It happened today - as it has happened before.

Somehow my bungee cord came un-hooked from my rear carrier. I realized it when the bungee cord got wrapped up in my gears - WHAT A MESS!! Of course, after about 15 agonizing minutes of cutting and tearing the shredded bungee coard out of my gears, I had to go look for the stuff that fell off the rear carrier - the drop happened more than a mile back, but it was'nt until I braked and turned that the bungee finally got tangled in my gears. There my stuff was strewn over the road like a yard sale.

There has to be a better way! What do we have now?

Bungee cords on a wire rear carrier that exposes your stuff to the elements and causes the bungee-cord blues.
Panniers that clunk into your heal if you have a size 11.5 shoe or bigger
Milk Crates that are not very aerodynamic and mostly make your bike look like a junk-mobile.

I have seen some swank fiberglass units with a tidy lid that are for sale on mopeds. I have never seen one at a bike store, however, and wonder if you would have to jerry-rig mounting hardware on it to make it fit a bicycle rear carrier.

Any ideas anybody? Anything cool out there?

Ortlieb has 3 piece hard luggage (in addition to everything else) for a bike rack. Spendy, but nice.

Cool usually = $$, but there are things out there.

There are two companies that I know make hard-shell cases for bikes
https://otivia.com/ Who makes an aerodynamic looking rack trunk.

And Ortlieb makes hard-shell panniers, and rack trunks. I have one of their rack trunks (the Bike-Box II)and love it.

{edit} I have the box pictured above. Wayne at The Touring Store carries it for less than Ortlieb.

No ultimate solution, but instead of using bungee cords, you can try quick release nylon webbing straps--the kind used for backpacking. They are more durable and can be cinched down tightly.

https://www.rei.com/product/709044

Fantastic!

Reminds me of my moto luggage

I just bought one of these... very slick indeed:

https://www.arkel-od.com/panniers/tai...asp?fl=1&site=

I do a lot of shopping with my bike. It would be great of the rear carrier was first of all big enough for a whole FULL bag of groceries and second, expandable for when you buy two bags of groceries and maybe even just a little more in case you over-do it.

On one of my bikes, I have a big old wire milk crate with stretchie webbing over the top. That works really well. It would be nice to have something like that, but that looked cool. The milk crate look is just not cool at all.

The ultimately simplest thing I have found is that just about anything can be made fast with suitably sized cordage and the application of a few basic knots and hitches.

My two personal favorites for tieing down a load are the bowline and the truckers hitch.

Mike,
I also have the Ortlieb shopper bags. They are panniers but I've never had heel strike problems, most likely because of Ortlieb's attachment system. It allows you to move how the bags sit several inches forward or backward on the rack. I also use them on a very compact geometry bike. They can handle a goodly amount of cargo.

Click image for another view

What I always heard of was this: you get TWO bungee cords and a stainless-steel "S" hook, and use a pair of pliers to crimp the "S" hook in the center of both bungee cords. That way if one of them breaks, the other will still hold on.
~

Here's another hard case, looks wide enough to hold a laptop.
https://www.bikemania.biz/Cargo_Cache...cargocache.htm

For groceries, if they won't fit in there, a grocery pannier like this one is pretty handy:
https://www.bikemania.biz/Bike_Pro_US...basket-c12.htm

They fold flat or unhook from your rack for storage. Like mentioned above, you should be able to adjust a rack back away from your big ol feet.

I have the folding wire baskets which attach to a rear rack. They're great for shopping (when open they're about the size of a paper grocery bag) and close up when you're not using them. Only difficulty I've had is with the mounting hardware - the stuff that came with them was garbage. (Of course I was also tossing my school bag with laptop into them...)

Here's a hard shell under saddle case.
https://www.mec.ca/Products/product_d...=1181183407438

The problem with the webbing straps is that they don't cinch down well when the object is rigid like a box. I just don't trust them.

Here is what they need. Something like the cargo tiedown straps, with a ratchet tightener. But regular cargo tiedown straps are too long, too bulky and too heavy for cycling applications. They have to be, because they are used to secure hundreds or thousands of pounds of cargo on trucks and airplanes.

We only need to secure at most 30-40 pounds, usually far less. So a lighter, thinnner, shorter strap with hardware that is plastic or alloy. But with a ratchet tightener that we can get uber-tight and not worry about coming loose.

"Spendy but nice" sums up Ortlieb so well it should be their tag line I have Ortlieb panniers, they're fantastic.

I have a special hate for bungee cords, because my brother nearly lost an eye to one (thanks to some great surgeons, he can still see). Bungee cords suck, plain and simple. They are not a reliable tie-down, and there is no situation for which there isn't a better solution.

My favorite alternative is a simple cam strap: nylon strap with a cam at one end. These are used a lot by whitewater rafters and other whitewater boaters, because they make such a great, versatile tie-down when you're transporting boats. The NRS straps are sort of the industry standard -- very rugged and last for years and years. Simply wrap the strap around the rack and the object to be secured, however many times is appropriate, cinch tight, and wrap up any slack (best way to do this is to tuck the end under the next-to-last loop, then pull it tight). If it can hold a pile of kayaks on a car going 70 mph, it can hold whatever you're carrying on a bicycle rack.

Look for a bungee cord net, it's basically a 10" by 10" elastic net with about six hooks to attach to the rack. They're sold on eBay and in stores, usually in the motorcycle/powersports section.

Milk crates work very well IMO. I can carry 50lbs of groceries in mine.
Not the prettiest solution, but people don't say anything when you blow past them with a fully loaded crate.

For hauling loads of crap, some people have turned Burley kidhaulers into grocery/junk haulers. Clearly you won't be setting any speed records while pulling a trailer...but like Brad said, if you pass someone, they won't be saying anything.

I"ve used webbing with a ridgid object before and didn't have any problems. 2 across the top and on going length wise.

I have also used a ratcheting tie down as well. A bit overkill, but my stuff was locked down tight.

Maybe trying using some nylon rope and whip out those scout knot tying skills. There's a knot you can do that has a perpendicular sections for securing things. I don't recall the name, but my wife is pretty good at it.

Or maybe some cording and a small tarp and use guy lines.

I don't know a knot with that description, but a trucker's hitch is a great knot that allows you to get a sort of ratcheting effect, a very secure tie, positioned anywhere you want, and also a quick release. It's worth learning but kind of hard to learn from pictures (and you really need something to tie down to practice on, you can't just tie the knot). Also, yer right about the nylon rope, but you don't say why, so I'll say it for you: cotton rope stretches more, which allows an initially snug tie-down to develop slack as you travel.

I need to stop by my lks (local kayak shop) and pick up a couple of NRS-2s to use for transporting stuff.

Ain't that the truth!

Not a milk crate, but I whipped past a few people while riding home with a 35# sack of dogfood and a couple of 12 packs strapped on my rack. The standard comment was something like "Holy c**p! Did you see that guy?"


The best comment I got when I did have my crate was from a BMX kid at the skatepark...
him - "Nice milk crate, dork."
me - "It's a record crate."
him - "Oh... Nice record crate, dork."

Of course, the Rwanda coffee bike makes our rigs all look kinda weak and worthless...

^^^^
Not all of our bikes.

But that one kicks ass.