Folding Bikes - Good pannier for Strida?

Hi, just wondering if anyone knows of any good panniers (sold in north America) that can be securely attached to my Strida's aluminum rack. I'd love to get one for transporting grocery and will appreciate your feedback. Thanks in advance!

I have a small pannier set that fits on the strida rack. Sorry I can't name it - I bought it on ebay.

I haven't tried it out properly yet, but I will be doing so in the near future.

It is a short type with not so long side pouches and a large upper bag.

The only difficulty that I foresee having tried to attach it to the aluminium strida rack is that the rack has no side structure. Most racks for panniers have a low down structure that you can secure the side bags too so that they don't swing into the wheel. The strida rack doesn't. My bags have a fair stiffness in the backing sheet, and I think I will be able to secure the lower front of each bag to a length of thin cane or aluminium rod which I will lash to the frame in front of the wheel with some string. The ordinary attachments on the upper part of the pannier fasten fine to the strida rack front and back - the pendulous bags are the only issue and they will need to be stopped from swinging sideways.

This no doubt sounds a ludicrous idea, but I have a lot of confidence in securely lashed structural members. I have sailed a bit and have seen how strong stuff is that is tied down properly with suitable lashings. In this case a 40 cm cane and a length of suitable man made fibre twine will tightly lash onto the frame and form a front mounting point for the bottom of my short pannier side bags.

'Ahoy there me hearties - hoist the panniers and shiver me tyres.'

When I get around to doing this in the next week or so, I will photograph it and post a picture. I just booked my bike onto an Easyjet flight to Spain so I will be trying this out for sure. I have a weird use for this bike in mind on a two person walking tour. Basically we don't want to kill ourselves carrying our bags and I intend to push the bike with the luggage on it. It will be our donkey if you like. I reckon it is a hell of a lot easier to wheel your bags fifteen miles a day than it is to carry them. I've walked these routes before so I know the surface is good enough to push a bike along. I will also have the bike available for evening exploration rides as well.

since when did the strida come with an aluminum rack?

mine:

http://img515.imageshack.us/img515/2231/photobq3.jpg

you can pick it up at MEC.ca or REI.com, i think its only $25?

it has 2 six-packs of beer it in, and can swallow 3 tubs of ice cream, or 2 larg-ish size grocery bags.. and u still have room ON TOP of the rack to strap on more stuff (use bungee cords)

Trueno92's pannier seems pretty well located in the horizontal plane as regards swinging. My pannier side bags sort of dangle from the horizontal platform and need sideways stabilisation for the bottom part. I foresee my bike being used to carry the pannier AND a rucksack strapped on either side of the frame between the seat and the pedals. The bike pushes so easily by holding the stem that I reckon this will be a pleasant way to move our gear from bunkhouse to bunkhouse, and of course it packs so small we can easily have it on the plane and in the hold of buses to get to where we are going. I've seen other hikers dragging their bags on small trailers on this route. That looked good too (certainly when I was humping a sack on my back) but I don't have a trailer and you can't pedal a trailer around a town or village in the evenings either.

since when did the strida come with an aluminum rack?
I think it's standard on the 5.2(?) It's available as an accessory upgrade on-line.

I forgot to say - even the aluminium rack has a 10kg weight limit on it. It may be that the limiting factor is the mounting point on the plastic seat shroud rather than the rack. The rack itself is very robustly made, but the mounting puts a lot of the stress onto the mounting point.

oh, i forgot to mention that my pannier has a vertical steel thin bar thats on the lower part of the pannier. it allows it to be secured on the lower half. so i have a bungee cord running thru there to the lower part of the rear tube. no swinging, no hanging while im leaning thru corners.

i just thought that no body has any of the newer strida's or purchased the rack! sorry my money now goes to my real bike, if i have any to spend at all...

How about trad style saddlebags (as used on horses & motorcycles) there are some cheaper canvas saddlebags available. I used to use them on my old BSAs and they are very capacious & easy to throw 'cowboy-style' over your shoulder! Hell, you'll look as cool in the supermarket as you do on your Strida!

Thanks everyone. Very helpful suggesitons.

trueno92, how do you keep your pannier on the rack? I checked MEC's website, and it seems the pannier's hooks are not big enough for the rack's somewhat thick rod. Any secret tips?

By the way, regarding how I got the alloy rack, I actually bought my Strida from a Ming Cycle dealer when visiting Taiwan -- straight from the source. The so-called "5.1" bike came with all sorts of upgrades, including the alloy rack, and costed me less than what a 5.0 would have here in the States.

mine:

http://img515.imageshack.us/img515/2231/photobq3.jpg

you can pick it up at MEC.ca or REI.com, i think its only $25?

it has 2 six-packs of beer it in, and can swallow 3 tubs of ice cream, or 2 larg-ish size grocery bags.. and u still have room ON TOP of the rack to strap on more stuff (use bungee cords)

I went to both websites and they no longer offer it with beer and ice cream. ;)

Just wanted to report back on the solution that I found. I bought an Inertia Designs Metro Pannier after reading this review:

http://www.ecovelo.info/2008/07/07/inertia-designs-metro-basket/

There are many good design features that make it a great choice for people who need a grocery/shopping type of pannier. The best thing about it is that the positions of its two hooks are adjustable (sliding horizontally), allowing it to fit Strida's unconventional rack. You may want to remove the pannier before folding though.

mine:

http://img515.imageshack.us/img515/2231/photobq3.jpg

you can pick it up at MEC.ca or REI.com, i think its only $25?

it has 2 six-packs of beer it in, and can swallow 3 tubs of ice cream, or 2 larg-ish size grocery bags.. and u still have room ON TOP of the rack to strap on more stuff (use bungee cords)

I'm sorry to dreg up an old thread from the grave but I wanted to ask trueno92 can you explain with pics how in the world did you get that mec pannier on there? I went to the mec store and that pannier only accepts like the standard sized tubing. I tried it on a rack with thicker tubing almost like the strida rack and it wasn't going on there at all.