I have a rack with a nice looking basket bungeed to the top. I ride with my backpack in the basket. The rack and basket are very light. I can ride through the tight gaps without worrying about hitting a pannier on something.

Never tried a rack since my bike isn't truly set up for it. Also, with the cost of a rack and decent waterproof panniers, I figured I'd try a messenger bag first. I used what I had from college last year and that wasn't all that great. No cushion, liked to slide when powering up a hill, too small, etc. I finally broke down and got a Chrome Metropolis after a personal recommendation. I've been using it as a replacement for a laptop bag since January (I travel for work a lot) and finally used it commuting today. What a difference! I loaded with a 17.3 laptop, change of work clothes, clothes for home, towel, jacket, lunch and normal work accessories. It was comfortable, has a stabilizer strap that worked perfectly, held everything I needed and worked just as I'd like. Definitely the right choice for me.

Speaking just for myself - for the distance that I travel, the cargo carrying capacity and no sweaty back, I am rack and panniers all the way. My bike was designed to accommodate them, so for me I don't sense any degradation in the bike's handling with them on.

why keep the bike inside in the first place?

I almost always use panniers. I started my bike commuting years ago using just a backpack. On my long commute, it was just too uncomfortable with heavy loads, which are not uncommon for me since I do ferry supplies/clothes to and from work but still just about never do it using a car. Tried the rack and panniers and haven't looked back. I might still use a messenger bag or backpack for short commutes around where I live. I do miss how the bike handles unburdened with panniers. Ever try to bunny hop with loaded down panniers? It's not pretty.

I don't know about SurlyLaika's specific situation, but for me, if i left a bike locked up somewhere out on the street in front of our condo building overnight, it'd be good as gone.

our condo building does have a bike room, but parking spaces cost $100/year, so only two of our bikes are down there (my hybrid and my GF's hybrid). my folder and my road bike live upstairs in the condo with us.

I use a backpack as I don't carry very much or very often (I ride without either backpack/panniers 80-90% of the time), and I do have to dismount + carry my bike for short sections on some of my commuting routes. I have tried a rear rack + panniers. They work fine but I don't need them and prefer the lighter feeling of a light backpack, and being able to carry the backpack with me easily.

€5/mo is good insurance for a bike in the basement.

no sure how big your place is, but you may be paying more €5 in loss of living space ...

here, it's roughly €15/m2 warm rental space ... so if the bike is occupying more than 0.33m2 of space (more than 3.5 square feet of floorspace) ... i'd be losing money by keeping it upstairs.

my road bike takes up zero floor space, it goes on ceiling hooks and functions as wall art when i'm not riding it.

my folding bike obviously folds up and goes under a counter in the kitchen, space that would otherwise be dead space, so i can't rationalize spending another 100 bucks a year for a parking space in the bike room for my folder.

only our two hybrids live down in the bike room because they would take up too much living space in our condo and the $100/year parking space fee is a decent value in those cases.

can't say that i'd agree with that unless you're 22 and wear super skinny jeans ... sorry man, but i roll with real art by local artists

and FWIW, if you can't walk under it, you're losing floorspace.

the great thing about beauty is that it's entirely in the eye of the beholder.

you sound like an awesome person. when i grow up i can only hope and pray that i will be as cool as you are with your locally-produced real art.

I thought about hanging mine, but since I have a large basement mostly unused I made a bike rack out of PVC bike for 7 bikes, with room to add if I ever need to. This way I don't have to lift a bike up every time I want to use one, which isn't a big deal, just for me a bit more convenient to have them on the floor. And the rack is against one wall of the basement so the space their taking is not all that much.

One thing that was brought up in one of the many previous versions of this discussion is multimodal (bike then train or bus then bike etc...) commuters prefer the ease and security of using a backpack.

My commute is muti-modal, and while I can say that I would generally prefer to negotiate Metra with a backpack vs panniers, carrying panniers really isn't that big of a deal. The Ortliebs I use most often have a shoulder strap that could be way wider and more comfortable, but it's still not bad. I usually use two panniers - one on my shoulder, one in my hand. If I use one of my Arkel Bugs, it's even more of a moot point, since they convert to perfectly comfortable backpacks off of the rack. Whatever panniers I choose to use, the (in)convenience of how they carry off of the bike is far outweighed by the comfort they afford me while I'm on the bike.

One thing I noticed during the couple of months I used panniers is that they would get pretty messy in foul weather. Not sure I'd really want to throw one covered with water and road grit on my back. A backpack strapped to the top of the rack would probably avoid that issue.

You're right. They do get road grime on them in wet weather. At least on the bottom half of the side of them facing the wheel. The Ortliebs hang down near my hip, so frankly they don't transfer much crud to me or my clothes. I can always flip them around when carrying them, but usually don't. I suppose the Arkel Bugs are a little worse at potentially getting some road grit on your back. Honestly, I have never really been concerned with it because it doesn't cause a problem for me.

The same reason why some people keep their nice fancy cars or motorcycles inside a garage... A lot of people on this forum ride $1000+++ bikes.

In winter I run my panniers on the front instead of the rear. They still get a little messy but not as bad as if they were on the rear. It seems that the rear of the bike gets most of the road crap... I also use a messenger bag.

I don't know. In my neighborhood there's a fair but of BMWs/Audis/MBs/Porsches just parked on the street.

Feel free to scroll around if you like.

A lot of reasonable bikes as well...

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Sachs...125.29,,0,6.26

I can't think of a single post-university age person that would think a bike on the wall is "beautiful." In a restaurant window, maybe.

Perhaps we run with different crowds

Depending upon the bike, I would. I graduated in 1987. Can't get my wife to agree with me, though.

Perhaps you run with snobs

I don't know if I would call a bike on the wall beautiful either but I think it can add to the decor and can certainly be a conversation piece. Maybe art is the wrong word.

There's a guy I know who lives and works out of an old gas station. A few decades ago many of the local gas stations were shutdown because of fears over their tanks leaking into the groundwater. The owners often couldn't afford to repair them.

Anyway this place has been completely gutted and remodeled but he left some prominent features including one service bay that he uses as a game room of sorts. It's immaculate and it's plainly visible from the living room (or his office, - I can't remember for sure). The lift still works and on it he keeps his vintage Ferrari. He's very into cycling too so he has a few bikes in there as well. Is this stuff art? I don't know but it looks awesome.

My wife commutes to school with her 15" macbook pro. she started off with a backpack, but it was too sweaty, and heavy on her shoulders. so she got a rack and a pannier. she likes it much better. it's still pretty heavy on that one side, but it's better than on her back she says.

she puts the laptop in a neoprene cushioned sleeve before it goes into the pannier, so it has the extra protection and is not just bouncing around.

In this area a bike is far more likely to get stolen than a car and a crappy car is much more likely to get stolen than a nice one. Salvage yards will pay cash for beaters and often don't require a title. There's been a crackdown lately which is good. The victims of crime are disproportionately the poor.

Steely Dan is right. I live in an apartment and I'm sure a bike as nice as mine would get noticed among the crap around here and quickly lifted. I would not trust it outside of my apartment overnight. There is a small shack on the first floor but it's really shoddy and anybody could break into it. Anyway, I like looking at it. =]