Yes. With the axle from my junker bike, (that I pulled from a dumpster a few years ago), I was able to get my rear wheel back in action. And I've now mounted the baskets to the base of my seat stays with the cable clamps instead of the axle.

Re: wobbly baskets

I've found wobbling and rattling is taken care of by thick zip ties. I use a front basket attached to a small front rack. Zip tie that sucker down real tight. I've never had the basket wobble or rattle. The stuff inside rattles around in the basket, of course.

MMach5,

You're a better man than I, Gunga Din. I tried baskets of the style you described, and experienced the scariest wobble of my life. I ran, did not walk, and certainly did not ride, back to my local bike shop to return the baskets.

I admire you for making them work. They seem much more useful for commuting and in-town errands than fussy panniers.

Sorry to hear about you three hour tour. Hope you get some rest, and that your repairs are successful.

Go to Nashbar.com and search for NA-ATP2 - big, nice, and $35 for two.

I have had a pair for over a year and they're holding up fine. About 2500 miles of commuting, about 40% of which was over rough gravel with mud and bumps with loads inside ranging up to 2 gallons of milk and a few textbooks.

One of them got messed up a bit on the side, because I didn't hang it properly when I left and it got caught in the spokes when I turned a corner, but it's still functional. Just one of the side pockets has a hole.

Okay. This is my absolute, last basket update:

Friday, as I rode to work, my bike just got harder and harder to pedal. I couldn't tell if it was me or if there really was a problem. When I could feel something inadvertently dragging, even when coasting down hills, I knew something was wrong. I couldn't find anywhere that the baskets were causing the problem.

When I got home, I started looking the bike over and found that the rear axle, (remember the one from the junker), was bent. Saturday, I ran to my LBS, got a new axle and some bearings. I removed the baskets for easier access and got the rear wheel back in good working order. When I took the bike out for a test spin, sans the baskets, I realized immediately how heavy and cumbersom they actually were.

When I returned home, my wife said, "So, just leave them off."

"But I really like them and I hate to admit that I couldn't make them work and I did spend $20 on them..."

Having decided to just forgo the baskets, I now had to decide what to do about carrying my stuff to and from work. I had torn up my old rear rack to put supports on the baskets.

So, I took the pieces of the rear rack, a few aluminum angles and built myself a front rack. I added the "poor man panniers" after the fact.

I ran to the store Monday and loaded a 10 pound sack of cat litter on it and rode home with no problems.
The commute, this morning was a bit easier and the rack even survived my first crash, (not too serious, but the bike did go down).

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Notice I raised the headlight, so it can shine over any load I'm carrying.

Thanks again to everyone for trying to help me make the baskets work. If my commute was under ten miles, each way, I would have probably stuck with them.