Commuting - Giant Tran Send owners, what panniers work with your wooden racks?

I just bought a Giant Tran Send DX and it's a great bike. The only trouble I'm having is that my LBS doesn't carry any panniers that work with the wooden rack Giant puts on these bikes. Giant apparently sells a branded one, but my LBS doesn't carry it. So I'm wondering, before I go to the hassle of tracking down the Giant-branded one, can any of you Tran Send owners out there tell me what works for you?

Is that rack actually wood or is it just a wood plate screwed on top? Are there gaps between the rails and the plate?

It's definitely just a wooden panel attached to a regular rack. I guess I could remove the panel... if I can't find bags that'll work with it, that's definitely an option. I'd love to keep it if I can, though, because it's pretty cool looking.

I'd like to see what other people have to say. The correct design would have to have made it narrow enough to have a gap between the plank and the rails for hooking stuff on. Running the plank all the way flush with the outer edges definitely screws it up for attaching stuff. It's common for a rack to have a solid plate on top, but usually there's a gap. Like this:

http://bicycletrip.com/images/library/large/blackburn_mountainrack_04_m.jpg

I don't think there's much, if any, gap between the wooden panel and the rack itself. I've tried to find a good overhead photo of it, but no luck so far. I can take one when I get home tonight.

I don't own one, but I have thought about getting one (still might). That deck does have two notches/gaps on each side. Most panniers should fit, but you may have to re-space the mounting hardware.

Here's the rack:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3244/3002702213_8a1551392e.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3285/3003536344_5a1382e14b.jpg

Three ideas:

1) Measure the gaps,then go to local shops and measure the mounts on bags to see what will fit.

2) Remove the wooden top. You don't nee anything there for panniers

3) Get some washers and space the wooden top higher up off the rack.

I think just about all of the Arkel pannier products have hooks that move along the aluminum track so you could space the hooks to fit in the holes provided in the wooden top.

For example: look at the diagram in the lower right - sliding hooks.
http://www.arkel-od.com/panniers/utility/blueprints.asp?fl=1&site=

Here's the rack:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3244/3002702213_8a1551392e.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3285/3003536344_5a1382e14b.jpg

Don't know the term for what is missing here. Just about every rack that I've seen has some sort of built in barricade/wall to prevent anything sliding forward. This rack is flat.

Pretty sure my Novarra Transfer panniers would work with that. Mounts are totally adjustable.

Flat rack is better - carry long loads,

You could also go with either saddlebag panniers or trunk w/fold-out panniers...

I took the bike down to my LBS today, but they had nothing that'd fit. Even their saddlebags couldn't clip on. I didn't feel like dealing with the hassle of getting the special Giant-branded bags, so I just bit the bullet and took the wood panel off. Even without the wood panel, it's kind of a goofy rack and it only fit the grocery carrier pannier, so that's what I ended up with. I'm really annoyed about this -- it's a great bike, but why'd they have to include this weird nonstandard rack?

Because it's purely for marketing purposes. The same reason a lot of bikes won't take fenders, a lot of bikes will completely break if they fall over on a rock and why on almost every mass-produced bikes you can't simply raise or lower the bars to suit you. Just poor design with marketing running the show.

Take it down to REI and try a few - I'd bet they'd have several that would fit. Or you could go down to a woodworking shop and have them modify it in about ten minutes.

I have the EX model and had the same problem finding panniers that fit. I eventually just removed the wooden panel and have had no problem finding panniers that fit now. I still use the bungee cord to strap things down to the rack but have had not need for the wooden panel

im a tech at a giant dealer and gotta say, the only complaint on the transend is how that wooden plate fits...looks awesome but thats it. You always can use the giant branded paniers but in all honesty they seem to be of terrible quality.

One thing i have always wanted to do is measure out the distance for the mounting hardware on whatever panniers im trying to mount and just take a route and make a pretty cut out to fit the new paniers. With a bit of patience im sure you could make something that looked like it came from the factory that way.