Originally Posted by
BobG
Your panniers will receive much harsher treatment while on tour...leaning against trees... lying on the ground... exposed to the the sun and elements. They just ride around on conveyor belts at the airport and then are hand loaded into the plane out of the weather like any other suitcase. I zip tie my two rear bags together to make them one without an additional duffel bag. I carry on the others, put one overhead and one beneath the seat as others have suggested.
This is what I was thinking. Plan for bike equipment that will hold up over a month of continuous touring, and it should handle rigors of air travel.
I think the biggest issue I haven't seen addressed is whether or not you are sure about the capacity you require. That's a fair amount more than I use, and I know that I overpack. Even if you can get two, 2,440 cu. in. panniers, you might not want to. I would go four panniers instead. Four Ortleib backrollers should get the job done. But first I'd take a good, hard look at my gear, and see if I really needed four panniers worth of gear. I'm curious as to how you came up with 2,441 X 2 as your space requirement.
And for packing, just don't plan on each pannier being it's own piece of baggage. I have traveled with something like this:
https://www.rei.com/product/870770/r...duffel-x-large
I've never put four panniers in there, but just going by capacity, they might fit. Of course then you have the issue of what to do with your duffel while you're on tour, but maybe that's not an issue if you're doing a hub and spoke tour. Or maybe it's an issue you're already prepared to deal with since you're packing your coupler-equipped bike.
So I guess if it were me, I'd take Ortleibs, but I'd take four, not two, and I'd put them on the plane in a duffel or other bag to both protect them and to allow them to fly as one piece of checked baggage.