Originally Posted by
wolfchild
The lesson here is that, you should never ever carry important personal items on a bike inside panniers....I always carry personal items like a cell phone, wallet, house keys, car keys, credit cards etc on person inside my pockets and never on a bike. All other items such as: extra clothing, bike repair kit, food etc I carry inside my backpack. I only use panniers for doing grocery shopping and not for carrying important personal items.
Really sorry for your loss.
On my grocery shopping bike, I carry a shoulder bag with my phone and wallet. I use a handlebar bag on my road and touring bikes with all the hard to replace stuff in front of me and visible. On tour the loss of even a battery charger can be the costly end the trip. This was learned the hard way riding the length of the Mississippi.