Originally Posted by Tourist in MSN

I think most people that do bike touring do two or three tours, and then do something else. Most of those people are working age, have limited vacations, and if they start a family then the family is less likely to do bike touring as a group. There have been a handful of families that have done lengthy bike touring that have posted on this forum, but they are a small minority.

I live in a smaller city with a large university campus. I see many more Ortliebs being used by students and commuters than I see on the bike trails that pass through my community by those that are touring. I really think that the commuter market is the primary Ortlieb purchaser, not bike touring folks. At least that is what it looks like in my community.

My first tour was with a pair of Backrollers and a pair of cheap Nashbar panniers. The Nashbar ones were only used once. I also have some Axiom nylon panniers that were used for one tour. For someone doing their first tour, some cheap ones might be the sensible option as most people like that only do a few tours. The pair of Axiom that I have, I bought those at a garage sale. I had some others that I do not even remember the brand, donated those to a bike charity years ago.