Help choosing touring bags?
 

I've been commuting by bike for several years. I have an old Schwinn World Voyageur, a cheap sunlite rear rack, and nashbar commuter panniers. My panniers are on their last legs and I've been looking around at replacements.

I'm hoping to do the GAP and C&O ride at some point in the next few years, so when i buy, I'd like to get something that will be useful for that purpose. I'm also hoping i can convince my wife and daughter to do some short camping trips on the bikes. If we do, I'll be hauling most of the gear.

I've got some backpacking gear and i know how i would pack for a solo backpacking trip, but I'm having a hard time picturing how much bag capacity or rack space i need when translated to bike bags. I'm not an ultralight backpacker. None of my gear is particularly small or lightweight.


I'm on a pretty tight budget, but i don't want to go too cheap. I figure I'll start with some decent mid range rear panniers and look for another piece to add to the puzzle each year for the next couple years until I've got a complete outfit suitable for a solo, unsupported tour.

I'm thinking axiom bags, either the monsoon series or Seymour series looks like pretty good value.

I'm interested to learn what works for others. How much do you pack? What midrange bags do you like? Any other gear advice for someone looking to get into bike touring?

I know that Ortliebs might be at a higher budget point than you are looking at, but I bought my Ortlieb Backrollers about 10 years ago. And they have served me very well, will likely last longer than I will. The Backrollers are 40 liters for the pair. REI often has Ortliebs on a good sale price once or twice a year during one of their big sales. And TheTouringStore.com is closing and has them on a closeout sale.

The City version of the Backrollers is a bit cheaper. A friend of mine tours with that model, he is happy with them where I have the classic style.

A drybag of almost any volume can be strapped on top of the rear rack or on top of the panniers, so if the panniers are not enough volume, there is room for more.

I agree that Arkels are a very good, albeit pricey, choice. In the long run they're worth it. (I know that doesn't help if the funds aren't available.) I got my Arkels second hand at _very_ low prices.

I started with Nashbar bags, and it was a struggle when I wanted to upgrade to Ortleibs. My Nashbar bags were still going but not waterproof and prone to bouncing off the rack if not secured just right. For their price, I was having trouble imagining that Ortleibs could be worth the money, given that I had a workable set of panniers. But from the moment I got them and saw how simple and securely they attached, I was won over. Waterproofing has been great. Adjustability to prevent heel strike on bikes that weren't necessarily designed with large touring bags has been helpful, too. I agonized over that first purchase, but then I lost all my bike gear in a fire. The very first bit of gear I replaced was my Ortleib panniers. I mainly have them for camping and travelling, but they go on my commute, too, if the weather is foul, and they never let me down.

Too translate from backpacking gear, consider the volume of your backpack compared to the volume of the panniers. If you think you'll be carrying the gear of family members as well, factor that in. Think about what can't fit in the panniers, and where that will go. Sleeping pad, tent poles are things that often end up on the top of the rear rack or the handlebars. If you're packing for more than just yourself, you probably want to consider how to carry gear on the front of the bike as well. Don't know if the Voyager is suitable for a front rack, but I'm sure there are options, like tying some gear to the handlebars. Good luck.

Thanks for the tips. It's much appreciated. Thanks especially for the heads up on the store closing sale. Looks like some good deals.

I've been very pleased with my Jandd panniers. I have Mini Mountain on the front, Large Mountain on the rear. Takes a bit of time to set them up initially, but then they are rock solid on the racks. No bouncing or swaying. I'm one of those who don't feel the need for waterproof panniers. As with canoeing and backpacking, when I bike tour I use dry bags to keep dry the things that need to stay dry, so for me panniers are all about stable carry and have nothing to do with keeping things dry. You can often find good deals on Jandd at their site (https://www.jandd.com/which_sale.asp) and on Facebook bike groups and Craigslist. I picked up my Mini Mountains in VGC used for $70 and my Large Mountains NOS for $90.

I had the Typhoon Aero panniers, and a very similar experience. They wore out way too quickly, due to abrasion. That was my first pair of panniers though, so some small amount of wear has to be blamed on me, but hearing that others have had issues, makes me feel less frazzled over it. 🙂

This was something I was thinking about. I would like to get a front rack. I have one pair of lugs on the front dropouts. Looks like the Surly Front Nice Rack would be a good option. Comes with clamps for mounting to forks without midfork lugs and has a lug on the lower mounting plate for fender struts.

You can find Ortlieb backroller city rear panniers for around $105 if you shop around.

That might do it. I used to run an Old Man Mountain front rack that attached to the quick release skewer and to the brake bosses. It was nice because it seemed to move most of the weight directly to the wheel, with the fork just used to keep the rack upright. Certainly an unnecessary precaution on my bike, which was made to take a front rack, but possibly worth considering on a bike that wasn't made to take one. These days I just use a Revelate Designs cradle and dry bag attached directly to the handlebars, and let my rear rack carry the rest, but then I'm only packing for one.

I had a Surly front rack. It was very big and heavy, I donated it to a charity. My bikes have the proper rack mounts on the forks, I use Tubus front racks on most of my bikes, I have no suggestion if you do not have the mid-fork rack mounts.

Tubus sells a hardware kit for mounting the Ergo or Tara to forks without midfork bosses. I think many (maybe most?) front racks that have midfork mounting points can use some sort of band clamp or p-clamp instead of bosses on the fork. I think I'd like a rack with lowrider pannier mounts and a top platform, though. I'm sure it's overkill for solo touring, but for family trips when I will need to find space for a larger tent, three sleeping bags, more food, more clothes etc... I'd rather have more rack space and not need it than not have enough to do the things I'm hoping to do.

In the photo I have the Tubus Ergo rack and the small platform rack that is sold by Nashbar that bolts onto the cantilever bosses on the fork. I do not know if your bike has canti brake bosses or not so maybe your bike can't take the Nashbar platform? The orange thing on the front rack is a polartec vest that I wore earlier in the day. That Nashbar platform does not have a lot of capacity, but it is nice for the odd item now and then that needs a place to sit.

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...8eb5db6015.jpg

Some bikes handle a big front load well, others don't. My bikes were not really designed for a big front load.

+ 1 Tubus Racks and Ortlieb bags are a long term investment

My bike came with a 2nd kickstand to keep the front wheel pannier load from pulling the bike over.

http://www.cyclofiend.com/working/im...-1P1010007.jpg
(I use my panniers a lot for grocery shopping , at home)

now Tubus has an accessory to do that , usable with their low rider racks
https://ortliebusa.com/wp-content/up...6/03/73000.jpg

You'll save a bunch on Ortlieb+Tubus if you make a single large purchase (to minimize higher S&H cost, sometimes fixed vs proportioned to total cost or weight/volume) from certain Euro bike shops like this one. Most Euro shops are not supposed to ship Ortlieb to USA by vendor agreement, some disregard for the $. Whichever Euro shop you may choose, make sure the billed amount does not include the significant VAT (~20%) which is supposed to be excluded from USA-bound orders. Most shops' ecommerce software deducts VAT amount after you have indicated your order's destination country. Note that your credit card/bank may add a small fee (3%?) for an international order.

I highly recommend Lone Peak panniers. No longer inexpensive, but held up well for the 4 tours I used them on. LPs are sectional panniers, so are you an organized person or not?

Dividers, I find, get in the way when using the bags, at home, for utility..
and sewn together bags will let things get wet inside , in the rain..
then you either ziplock everything in it , and/or add rain covers.

when I used sewn together bags, I did both..



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I was guessing that mine would be okay loaded front and rear. It was originally marketed as a touring bike. I could have sworn I've seen photos of my exact bike fully loaded, but i went searching for images again today and couldn't find one.

What about the geometry would govern how well it can handle a load in front? Is it just the amount of trail or is there more to it than that?

I believe that these fork blade mounts are made by Tubus. They are clean looking, sturdy, and don't cause damage to your fork blade.

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1909/...e30434f154.jpg

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1979/...8b4a68b9_c.jpg

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1916/...47d30ab6_c.jpg

I'm a big Ortlieb fan. My Ortlieb panniers, bar bag and Rackpack have 21,000 touring miles on them, and are still in excellent shape. My wife's panniers have about the same use. We are an Ortlieb family. Four of us use Ortlieb gear for touring and two use it for commuting. There are other good bags out there, but I prefer Ortlieb's features over the others. In the spirit of disclosure our 2 daughters got their Ortlieb gear as presents from mom and dad:)
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4308/...45753129_c.jpg

Ortlieb has nice features but I've also used budget panniers that lasted for years of constant use though moderate loads.Getting budget panniers leaves more funds for front rack(s)/bag(s) to spread out the bike camping load. I don't have any current recommendations though I'd favor REI due to the generous return policy. For family bike camping I'd consider a trailer.

I chose Arkel for the extreme durability and the functionality of it (I like pockets and the rack mounting is excellent) however I would have no qualms whatsoever going for Ortleib. They make some fine panneirs that lose all the pockets but are fully waterproof and have a pretty nice rack attachment system. Those are the two modern brands I would trust for panniers. Certainly there are other smaller makers doing some cool stuff but that can usually be more expensive.

My Arkels cost a lot of money but the usage I have gotten out of them has been more than sufficient and I know I will have those panniers 20 years down the line and they will still be excellent. I like to buy high quality gear that will last and last rather than the cheaper stuff and keep re-buying it. I also like the really nice stuff because I know I could resell it and come out OK.

I can tell you the Ortlieb Front Roller Classics don't play at all well with Tubus Duo racks. They need a lot of modification to stop the bottom hook from bouncing off, even with the accessory hooks for the larger rails. One day I'll do a post about how I used core flute to make stiffer back boards and how I moved the top hooks to make it all function well.

I really have minimal knowledge on geometry and front loading a bike other than trail is a factor in what makes a bike good or bad for a front load.

And just because you saw photos of the bike with panniers all around does not mean that it has good front load handling. Long trail is supposed to favor a rear load, yet many people find that they can put a heavy front load on their LHT which has a relatively long trail. A long trail also favors holding a straight line on the road well, that is a characteristic that is nice to have on a touring bike.


Yes, those are Tubus. But, those clamps only work on forks with a fork blade up to a certain size. I wanted to put some of those on a fork and found that my fork blades were too fat. So, research them before you buy, it is not a one size fits all scenario.