there.

I too have thought about this set-up. I've got the Knog saddlebag panniers, and I also have a milk crate (just not mounted at the moment). I'm thinking of getting a wire basket instead of the crate, something a bit more rectangular than the crate. That way I can throw my book bag up top, and leave the panniers for clothes, rain gear, groceries...

Anybody know if those handbaskets at the grocery stores are any taller than a milk crate?

I use a wire "in-basket", legal sized, zip tied in place. I bought it at an office supply store for about $7.
I tested a letter sized one that I borrowed from the office first.

Crate and bag!
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh299/lightningcow/DSC01576Medium.jpg

wald folding rear baskets....keeps the center of gravity lower.

I have a spider web like bungie cord for putting things on top of the rack

http://www.u.arizona.edu/~hankinsj/Mytrek2.htm (http://www.u.arizona.edu/%7Ehankinsj/Mytrek2.htm)

http://www.u.arizona.edu/%7Ehankinsj/Gc006.jpg

Milk crate for the win

+1 and I keep seeing you post this image whenever someone asks about carrying stuff so I'll keep doing the same hehe. Milk crate with the top three inches sawed off to make it easier to get my leg over, and a bungee net to hold everything in. Here's my old bike:


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v225/thehum/blog/bikenyc/biketonyc012.jpg


wald folding rear baskets....keeps the center of gravity lower.

I have a spider web like bungie cord for putting things on top of the rack

though I am thinking about getting these wald rear baskets because with anything more than 5lbs the bike gets noticebly top heavy and wobbly. As a plus, the milk crate is terribly convenient, and I've lugged everything from school books to a full size desktop computer and a microwave in it.

How do you guys get the milk crate to work? I got one from my wife when she didn't need it anymore and it wouldn't work for me. My bike has a rack built in that has a little bend upwards at the back so it wouldn't sit flush. :(

How do you guys get the milk crate to work? I got one from my wife when she didn't need it anymore and it wouldn't work for me. My bike has a rack built in that has a little bend upwards at the back so it wouldn't sit flush. :(

Dremel's are wonderful tools...



PS - Don't hack your rack, have a bit out of the milk crate... if it's a true milk crate it's plenty sturdy to handle a bit taken out of it.

I gotta plug REI's novara commuter panniers (http://www.rei.com/product/748088). They have some durablity/wear issues that can be easily remedied. But they're an awesome, less expensive option than the Ortliebs. Got 'em on sale for $55 each, carry a laptop, lunch, change of clothes, tools, etc. Already tested the crash factor. I have the laptop in a protective sleeve I stole from another backpack. I went over the handlebars at about 12mph and the bike flipped over me landing square on the pannier with the laptop. It crushed some almonds I had in an outer pocket and broke the key clip, but the laptop was unscathed. They attach/detach in seconds and are locked on tight.

How do you guys get the milk crate to work? I got one from my wife when she didn't need it anymore and it wouldn't work for me. My bike has a rack built in that has a little bend upwards at the back so it wouldn't sit flush. :(

My rack has the lip with a bend toward the front of the bike, so the crate sits off the flat back. Like jdmitch said, cut a hole in the bottom of the crate if you need to. I used a hack saw to chop off the top and the plastic cut like butter. To mount I bought some heavy duty zip ties from the hardware store to secure the crate to the rack.

I use these dry boxes from Action Products and they work well. The cheapest price online can be found here at Northern Tool (http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/NTESearch?storeId=6970&N=0&Ntk=All&Ntt=dry%20box&Nty=1&D=dry%20box&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&Dx=mode+matchallpartial).



http://www.actionp.com/catalog/catalog_18.jpg

Sorry, meant to post on another thread.

I have a Wald folding basket. I use an Arkel pannier on the other side.

A Wal-mart soft cooler. It looks like bike luggage, is insulated and waterproof and has two zippered compartments plus a couple of small side pockets. The main compartment has a rigid plastic liner. A sheet of thin aluminum in the bottom and a single bolt through the rack holds it securely. It cost about $15 and has held up well over the 3 months since it was installed.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Best_Cat_Litter_Bike_Buckets/
As you can see, I've put a lot of thought into my cat litter buckets. I also have a coke crate on back for those really bike loads.

Another crate. My foot hangs up sometimes trying to dismount but haven't crashed....yet.

love my milk crate.

Bingo!:thumb: You've got it, Wald makes the best wire bike baskets you'll ever find, sure, they look kind of paperboyish but they're the best.

I once put a small plastic tool box, with a lid that shut with a clasp, on a bike that had a back rack.

It handled everything I needed, and nothing ever popped it open.

I have a case like this from Otivia http://otivia.com/cargocache.html :

http://i289.photobucket.com/albums/ll210/wildcat-bucket/cargocache_closed.jpg

Michael

Oretlieb Rollback Panniers

A step beyond the milk crate...

Ran into this guy on the Richmond part of the Bay Trail.

In addition to it's cargo carrying capability, a milk crate comes in handy for mounting lights and reflectors:

so much milk crate love going on I was feeling left out heres mine. http://www.flickr.com/photos/econnofoot/2761195604/

I never did post my inbasket.
So here it is.

I never did post my inbasket.
So here it is.

I dig that, might try something along those lines in the future.

I posted this somewhere on BF. I needed a trunk bag to carry locks tools and get my water bottles away from the dust of the MUP. I just happened to have a Craftsman lunch bag that holds two thermoses. They are available at Sears during Christmas shopping season. It just did not work out so well for carrying coffee, water and lunch even though it is well insulated, stuff that was not supposed to get soggy did. Now it serves out its life sentence on my bike's rack

http://i481.photobucket.com/albums/rr179/MrDanw/IMG_0323.jpg

http://i481.photobucket.com/albums/rr179/MrDanw/IMG_0320.jpg