slowjoe66

In preparing for my first multi-day tour this Summer, and being a cheapskate, I pursued the idea of making my own panniers from surplus. I am certainly not the first person to try this. You can find people making panniers out of buckets and other assorted materials, but the idea that seemed like a natural to me was to make Panniers out of Army-Navy Surplus bags like this guy https://web.archive.org/web/200503142...es/pw_rack.htm

Since I don't plan to do more than probably 1 or 2 tours a year (and I'm limited to a week because of work and family commitments), and the rest of the time I just ride my bike for weekend pleasure rides I didn't see the need to have a fortune invested in costly store bought panniers. So I went to the local Surplus store and spent some time finding bags that I thought were just the right size and with the right qualities that would allow them to become a usable set of bags.

What I came up with were canvas rucksack type bags that are called "Musette" bags. It has some type of waterproof, rubberized coating on 3 sides and the top. It also had little steel rings in just the right spot for attachment to the top of the rack. I ditched the shoulder straps and other unnecessary straps that were on there (there were plenty) and began fitting it on the bike. I used simple flat webbing with a buckle in a couple of places and I will attach a tensioner to the inside. Here is a pic of the nearly finished product:



My question is this:Will I need some sort of stiffener along the inside? It seems like it would be alright as is. Perhaps I should just load it up with gear and go for a proof ride.

Does anybody else have homemade panniers and how have they worked for you?

Joe

NoReg

I think the stiffeners serve a number of purposes, but the main one is to make it possible to make the unit easily at/detachable and have some decent degree of rigidity on the bike. If you consider the external frame backpack, none of the bags there had stiffeners in them, because they were properly tensioned out to the frame parts, and the bags where not detatched from the frame with any regularity.

The main issue with your bags is that the modern Balckburn derived racks are minimal in coverage so there aren't many points to which to tension the full perimeter of the bag. My mother's touring bike, however, was still around when I was growing up in the 60s, and all it consisted of was a rig like a saddle bag on a horse. Two bags connected together by material that went over the top of the rack, which was rat trap type and held the fabric in it's jaws It was purely suspended in from the topnothing supporting the lower edges, and it worked well enough.

One thing I would recomend would be to scrutinize your attachement points, they need to be very strong, and capable of taking loads multidirectionally. even though the main loads are downward the bag needs to be secured so that the threads don't get loaded sequentially or I fear the straps will separate. This is another advantage of the stiffener, it can hold rivets which take a loading in multiple directions.

GeoKrpan

I have zip tied wicker baskets to the rack. It looks great and works great.
Baskets cost $10-15 each.

5 more

Another good reason for stiffeners is that will keep the bag from hitting or being sucked into the spokes. This could be a very bad thing on a fast downhill. If your rack doesn't have a support arm to stop this then I would go with the stiffeners.

Vin

BigBlueToe

Long ago when I was a very poor college student I started bike touring. I couldn't afford panniers. I bought some pack cloth and sewed my own (with a needle and thread no less - I certainly couldn't afford a sewing machine.) They had no stiffeners. It didn't take long to figure out that they rubbed on the spokes, not only causing an unsafe riding situation, but also rubbing right through the pack cloth. My solution at the time was to get a couple of 1/4" plywood strips and tie them onto the rack supports and chainstays (with cotton string, no less) in such a way as to hold the panniers out of the spokes. It worke pretty well, I guess, though the corners occasionally still touched the spokes, and it wore little holes in them.

If I had it to do again I'd definitely try stiffeners. I've looked at the fiberglass panels you can buy to cover flourescent lights in overhead fixtures; those would work. There are some plastic storage boxes you can buy with large enough flat panels that you could cut down to fit.

Nigeyy

I was reading an entry in crazyguyonabike -so alas I can't claim this idea as my own and the riders had a similar problem. Solution? They bought some thick plastic coathangers from a store and hung them from the side of the rack. It struck me as possibly a brilliantly elegant and cheap solution!

rnagaoka

Seems like an creative solution, but I think they would have to be securely attached to the rack...I'd hate for the coat hangers to come off or break and fly into the spokes while you're bombing downhill

Coroplast is the cheapskate's best friend. You could insert this material into your homemade panniers as a stiffener...or even make butt-ugly panners from them!

https://kentsbike.blogspot.com/2007/0...s-fenders.html

tacomee

I looked into makeing panniers once--- I was going to use some semi-flexable plastic for stiffeners.

But then I just bought a set of bags on sale at Nashbar-- and honestly, I couldn't have made panniers that cheap. And those panniers are still around to this day! Patched and pretty much trashed, but I could still tour with them.

So I wouldn't try to make panniers to save money.

But if you're doing it just it for the sheer joy if it, Go for it!

cruentus

I agree. Rolling your own doesn't make sense if you are trying to save money. The cost of materials will often be equal to, or more, than the cost of some cheap panniers from Nashbar or even some high quality used panniers from eBay.

The only reason to make your own if because you enjoy being creative or want something unique.

zonatandem

Go to the next bike swap meet in your area and buy a pair of used panniers . . . less ha$$le and likely cheaper than do-it-yourself.

slowjoe66

I think you and a few of the others are misunderstanding me. I am not asking about the feasability/cost effectiveness of building my own--they are already built. In my post I detailed how I bought army/navy surplus bags for like $12 each and a couple of bucks worth of webbing and bungee and I am set. My question was about stiffener-whether I needed it or not is all.

Check out the pics in the original post.

NoReg

My vote is that based on the picture you don't need them. As mentioned they make it easier to put on and off, they stop paniers getting into spokes, they control sway.

From the look of yours, they stick out to the side more than to the fore and aft, so spokes are probably not in danger. Riding it should prove one way or the other. And since you are attaching them with buckles I imagine you don't care as much about a speed detatch. I personally leave my panniers on the so it doesn't mater to me either. I could see they might sway anoyingly when you start and stop, but that may have more to do with the bag shape.

Also, it isn't all or nothing, you can sometimes find things that will stiffen the bags if you carefully pack, and just stuffing them full stiffens them. For instance, the other day I was eyeing ki'ds play mats. They are these 1'x1' foam mats with an interlocking edge. a few of those would nicely stiffen the back of panniers and then they would unpack and notch together for a sleeping mat. Not sure your bags are big enough.

As mentioend the hardened backs are a function of the development of modern skeleton racks. Traditionally paniers did not have back stiffeners in them. And they add a lot of weight for the good they do. In the 70 and 80s, there were a lot of novel new "features" and materials developed around backpacking/outdoors, almost every one of them added a lot of weight, cordura v.s pack cloth; goretex; jackets with millions of pockets zippers coloured panels; freestanding tents; polarguard. Nowadays there is an ultralite backlash and at some point it will suck the excess weight out of pannier construction, you are on the vanguard.

tacomee

If you're just trying to stiffen and mount a couple of army surplus bags you already have, try using political yard signs. They are lightweight, waterproof and free.

I had a friend who used to ride his bike to a camping spot outside of town-- over time he built a little cabin out of pallets and yard signs. It was watertight and even looked OK.

slowjoe66

Thanks Peterpan. I just went on a very hilly ride yesterday (without the panniers--no need for them) with my wife and felt like a stiff. It is the first ride since November. Even though I ride an exercise bike daily for exercise, that mile long hill about did both of us in. I can see how the "I will just get in shape for the tour while I am touring" mentality would be painful at best.

Thanks for the info.

n4zou

PVC plumbing pipe frame fabricated to hold a standard backpack. Easy, cheap, and works very well.

teamcompi

Put the stiffner in it, it will help protect the spokes from stuff and help hold it closer to the frame. How did you attach the bottom of the bag to the rack? If its not done sew on a little over lapping velcro as a easy fix. One thing to watch for is that the top ancor can not go side to side, they do not have to be independently fixed just so that they can not shift.
Have a fun, safe tour!