skins_brew

So, I had a pretty legit crash this morning. I was getting ready to head out on my 20 mile commute but wanted to bring a water bottle. I make use of the bracket for the Ulock which lives on my downtube. So, you cant have the lock there AND a water bottle in the cage. I use a DX trunk bag daily, usually without the pannier deployed. The trunk is usually pretty full, so this morning I dropped a pannier and threw the lock in. The DX has a rigid panel that folds down which allows the nylon pannier to deploy. There is velcro at the bottom of the panel that attaches to the pannier to keep it close, but there are still several inches of pannier below that. I did have the elastic tie down at the bottom of the pannier attached to the rack.

Anyway, I start out on my trip. I head down this monster of a hill and am pretty content. I just got a new jacket and I am loving that I am flying down this hill and not freezing to death. There is a decent little climb at the end of the hill, and I start hammering my way up. i get up out of the saddle and start pumping away. I am almost to the top when all of a sudden the cranks and back tire lock up. Inertia wins as I keep moving forward. I hit the ground pretty hard. I manage to sit up and I am waiting for the sensation of pain to start setting in as the adrenaline levels lower, but it does not. Thankfully, I am unscathed. This road is pretty quiet and dark, but there just happened to be a car going by. The lady stopped to make sure I was OK. It's good to see good Samaritans still exist.

So, what happened? The Ulock was in the pannier by itself. It had the whole pannier to itself, and being such a heavy item, it really moved around in there. As I was pumping up the hill, the side to side motion of the bike caused the ulock to swing into the spokes (possible catching the rear reflector). The Ulock must have been in the very corner of the pannier, as it swung around the support bar for the rack. This is the rack I have...

Luckily, the pannier started to tear away from the bag, as there were no broken or bent spokes. I was able to complete the ride, which after that, was pretty good.

Man oh man, talk about being scared though! To just have the bike come out from underneath you is quite the experience. I don't fault Topeak at all. They make some great stuff, but dont put small, heavy items into an empty pannier on one of these bags, unless you have one of the full racks! A few weeks ago I was actually thinking about ripping out one of the panniers to make more room for storage in those side compartments. Not sure if I will rip this one all the way out or just sew it back on. I might try and remove the pannier and sew a zipper into the bag and pannier, making it removable

bigbenaugust 

Always watch your cargo. I've had that happen before, just not with a Topeak bag.

jrickards

My old MEC Serratus panniers have an extra pocket on the back that is beyond the hard plastic backing of the rest of the pannier and when the pannier is empty, the pocket, especially if it is not empty, will flop about, side-to-side and has on occasion flopped into the spokes but only so much as to cause a buzzing sound. I would need a rack (mine is similar to yours) with an extension off the back to prevent the pockets from flopping into the spokes but the cheaper solution was to get a bungie cord and wrap that around the pannier if it is empty. If it is 1/3 or more full, the expansion of the pannier pulls the pocket away from the spokes so I'm safe.

Bad design as far as I am concerned, few racks extend backwards more than ours currently do.

alan s 

Thanks for the warning. As an aside, why not just leave your lock at work?

Dwayne

There are quite a few racks that offer that design actually, including Topeak. I use the Tourist DX, keeps my Ortliebs very stable.

https://www.topeak.com/products/racks...tdxtubularrack

skins_brew

I don't ride 20 miles all the way to work every day. Some days I commute to the train station (6 miles) instead, but thinking about it though, I have amassed enough U locks to leave one at work. I am getting ready to roll now, so I will be leaving it here!

prathmann

Yes, I've also had a couple panniers swing into the spokes when I had a rack like the OP's - fortunately my instances just brought the bike to a stop but without any crash or damage. I've since switched to an Ascent rack where the rear support also has a dogleg bend like the rack above to keep the lower rear corner of the panniers away from the spokes.

Yo Spiff

Thanks for that tip. I have one of the DX bags and that's a good thing to keep in mind. I was using a mini u-lock for a while and that fit completely within the zipped up side compartment. I've upgraded to an Abus combo chain lock however and am finding it very versatile, though a bit heavier than even a good u-lock.

I did buy one of the Topeak racks mentioned above for my tandem and like it enough that I am considering upgrading one of my other bikes to it. That second, lower set of rails really appeals to me, as most racks don't allow a separate trunk and panniers to be used together.