I used the search function and even strayed away from bikeforums to do a google search, but I haven't come to an answer or info I'm comfortable with....I have a short commute and don't carry much, so usually I use a backpack with stabilizer straps when going to work. The problem is when I get groceries, nothing else fits in this bag.

I want a rack, but I'm looking for a stable way to hold groceries...The Topeak MTX looks promising, but 45 bucks for a crate that is compatible?! How do you guys keep 40 bucks worth of food from spilling onto the street and if you've figured this out, what are your "setups" ie. rack brand and grocery carrying box, bag, or whatever?


BTW this is going on a Windsor The Hour SS...if it makes any difference.

This: https://www.waldsports.com/index.cfm/...rcarriers.html

Or This: https://www.waldsports.com/index.cfm/...ingbasket.html

https://www.mec.ca/Products/product_d...34374302693353

I use 2 of those and can fit TONNES of groceries in there easy.

They are expensive but I can confirm that they will last forever... they are made of good quality stuff.

$45 bucks of groceries? Easy, they go into my Ortleib backroller pannier on my OMM rack.

For shopping the best panniers have a single large compartment and a flap top (or roll top) not a zip. You cant overload a zipper.
If you want to remove the bags at the shops then look for locking, quick-release hooks, NOT old fashioned hook and elastic.
On some bikes, heel clearance is an issue. Look for bags with a heel cutout profile, NOT square shape.

It used to be that all panniers fitted all racks. Beware of some modern incompatibility.
Racks used to use a single rod/tube around the edge to hook the bag to. Some racks have long sections where there are 2 rods welded together. You cant use a modern hook on these. I dont know what you can use them for. Check for free sections of single rod/tube for hooking onto.

I'm not a big fan of special fittings such as Topeak MTX.

it makes a difference. Not sure what you mean "$45buck for a crate that is compatible?!"

It's a TRACK BIKE with relatively short chainstays where any normal pannier setup would put the panniers WAY aft and make a quick handling bike handle real skittish. It's a track bike, not a bike suited to hanging lots of weight far aft. It's possible that the high mounted seat post rack with small panniers might clear your heels because it's sitting high but I wouldn't put a lot of weight there.

I'd go with the basic Explorer rack and mess around with boxes or expandable trunk bags that could be quickly installed/removed when you go shopping. The facts of life is that a quick handling track bike is not a load carrying bike suited to panniers. I had a Redline 925 and used it a lot but just had an expandable trunk bag like this on the back.

https://www.jandd.com/detail.asp?PRODUCT_ID=FRRPII

Most of the time it was empty with a long bungie inside. When loading up with groceries the top expands and I could carry a six pack with a slew of groceries around it. The bungie is necessary to help secure it down when loaded up or else it'll flop side to side a bit when out of the saddle. The bag isn't cheap, the racks are a good value and SOLID so if you happen to need to carry 2 12packs of beer one stacked on top of the other, strapped down, it'll be strong enough which the beam rack isn't. As far as weight and fast riding is concerned the Jandd rear rack bag won't be in the way compared to trying to hang big panniers off the sides and it's light. I used that bag on a folding bike and the 925 where panniers weren't an option. I would load up on groceries for the last mile home with the bag expanded and stuffed with a few more things in a back pack.

Another not cheap option is to find one of those small mini front racks that can mount to the fork crown and upper fork blades with p-clamps. Something like this:

https://store.velo-orange.com/index.p...ess-steel.html

The whole idea behind that is that you can put a six pack or similar hard/heavy item up there to free up space on the rack and it'll balance the load a LOT better than hanging huge panniers on the back. There you go, two racks and a rear rack bag and you're about 1/2 the price of the whole bike!

^ hey, LeeG, did you consider it's a track bike?

Track bikes don't make good cargo haulers, period. You could get the Jandd expedition rack and a couple of market panniers, but once loaded to the gills, you're not going to like how the bike handles. The way I see it, you've basically got three options:

1. Use a trailer for your cargo runs.
2. Get yourself a freakin' huge bag that you can wear (MW Vandal comes to mind).
3. Get another bike that is better suited for grocery getting.

I like the Topeak stuff, the wire basket is a little cheaper and more flexible than the crate, I have a bungee cargo net to hold everything in place. Your bike will handle a little different loaded up, nothing a young fixie rider can't handle

my 130$ fix?

IMG_9285 by Flsimages, on Flickr

I would imagine that you don't go grocery shopping everyday. If looks aren't a concern, maybe you can get a rear rack that you don't intend on removing and build some panniers out of kitty litter plastic containers. Do a search on "kitty litter panniers". Then you can just unhook them and put them aside when not in use.

I have Topeak Super Tourist rear racks on two bikes, they can handle 40lbs of stuff. Topeak's stuff is generally decent quality. You don't want want something cheap that would crack and spill your groceries all over the road. I'd also get a set of cheap panniers. A loaded basket or crate on the top of the rear rack will make the bike behave weird, top heavy, even difficult to control and it'll make that bike more sensitive to side winds. Two large panniers can hold 2 large bags plus some worth of groceries and, since they hang low, they will not make the bike top heavy. Trailer would be a more expensive option and it needs room to be stored. Panniers are also convenient in general.

You don't need anything special or "compatible" as far as bags or baskets. Any panniers will hang on those racks. Or you can get $5 crate from Staples and attach it with ties to the top of the rack, I did that too.

Grocery panniers can be had for as little as $15 on sale. For several years I used the Nashbar Townie Basket grocery panniers. They're usually around $20 each, about $15 on sale a couple times a year.

Last year I upgraded to a pair of Arkel Shoppers. I needed more capacity and a bag that could more easily be carried into the store then mounted on the bike while full. The Townies are difficult to mount when loaded, whereas the Shoppers mount easily, one-handed.

Here are pics comparing the two. Nashbar Townie on the left, Arkel Shopper on the right.



The Shopper is half-again as big as the Townie, but the Townie has no cover at all. Still, only twice in four years did anything bounce out. But I could never really fill them full. In contrast, the Shopper has a cinch cover that also serves as an extension, permitting even greater capacity.



Shopping for one and with no pets, I needed to shop twice a week with the Townies, but only once every week to ten days with the Shoppers.

As for racks, I recommend dual-siderail models like the Topeak Super Tourist DX and the Tubus Cosmo, which is what's shown on my bike. Mounting the panniers on the lower siderail lowers center-of-gravity for better handling when loaded, and leaves the rack top available for other things--for instance, bungeeing big packs of TP to it, or a using a commuting trunk bag.

EDIT: Finally, I don't know dick about track bikes, but I know roadies. Regular racing geometry roadies don't like heavy loads on the back. Or at least mine doesn't. It's all squirrley and skittish. The front/rear weight distribution is off and I have to focus to keep the front wheel on the ground when climbing. I have to slow to a walk for cornering.

My regular commuter (2006 Trek Portland, shown above) is based on cyclocross bikes, but has slightly longer chainstays in the rear, although not quite as long as touring bikes. On the Portland, I can forget the load is even there. In fact, the bike seems to like carrying a load. Ride is improved and handling is not affected at all. It's only when at a stop and I have to hold up more bike that I'm aware of the load.

Good point about the dual rails on the racks. That's what I like about the Super Tourist rack as well. They also allow you to mount/unmount the panniers (that hung on the lower rails) while having stuff attached to the rack's top platform. I have a large crate right now, attached semi-permanently with zip ties to the top of the rack and I can still take mount/unmount my panniers.

I'm missing the joke considering I said : It's a TRACK BIKE with relatively short chainstays where any normal pannier setup would put the panniers WAY aft and make a quick handling bike handle real skittish.

I have an Axiom Odyssee Rack with a Milk Crate attached to the top using bungee cords. With the Milk Crate I can throw pretty much all I need to carry into it (Backpack and/or groceries) and not worry about it. It does make the bike a bit unstable when loaded, but you compensate for it.

Ortlieb Backrollers for me. I normally commute with only one, but add the second one if I know I'm stopping for groceries. On the weekends I load up with a week’s worth of vegetable in a single Backroller. Last time I fit the following with room to spare:

1 Cantaloupe
5 Grapefruits
2 onions
3 tomatoes
3 large squash
3 large zucchini

I have a Tubus Logo rack on my everyday commuter (road bike: 2005 Allez), very solid & expensive but I needed the extra clearance it provides to avoid heel strikes. I like the panniers so much on that bike that I got an inexpensive ($20) Planet Bike Eco Rack for the mountain bike I ride on the weekends with my wife. Still waiting on the second pair of Backrollers that I ordered with the Best Buy sale.

I highly recommend the Ortlieb Backrollers, great for groceries but also great bags for commuting.

I saw. You said it 3 times or so. I just got a chuckle out of that repetitiveness and it's my faux pas for my sarcasm coming through as criticism, particularly as that's a great catch and a very important point.

A lot of these whopping big grocery panniers being suggested are going to create heel strike issues with those chainstays. OP, watch out.

BTW, I too like the Topeak stuff in general (handy mating of the trunk bag) and the Super Tourist in particular for the dual rails. I find I can slide my panniers a little further back on the Super Tourist than on the Explorer, and it is easier to fiddle with anything lashed to the top because there's a bit of clearance from the pannier top.

Hey, me too! And a backpack full of meat.

I have a Topeak rack and like it. I would 3rd what was said about a 2nd rail (which is on the Tourist models, I think). If you do that, you can go ahead and get cheap grocery bag panniers and add any top-mounted accessories at your leisure. I got a single rail version, though, and found that I couldn't use grocery bag panniers with any of their top-mounted accessories because the panniers came up higher than the top of the rack. And you don't need to buy Topeak accessories for a Topeak rack. I've used mine with a generic trunk bag as well as just strapping random junk to the top of the rack. Of course if you're never going to get any of the rack-compatible pieces, then there's no point in getting a Topeak rack, but if it's just too much to spend at once, you can always get and use the rack and get any accessories you wanted at a later date. I have a trunk bag with fold out side panniers and a wire basket. Both have come in handy doing grocery shopping (just get a cargo net to go with the basket), but I go for the grocery bag panniers if I'm doing any serious shopping. But keep in mind that if you do have short chainstays, you might end up kicking the grocery bag panniers.

Recently I got one of these: https://www.amazon.com/Basil-Bern-Mem...dp/B0039VFANO/
Front mounted basket. Just hangs there, easy on, easy off. I can't use it on my main bike because it hits my headlight, but it works find on my other bike. It is much bigger than I expected it to be, and I expect it could hold a paper grocery bag, but it does put all the weight on the handlebars and affects handling.
Basically any extra weight will change the handling of the bike, and the higher the weight, the more noticeable it is, but it's still manageable.

That's what I'm picking up for this spring/summer. $45.00 worth of produce at the stand the wife and I go to is a whole cart worth of stuff, overflowing if it's during the summer and I can get watermelons for cheap.

Unless I'm badly mistaken this basket mounts on top of the rear rack & folds when not in use..........
https://www.amazon.com/Eleven81-Foldi...771253&sr=1-17

Just ordered the wald twin basket carrier medium, close out from REI, 30 bucks. it will take a week to get here, I'll try to remember to report back when it gets mounted and I've got at least one commute into it with grocery stop. It only comes in black at that price, guess the new brakes now match something.

should work for shopping/laundry, assuming I don't wait till I'm down to my last box of stuffing/pair of socks.

Wald racks bolted right to the schwinn frame, with one exception, the wald front holes were a size too small, so I just drilled them out and was able to reuse the 4 bolts on the schwinn rack. Rode to breakfast and the store yesterday morning, the mediums dont quite fit a reusable grocery bag but they work well if only 3/4 full. I put the bungies on for other stuff and had the added benefit of quiting the rack down. No heel strike, but it is close and I'm glad I did not get the large ones. They are the right size for laptop bag and a lunch with plenty of room left. Now I need to get reflectors for the rack as the reflector was on the schwinn rack, which by the way does not work with the cheapo 20 dollar panniers that schwinn sells.

I toss my Ortlieb roller bags on the checker's conveyor belt 1st,
they load my groceries in them and give me a nickel discount
for not using either of their Paper or Plastic bags ..

the bag is dry before and after, inside, as is the food when I get home.