Captain Crunch-You may want panniers to commute to work with, or to carry groceries home with, or to do a two-day weekend tour, or to do saag-wagon assited touring, or to do fully-loaded camping style touring. I should have been more specific in my previous post in that my experience was in the area of converting a racer into a loaded tourer for long distances. If that is what you are contemplating-don't do it! You get none of the benefits of the racer when it is weighted down, you forsake the advantages of longer wheelbase etc. of the tourer. It is a Cinderella-in-revese story. You would be better off with a $50 yard sale/ garage bike for that type of usage.Comments above by Rich are right on.