Last night a guy brought me several sweet old bikes. There was a Louison Bobet, a Trek 750, a miyata six-ten frame, and an old centurion frame that's wrecked but has the components I need for my Giant. I was so excited, but it was after midnight, so I decided that I should go home and get some sleep.

Now today, I can't even go look at them. 30 mph wind, several inches of snow/ice on the road(so far. It doesn't show any signs of slowing down either), and well below freezing temperatures have stranded me at home. My car is stuck in a foot deep drift which is still growing, and my bikes are 5 miles from my house. This is absolute torture knowing that I can't ride/work on my new bikes. I have nothing to do but sit here and complain, so I'm doing exactly that. I have a 4x4 Explorer that could make it there, but I haven't got it tagged yet. I'm debating on whether or not to stick my car tag on it and go. If I sit around the house much longer I may do just that.

Since I'm sitting here doing nothing, can anyone recommend a good yet cost effective bag/pannier setup for the Trek 750? I've got an old NOS minora(?) front rack and a new Topeak Explorer rear rack. I've also got an old NOS TA Specialties front rack, but the minora is slightly better looking. I don't have any pictures as my camera is with my bikes. Anyway, what types of bags/panniers would be good for these? I won't be doing any heavy touring, just 2-3 day round trips for now. There aren't any steep hills around here, so that is not a factor. I'd also not like to spend a thousand dollars on top of the line stuff. That's way out of my budget. I've got nothing else to do, so today will be spent researching bags and planning the trip. Any suggestions?

When I hovered over the thread before clicking on it, the description stopped just like it is above, and I thought, "that's a great decision."

Man, I woulda been outta there in that 4x4 an hour ago...

Kansas in a snowstorm??

Ill bet the law is all huddled up near the fire back at the HQ...

Why drive all the way home when the convenience stores on every corner keep naughty magazines behind the counter ... oh, that's right, the OP's in Kansas.

Yep, we are officially under a Blizzard Warning.

Now that you mention it, all the cops drive those stupid rear wheel drive chargers, so they'll be spinning donuts while I go home free. Although I have yet to test drive the explorer(Bought it at an auction), so if it quit on me in the middle of a blizzard I would be pissed.

Sounds like you hooked up with ebr898, cause those sure sound like some bikes he was planning to deliver when I last traded email with him. I remember getting literally buried in a blizzard in Norton, KS back when I was just a pup; it snowed for two days and it took another two days to plow the highway clear enough for two-way traffic cause the wind was blowing it back into the cuts about as fast as they could plow it out. Drifts like eight feet tall right across the highway for miles on end. The only salvation was the local Hostess delivery guy was stranded too and ended up stuck in the same motel as we were; the office had three big boxes of cheap and sleazy paperback novels so it was the start of my love of trashy pulp fiction and absolute hatred of Snowballs and Ding Dongs.

I'm stuck in the house with nothing to eat. I was planning on going grocery shopping tonight, but oh well. I wonder if they'll deliver pizza Who knew that we were going to get up to 18 inches of snow plus several foot deep drifts? Well I found out last night, but I had more important things to do than get food, such as purchase new bikes

I took this picture on my phone, so it's not the best quality. This is the snow drift that's blocking my car in.

As you can see, there is little to no hope of me leaving anytime soon, especially considering the fact that it is still growing.

Now that's what I call powder coating.

HA! How long ya been waiting to use that one?!

Now I've just gotta find an oven big enough to put it in.

How big's the 610? And how much ya want for it?
-Gene-

I haven't measured it, but it looks to be about a 56 cm frame. I'm not wanting to sell it though. I plan on building it up for touring just in case I have a friend that wants to go. All the friends I know that have bikes either have mountain or bmx bikes, so they would need a different bike. Plus if I ever wreck the trek I'll have back up. There's a VERY slight bend in the top and down tubes where it itself was wrecked, but like I say it is VERY minor. You can't see it from 5 feet away. I already purchased all the parts I need for it off of ebay over the course of the last couple weeks, so by the end of next week it'll be ride-able(hopefully). I'm putting full shimano deore xt components on it. The rims are 36h mavic A119. I had some campy bar-end shifters if I can find them. I don't know how I let something like that disappear. The brake levers will be weinmann, and it's got the stem/bars off of a diamondback centurion. Anyway, it should all fit right on, but I'll find out as soon as the snow melts. It's kind of a hodge-podge, but I wanted it that way.

The only part that'll be tricky is the fact that someone sawed off the derailleur hanger on the rear. I've got several clamp-on hangers that should work though. If not I'll hop back on ebay.

Since I can't take my own pics I'll post the ones he sent me of the bikes. The first one is of the Trek 750, the second is of the Louison Bobet(it didn't come with the brooks and saddle bag), and the last is of the Miyata prior to being stripped. It currently consists of the frame, fork, brake arms, and bb.

Currently the Bobet is set up as single speed, but I got all the parts to return it to a 15 speed. I rather like the looks of it the way it is though, so it'll stay this way for a while at least.

The trek is just as pictured minus pedals. I've got about a million sets of pedals though, so it'll be riding down the street just as soon as I can get down my driveway.

Those look like some mighty nice rides I saw in ebr898's garage a month ago. He hooked me up with a big 'ole raleigh frame. You did very well, and I am thinking I should have grabbed more when I was there. Nice score.

I just discovered that my front door won't open due to being completely blocked by a snow drift. I can get out the back, but I don't think my car will make it through a 6 foot wall of snow. I learned a valuable lesson. I've gotta always make sure I have an extra bike at home to work on. I guess I'll attempt to shovel my driveway. The snows still falling though, and I can't tell where the road ends and the ditch starts. Where's global warming when you need it? This may not all seem like a big deal to people up north, but I haven't seen snow this deep since I was a little kid. I wonder what it's like in town. They didn't salt the roads prior to it snowing, so I imagine there will be quite a few wrecks today. That means I'll be spending next week hauling wrecked cars in to be crushed.

While you were indoors, I stole them.

I also know for a fact that Amani576 works on bikes during snow storms.

That's not a snow drift. That's some crafty snow blower work courtesy of RobbieTunes.

Well I decided that my 4x4 needed to be test driven, so I slapped my car tag on it and took off. All my bikes are still there, so you must have stolen my neighbors Magna. The jokes on you.

Unfortunately I left most of my tools at home, so I didn't really have much to do other than true wheels and inflate tires. I spent the rest of the evening pulling people out of the ditch. Yes, I asked each and every one of them if they had any bikes for sale. I'm just good like that. (They didn't)

And the 12 foot drift in the tree row behind my house, that was him too? That takes real talent. He should be in the snow blower olympics.

Daytrekker panniers from Nashbar aren't too bad for small bags, especially when they go on sale.

Nice to see a flatlander ***** about snow. I guess we New Englanders aren't alone after all.
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(who rode yesterday and will do so again this afternoon).