Commuting - Dual use pannier??

Hello all,

I am new to this forum - just moved from Maine down to Virginia. At least the winters will be a little easier for commuting!!!

I just got a trek 520 that I will be using for commuting/touring. I don't want to get a full blown set of panniers right away (my long term goal is the Trans America trail), but I would like something for day use/commuting/grocery store runs.

Does such a monster exist??

Thanks very much, and I'm glad that this forum exists....Lots of good stuff!!

Dan Kehlenbach

Delta make great multi-purpose panniers. We have their "quickbag 2 in 1" and "top trunk bag". Their "backsack" seem great also. Great quality and look. You can see them on their site www.deltacycle.com (http://www.deltacycle.com). We bought ours from an eBay store.

The Arkel Utility Basket is the beast that you want http://www.arkel-od.com/text_index.html . I use mine for 30 roundtrip commutes as well as the groceries and general shopping. The quality is great on these and the suspension system is bombproof. 40 lbs of groceries.....no problem......

I have used others and these are the best I have have seen as far as the quality the functionality and the guarantee.

I have a set of these Nashbar panniers. Been using them for almost a year for everything. Commuting, grocery getting, and Picnic rides. No trouble so far.
http://www.nashbar.com/profile.cfm?category=&subcategory=&brand=&sku=6796&storetype=&estoreid=&pagename=

I have a pair of Blackburn paniers that I got on the el cheapo, <$30 for the pair and they've held together five star's worth. I use them mostly for books, although occasional clothing packaing and the aforementioned grocery runs aren't uncommon. I don't think they're waterproof per se, but they are water resistant and I could easily waterproof them if I decided I needed to.

I have a pair of avenir panniers I use for commuting and grocery runs. They prolly wont survive a hard crash, but for $30, they are an ecellent choice.

There are a few tings to be weary of:

they have a bungie hook for keeping them from flapping around...be sure its secure.

[They attatch using four straps and those two bungies...so they are not easy to take on and off. I just keep my folder and notebook sleeve in there and take them out when i get to work. The fastening system looks irritating enough that I can often leave them on around town and nobody ever messes with them.

They have more space then you would think....I nearly overloaded my rack one day with them.....75lbs of crap in my panniers....that was a very interesting 12 miles :)

If you need something that can come off easily, these aren't the panniers for you, but if you can live with a perma-mounted pannier set, then by all means give these a try.

Me, too. I like em and use them for commuting.

For grocery runs, I recently invested in the xtracycle (http://www.xtracycle.com).
yay!





I have a pair of avenir panniers I use for commuting and grocery runs. They prolly wont survive a hard crash, but for $30, they are an ecellent choice.

There are a few tings to be weary of:

they have a bungie hook for keeping them from flapping around...be sure its secure.

[They attatch using four straps and those two bungies...so they are not easy to take on and off. I just keep my folder and notebook sleeve in there and take them out when i get to work. The fastening system looks irritating enough that I can often leave them on around town and nobody ever messes with them.

They have more space then you would think....I nearly overloaded my rack one day with them.....75lbs of crap in my panniers....that was a very interesting 12 miles :)

If you need something that can come off easily, these aren't the panniers for you, but if you can live with a perma-mounted pannier set, then by all means give these a try.

I have worked the other way around: touring first, commuting second (I used to commute on foot).

I use a set of Arkel T-42 panniers year round. For commuting, I use generally 1, sometimes 2. When I tour, I move them to the front rack and install the GT-54 on the rear rack.