Hi everyone,
I wish to post my experiences with a pair of Arkel T-42 panniers. Essentially, the panniers were a disaster for me & I can’t recommend a purchase by anyone. Here is a detailed background. The panniers were purchased in November 2015 from my LBS. In the case of the right pannier, the cam on the lock slowly but steadily became very unreliable. It didn't snap into place to lock onto the rail of my bike rack. In November 2016 I took it to the LBS & they weren't able to fix it. In January 2017, I stopped using the panniers for an extended period & was generally off the bicycle for reasons unrelated to the panniers. For fall 2017 I've resumed riding.

However, the worsening failure of the right pannier's lock to engage securely continued to be a problem and ultimately resulted in an accident on my bicycle. On my last ride with these panniers, the right pannier wouldn't lock and kept sliding around on my rack. I tried unsuccessfully to secure the pannier from sliding & bouncing on the rails. It slid loose and the hook and bungee cord built into the pannier wrapped themselves around my bicycle's spokes and cassette. The bike stopped short & I was tossed off the bike in city traffic. The spokes of the wheel were damaged. I went to a LBS for repair to have the hook removed from the cassette and the spokes trued. I was told by the LBS that I'll need to replace my rear wheel at a cost of $120 for an equivalent wheel. The wheel had been in good condition & I had just paid to true the wheel the previous month.

I wish to emphasize that the locking mechanism problem was unique to the right pannier. The left pannier locked down well enough so this appears to be a problem of manufacturing quality control not design. It also tells me the problem is the pannier not the rack.

In addition, the stitching on the bottom of the right bag is beginning to come apart. This is surprising given how new the bag is. The left pannier is having major problems with the stitching on the bottom of the pannier. The bag doesn't appear trustworthy for holding my laptop or clothing for work.

I'm really disappointed by the performance of these bags, especially relative to the cost. I bought them new about 2 years ago. I've used them exclusively for bike commuting. I had expected that by buying heavy-duty touring bags I would get many years of trouble-free use from the bags for going to work. I had purchased a pair of T-28s in early 2012 & they remain reliable to this day. I’m guessing the quality of manufacture has dropped off since 2012.

Arkel has a lifetime warranty on the bags. To utilize the warranty, I mailed the bags at a cost of $60~ out-of-pocket via US Mail to Canada. Because I now commute to work by bike daily, I had to purchase a new set of panniers from a different maker to hold me over while the panniers are repaired. Candidly, I don’t expect that the repairs will be done properly by Arkel & don’t expect to ever use the panniers again even when repaired. I wouldn’t feel comfortable unloading them on CraiglsList, etc., either as I don’t see the product as safe. In sum, if these bags can't handle holding my work clothes, lunch, & laptop, I can't imagine taking them on tour. I recommend avoiding.