Originally Posted by
staehpj1
What panniers do you have? Even the lighter ones on the market today are usually at least 2 pounds each. I think the lightest I have checked were 1.5 pounds. Sea to Summit 20 liter sil-nylon dry sacks weigh 1.7 ounces. So the difference is fairly substantial. That said I would be inclined to go with lighter model panniers rather than sil-nylon dry sacks unless going ultralight with the rest of your gear. At 22 pounds of gear weight I used Nashbar ATB panniers and didn't go to sil-nylon until shooting for 15 pounds of gear weight.
Mine are some old ones from Nashbar back when they were still called Bike Warehouse. They were modeled on the old Cannondale panniers but with much lighter fabric so there's some loss of durability - but mine are still in use after numerous tours and shopping trips over the last 35 years. The pair weighs in right at 1.0 kg or 2.2 lbs.
Here's a picture of my 'fully-loaded' bike on the way back from a trip to Yosemite last year. Everything fits inside the panniers so loading/unloading the bike is very quick and convenient.
