Ortlieb Rear Panniers Bouncing Off
 

Hey guys! Thought you may be able to help me with a problem I have been having with my Ortlieb rear panniers on my OMM Pioneer rack. To start off, I have used the correct shims and I have played around with the bottom clip thing for hours to no avail. I recently did a tour in Cameroon. On smooth asphalt and mild dirt roads, the panniers preformed perfectly. Never came off, very solid. The second I hit very rough roads and trails, the bags would come off on the bottom. They would stay attached on top, but the bottom would detach from the rail and bounce all over the place. On really bad roads, this happened every 5 mins. Extremely annoying and I was always worried the bag would tear or something. Again, the bag was on there really well, and it never came off on mild dirt roads, but the second I hit trails and rough roads it would bounce off. Anybody else experience this? Does Ortlieb sell anything to combat this? Anybody try tying the rack to the bike or something?

You can add a second bottom thingy to the pannier.

the trick is to set up the top clamp thingees so they butt up against the racks top rail cross supports (your rack has tubes parallel to the bike, and others going the opposite way, perpendicular to the main tubes) You want to set up the lower plastic 'hook' thing so that it holds the bottom of the rack in one direction, and the top clamps are up against the "perpendicular" tubes in the other direction--effectively stopping the bag from moving in all directions, backwards, forwards, up and down.

specifically the up and down movement is stopped by the slant of the vertical support that the hook goes up against. When I put on my bags, I slip the plastic tab/hook thing a bit higher up on the slanted vertical support, this gives me the leeway to lower the bags upper clamps down onto the rack, and as it lowers the bottom tab/hook is sliding down more on the vertical support.
When all is in place, with proper positioning, the bag cant move in either direction. Held in one direction by the tab/hook up against the vertical support, held in the other direction by the bags two clamps by the perpendicular supports on top of the rack, and the vertical movement by the tab/hook not being able to move "up" the vertical support because the upper clamps effectively hold the bag in conjunction with the tab/hook snug against the vertical support.

not sure if that is clear, but its a smart simple system that doesnt work if its not set up properly, but works perfectly when it is.

sometimes the top catch doesn't close the 1st time .. So double check before heading out. yes additional bottom hooks are sold .

holding the plastic nut on the inside and unscrewing the torx head screw lets you take the hardware off to add more hooks ..

a coin in a pair of pliers will get things tighter than the Knob..

Older type 1 top hook-rail had a buckle molded in and a strap that secured the bottom..

with a small amount of of ingenuity you can add a strap and buckle to any of them ,
with nylon webbing and a Fastex plastic buckle..

the Torx screw is pointed, it can pierce the webbing..

I have Paired front panniers with webbing , to come off as one.

I havent needed the harsh conditions secure mount myself .. but the principle is the same..

Again, I appreciate the help, but I said in this in my original post. I set the bags up EXACTLY how you are saying, and, again, they work perfectly on roads within reason, but when the roads look like this ( http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Pyo4aqWEEX...d-IMG_3600.jpg ) the repetitive bouncing just bounces the bags off. The top catch functions perfectly, but the bottom pops off, I don't know how it happens, it always looks so secure.

OK here are two photos of how I have the bags mounted, this is just the final configuration I had when I finished my tour, but I tried many other methods along the way. Panniers - Imgur . I am thinking about purchasing a second clip or, possibly, tying it or making something out of rope.

doing it jury-rig is always possible .. a buckle and strap [perhaps with a side release] will be tidy and secure ..
do insure the loose ends wont get into the spokes ..

The mount of my Beckman bags [example of detail planning]
used a buckle with a finger loop to pull it tight and a velcro patch on the strap and back of the Bag to secure the loop end
the strap went down under* and back up so pulling strap tight pulled the hooks down

*racks in this case was Bruce Gordon's

That's a rough looking "road." At that point I do believe I would just be getting a couple straps with the plastic clip/buckles and wrapping around the back of the pannier and rack and buckling tight on the outside. I would think doing that about 1/2-2/3 of the way down would keep the bottoms in place pretty well.

If it weren't for the greenery, I'd say that road looks like it's on the moon. I use an OMM Sherpa rack with Ortlieb panniers on the front offroad on stuff worse than that (singletrack), and have never experienced the panniers coming loose.

Edit: Just saw your pictures. Try angling the bottom hooks thingies perpendicular to the strut (not horizontal to the ground as you have them now) and if that doesn't work, add another hook facing the other direction on the other strut (both perpendicular).

Here is a photo of my setup, (thanks for your photos, a picture is better than a thousand words apparently). I can see with your rack that there are not "perpendicular" support struts on the areas where the top catches hold onto the rack-so I see that you set up one catch so that it butts up against the furthest front part of the rack--and I guess this limits you to setting up the lower bottom tab on that side of the vertical support strut.

to my eyes, having the bottom tab on that side is the issue, as it bounces, it moves up a bit and because of the angle of the strut, the tension becomes less because the strut slopes away from your tab (the opposite in my photo)--but again, I see that you cant set the tab up on the other side unless you rig up something on the top area so you can use the rear top latch of the bag to jam up against something to stop the bags from moving towards the back.

maybe you could rig up some sort of "stop" along the top rack rail, if you know what I mean. Then you could switch the bottom tab to the other side of the vertical strut.

in any case, that "road" is so rough, it may be really hard on any sort of setup. I've certainly never ridden on anything like thathttp://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=400990.

I hope my idea of rigging something up on the top of the rack to allow the farthest back attachment point to be more secure is clear, you will always have to have the top being stopped going in one direction and the bottom part being stopped in the other direction--it just seems to me the only solution is to flip the bottom tab to the other side of vertical strut where the proper slant will always help it stay put.

good luck improvising.

ps, the suggestion of turning the bottom tab perpendicular to the strut is a great start, it looks like you could turn it a lot too, which would most likely greatly reduce the chance of it popping off. If you are lucky this will solve the problem.

pps, if you decide to go the top tube "stop" tryout, perhaps a small hose clamp with rubber tube under it to stop it from moving, and other stuff on it to not damage your bag hooks, could be a simple "stop" to brace the upper clamps onto to stop moving in that direction. They cost a buck and come in all kinds of diameters. As long as it doesnt rub against the bag it could work.

the (African ?) road was probably rougher than the countryside .. looks like it became a creek bed
and what ever finer materials that were laid down . washed away.

I don't have OMM Pioneer racks, but I have used Ortlieb panniers on other OMM racks.

I have had the panniers come loose on rough roads and singletrack.

There are a few solutions:

- I use 1 zip tie on each pannier to secure the bottom for longer dirt tours as it's 100% effective, cheap, easy and I don't need my panniers off the bike
- Ortlieb sells a variety of clips you can use to secure the lower part of your pannier...you can attach 2 clips on some panniers to help lock things down better
- a strap wrapped around the pannier and rack will keep it secure and allow you to remove it as needed from the rack

I for one will store that last tip of using a strap in the back of my mind, seems to me to be the easiest, most versatile approach for when you want to be able to easily take the bags off. (zip tie one too, although I dont do the offroad stuff you do, so it would be more of a "fix-it" thing)

thanks

Your lucky you have a bike and your health left with a road like that.

I think it is simply time to find a new place to ride.

How on earth (or maybe moon) can that be enjoyable at all?

I'm glad somebody else 'enjoys' those types of roads like I do :)

Honestly if it were me, I just put a strap/tape on the pannier/rack to secure it. Most definitely won't come off then, even if you want it too...

Random comment: My old Arkels only fall off on perfectly smooth highways at random intervals but never once on the gravel. I ride about 50/50 gravel/road

I once lost the bottom hook of one of my Sport Packers. I used a bungee cord as a substitute. Worked fine.

This is what we have done in the past with cantankerous panniers, also consider a small length of 1" Gorilla tape which would do the trick as well

Easy peasy

You have received a lot of good information here. My wife and I just completed a 150 mile plus ride on very rough surfaces without losing our Ortliebs even once. I have them set up with the bottom hook set up at an angle and the top clips adjusted at the junction of two rack structures. It might be the specific rack configuration does not allow fully secure mounting. Keep adjusting the hooks and I'm sure you will find the correct arrangement.

Keep up riding the rough roads!

Hook should be perpendicular to the strut. Use bungie anyway, reducing movement of gear in bag will also help reduce movement of bag on rack.