Originally Posted by nancy sv

I echo the others - the Ortlieb handlebar bags are great, but the mounting system makes it to that it's extremely difficult to change the bag to a different bike. Once you mount it, it stays on that bike forever.

As for panniers, I'm the lone voice of dissent here - I don't like the Ortliebs. I don't like the one big bag design - it's OK for a short tour but for longer periods of time I want to be able to organize my stuff so it's quick and easily accessible.

I also am not a huge fan of the waterproof-ness of them. While being waterproof is great in the rain, how often do you truly ride in the rain? I know most of us choose our routes to avoid major rainy times. Out of our 48 months on the road lately, we only needed our gear to be waterproofed about 8 or 9 months. The rest of the time, breathable panniers were WAY nicer as we didn't have to think about putting damp stuff away. In the Ortliebs if an item had a tiny bit of water on it, the vapor would permeate everything else in the pannier. I ended up riding with my Ortliebs open sometimes in order to avoid the mildew from building up in them.