Without using large panniers or briefcases, what are smart ways to carry small amount of paper documents without folding them? (I say small amount because thick documents are easier to handle, but thin piles such as few pages are harder to keep in shape.) So far I've tried putting the papers in a plastic pouch, and secure it on the rat trap rear rack, or roll the papers into a cylinder and put them in the bottle cage.

A rigid accordion binder that you can attach to your rack?

That's one solution. I'd like to know a way in which I only need to deal with it one way, and it should interfere with my other bags on the rear rack the least possible; in other words, on my return trip, I don't need to carry an empty binder

Ah I see, maybe sandwich it between two pieces of cardboard?

Roll them and put them in a tube. Although, I prefer to put them in a leather folio then use a backpack wide enough to carry the folio.

CoroPlast sheets , and duct tape. make a stiff folio. bungee net should not buckle the Coroplast.

run the 'grain' of 1 panel at a right angle to the other one..

What's up, McGuyver!!

Seriously, you don't hear that solution everyday, but damn, it sure sounds like you should!

For my weekly bank runs I made a properly sized stiff "envelope" out of cardboard taped on three sides. This gets bungied on to the rear rack. I dont venture out in the rain so moisture is not an issue for me.

Buy two clipboarsd from the Dollar Store. Put them back to back, duct tape one side, use a rubber band or bungie to hold 'em togeter, slip inside cardboard Fed Ex type envelope, velcro to rear chainstay and frame.

If you have a smart phone scan the document. Print it when you get to your destination.
I used "Genuis Scan" on my iPhone many, many times. You take a picture of the document with the phones camera and it saves the image as a pdf. Then email it to whatever is connected to a printer. I'm sure the cloud stuff makes sending printing etc easier but I never used it.
Help? No?

The Container Store used to carry fairly rigid plastic folios to protect documents,but on the cheap the coroplast idea would work just fine.

Paper documents, how quaint. Have you considered asking in C&V?

Put them down the front of your jersey like the pros do with newspaper to keep warm.

Oh, and dont' sweat.

Slip 'em into plastic document protectors, place in the bottom of a paper grocery sack (yes, you can still get 'em!), and fold the sack up as it was to start with. THEN put it in your jersey front. Sweat all you want.

Ha ha, I never thought of attaching them to my body. Good idea, might try some day, but maybe strap it to my back instead of front--more flat and spread-out, and with a neon/fluorescent protector, it can even serve as a hi-vi vest!

Until you can show your birth certificate, school diplomats, etc. by scanning and sending them by email to the party requesting them

+1 then sling it around your neck/shoulder

By "tube" do you mean bike inner tube or a straight pipe?

a document tube such as this is commonly used to carry, art, maps, blueprints, and schematics. paper items that should not be creased.

Yes, a document tube or a chart tube. A cheap way to do it would be to get a mailing tube and throw it in your bags. An even cheaper way would be to use a paper towel tube although you might end up folding the papers trying to roll them small enough to get it in the tube.

If you attend trade shows, sometimes the vendors have posters in nice cardboard tubes with plastic end caps. I think I've seen these at Staples and Office Depot as well.

The tallest water bottle you can find? I think Polar will be tall enough.

Smart--never thought of that. I see the document tubes are selling more than they should be, so another alternative than the paper towel core is to wrap the paper in a protective plastic sheet and put it in a Pringles potato chips tube . But I really like the paper towel tube, in which case one could also wrap the document outside the tube with a protective cover and rubber bands.

Title company supplied several plastic document folders, for the deed and such,

when I took over the house, I'm in..

likely you can find them, and add the above extra stiffener .

Tape job may be un necessary..




in another post, Vol seems worried about the neighbors..

maybe wrap that document tube around the shotgun barrel.
and shoulder strap carry that big double barreled one.

Is this something you'll need to do everyday, or is it a one-time inconvenience that doesn't need a perfect solution? Kind of an important detail IMO.

Once in a while. It's not birth certificat/diplomts, just work papers.

Would you get your story straight already?