I'm sure DIY pannier projects have been covered but I just discovered the XBox gear bags make a nice inexpensive alternative. This bag was 5 bucks at a thrift store and it's a padded high quality bag. I used two strips of scrap aluminum plate I had on hand and fashioned some hooks from a pair of six inch long peg board hooks. I didn't want to scratch the rear rack so the hooks slide into P clips. DO NOT drill through a cloth bag. Things bunch up rather quickly so mark any holes then burn through the material with a soldering gunn. The only downside I can think of is the padded XBox bags will take a long time to dry out if they get wet. I can buy lesser lap top bags anytime for three bucks but the XBox bag passes the two jugs of milk test. You will have to McGyver your own bungee cord to attach to your rack or bike frame...


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Looks nice.

Ya, classy actually. I always liked the "X" emblem.

Great job, you can't beat that for $5. Does it have enough heel clearance?

Thank you for the kind words. Heel clearance is not a problem but I got lucky with the existing mounting points. The bag measures 14 inches wide x 12 high so being almost square helps. You could always attach a rail or custom extension bracket to your rack to locate the bag further back...

Most importantly, how much does it weigh?

Schweet! This is the way I like to approach things, too. There are SO many different types of bags out there that I can't believe some people pay the prices they do for middle-of-the-road panniers. This bag is probably not waterproof, but for $5, you can wrap your stuff up in plastic. Very cool.

To anyone trying this, though, don't take the part about not drilling into the bag lightly. I ate up a similar bag drilling through it to attach it to my rear rack. Within half-a-second, half the bag was tangled around my drill bit!

Looks nice. What's the bungee cord for?

Those are neat! I fabricated my own panniers last week with a similar system. My only suggestion would be to add a square drawer pull to the bottom center of the bag to attach the bungee cord to and keep the bag stable and attached.

Do you find any pull on the fabric without and internal support? Or are the bags thick/stiff enough to withstand the weight without failure?

Neat!

Thanks for the replies and to answer your questions the bungee cord maintains pressure on the hooks so the bag stays in place. I found the wall thickness of the bag to be adequate for the aluminum plate. If the walls were thinner I would have used used a full size 1/4 inch or less thick plywood backer. My guesstimate on weight would be an additional three pounds...

nice

Nice. I especially like the fact that they can hold 2 one gallon jugs - that is the one thing I cannot buy during a grocery stop on my way home.