Originally Posted by
Lovegasoline
...
My back rollers have an older version of the
Stealth auxiliary strap (it's the strap that's attached to the face fabric with a screw and it wraps over the top of the bag's rolled closure and clips to a female buckle located in the middle of the bag's upper rail. That female buckle is attached via a very short piece of thin webbing so it flops around and inevitably falls down into the small gap between the pannier and the rack, requiring me to try and get my finger down in the small gap and fish it out in order to be able to clip it. It's my most used closure method 80% of the time (urban use, errands commuting, grocery shopping, etc.).
The newest version
'Stealth auxiliary closure strap QL2.1, black' (
https://us.ortlieb.com/products/stea...ap-ql2-1-black) is redesigned and they eliminated the webbing so the previously floppy female buckle is now rigid, mounted to short stiff plastic stalk, is always accessible, is oriented vertically and slightly angled to ergonomically receive the male buckle. I bought a couple of the new Stealth Auxiliary straps and used it for the first time this week. The 'lost' female buckle problem is now history.
....
That strap that goes over the top of the older Backrollers and Frontrollers, the part of that strap that went under the rail for the upper hooks was quite weak, made of fabric. On my Backrollers, one of those tore off my bike a couple years ago. I replaced it with some strap material when I got home and attached it to the pannier at the location of the screws that held the pannier rail to the pannier. But a stiffer piece of plastic like you described makes a lot of sense. My repair in photo below:
Since I use that strap on my Frontrollers to hold my rain gear on my panniers, I have been planning to add my reinforcement to my Frontrollers too, I have been worrying about losing the use of that strap on them.