After 3 loaded tours (2 short tours with 2 panniers and 1 long tour with 4 panniers), I wonder if traditional panniers are really the best solution.

I carry a lot of stuff (believe me, I know!) and I don’t want this to be a discussion about why or what I could do to carry less. Just accept this part as a given.

I should also mention that I have been using Ortlieb panniers. I don’t necessarily think that they are the best panniers. I don’t have any comparison to render a judgement. The reason why I got them was simply, that they were the cheapest quality panniers available to me (I’m from Germany). Also for me the fact that they’re water-proof is not a disadvantage. I didn’t have problems with mouldy contents up to now, but I was often grateful that I didn’t have to wrap everything in plastic bags individually. Also, as far as I could see (but feel free to tell me different), they were the panniers with the best volume/weight ratio. The rear panniers take 40l and weigh 2070g, the front panniers take 30l and weigh 1680g.

However, I would have liked more space. I also found that it’s difficult not to waste space when packing. You can compress clothes and sleeping gear, but cooking gear and food is a different matter, as well as stuff that’s not be squashable. And I didn’t want to mix everything to save space.

Although the Ortliebs have a good weight/volume ratio, I can’t help but think that it could be a lot better. Every pannier has to be fixed to the bike, which requires some kind of hardware, which adds weight to the pannier. So my feeling is, each pannier should be as big as possible without creating problems like heel strike etc.

Another issue is that it’s not easy to handle 4 individual pieces of luggage. I probably could have put the contents of the panniers into 2 medium sized duffle bags, which would be a lot easier to handle off the bike - plus airlines and bus services often have a “2 piece limit” and charge extra if you have more then that. I had to rope the panniers together to comply with the limit - after all, I already had to pay extra for the bike.

The bottom line is: panniers are acceptable on the bike, but a PITA off the bike. They have a lot of self-weight. They are small. They are difficult to handle.

Isn’t it possible to carry stuff on the bike in a better way?

I have been ogling the Big Dummy for the simple reason that it seems to be possible to use it with “normal” luggage - and load it a lot easier. Wouldn’t it be possible to use a similar system on a normal touring bike? Has anybody ever tried something like this? Or - even better - are there commercial solutions that I simply don’t know about?

I would go for a Big Dummy, but I think it’s a lot more difficult to take on the plane or on the bus. I wonder why there are no touring bikes out there that simply offer a bit more rack space - somewhere in the middle of a normal bike and a long tail bike (the Arvon long tail seems to be almost as long as the BD). 10cm more on the rack would make a lot of difference when loading the bike, but would probably not make a huge difference when taking it on the plain/train/bus.