Doug64

FYI

REI sale starts 11/16 with 25% off Ortlieb panniers and bags.

chefisaac

Do you have to go into an REI to buy them and take advantage of the sale or can you order through the web site?

yellowsirocco

The only sales that I have seen REI do as in-store only are the scratch-and-dent/garage sales for obvious reasons. Everything else I have seen is always in-store and online.

djb

Last year around this time they had a similar sale and online purchases worked.

Nanaterry

Thank you for posting this. I just bought two sets of Backroller Classics. A yellow set for my husband and a blue set for myself. 25% off made them $127.49 a set. The sale price is good online, and I got free shipping. Great deal! Merry christmas to me.

Lars Halstrom

I was in REI yesterday and no mention of the sale so I bought a Vario QL3 for $40 more than I could have today at another LBS.

djb

buyer beware, buyer beware.

although you could probably return it given the situation, I suspect they are good for things like that (REI I mean)

Lars Halstrom

The LBS has a 15% restocking fee. So figuring the cost of gas, the savings wasn't worth the effort.

djb

oh well. too bad on the timing...

KirkBeiser

Any idea how long this sale is for? I think I've convinced myself to get the panniers but still deciding and I have to pick a color.

Lars Halstrom

Sale goes to November 26th.

seeker333

evanscycles.com (London, UK) has Backroller Classic panniers for as low as 111USD per pair including delivery to CONUS.

I bought mine from them earlier this year when the currency exchange rate was better, got them for $105 ea. Took only 2 days to get them to my front door once they sorted out their blunder that initially delayed shipping ~10 days.

Note that Evans inexplicably lists black and red colors separately from the other colors as a different item, though at the same price.

Evans also sells the Backroller City pannier (red only), which is an economical clone of the Backroller Classic, for as low as 79USD shipped CONUS. The only reason I didn't buy these instead is that I wanted yellow for the (perceived) safety advantage of brighter yellow.

https://www.evanscycles.com/categorie...ags/f/ortlieb#

https://www.evanscycles.com/products/...-city-ec028596

https://www.evanscycles.com/pages/vou...omotions#CPA20

mdilthey

A warning on REI:

I bought Ortlieb backrollers from them last June when they were on sale for the same 25% off. They have a "guarantee" on their site, so when one of the four clips worked it's way loose and I lost the mounting screw somewhere on the side of the road in NH, I wasn't concerned. When I actually called to have them replaced/repaired, Customer Service gave me Ortlieb's 800 number and said "Good luck."

The REI Guarantee sucks. I wish Zappos.com had more bike gear, their customer service is damn near legendary and I buy everything- EVERYTHING -else there. Never had a problem.


Luckily, Ortlieb mailed me out replacement parts, no questions asked.

Altair 4

LOL! I returned an entire bike, with no hassles, to REI.

Glad you got your parts in the end.

Tourist in MSN

But, if they are out of stock in the warehouse, they might not be listed on their website while the store may still have them in stock.

This is the first time I have heard of such poor service from REI, if you did not get resolution from Ortlieb I would have suggested a second phone call to REI. I have been shopping at REI for over three decades and have always been impressed with excellent service.

I have noticed that the Ortlieb mounting bracket bolts need to be tightened periodically, same with cleat bolts in bike shoes.

mdilthey

And the bolts that secure racks. All three of these lessons were learned on my August tour, which was my first. One of us lost a rack screw, my buddy using the Ortliebs lost that mount, and all 3 of us learned a thing or two about bike maintenance. Especially replacing tires... my rear tire is still on backwards!

djb

one aspect of being familiar with your bike, keeping the drivetrain clean, rims etc after riding in rain etc is that it becomes more of a habit to check over things regularly on your bike. Its easy to just ride it and not think of checking bolts and such, I know I dont think of checking things for ages and then remember to check rack bolts or whatever and sometimes a slight turn is needed.
Especially with more weight and resulting forces on racks, on a trip (or even just commuting with bags over rough roads) it certainly avoids problems by periodically checking stuff so that it doesnt become a bigger problem.

as you say, live and learn. Thats life.

Tourist in MSN

I use blue locktite (spell?) on all rack bolts and all kickstand bolts. Most other bolts I either use grease or nothing. But you are right that losing a rack bolt is not a good way to enjoy the day. I store spare bolts that are threaded into the back side of my rack mounts on my seatstays, that is a good place to store two spare bolts.

fietsbob

I keet screwing in the screw that holds on the strap that lifts and opens the hooks.

not optimistic that threadlock works when one side is plastic ..

mdilthey

We fixed a missing screw with a piece of metal and a ton of superglue and 15 rubber bands. Held for 600 miles. Still holding, actually...

Doug64

I've had amazing customer service from REI.

I walked into our local REI with a broken tent pole, and walked out with a new replacement tent and$75. I broke a carbon fiber tent pole on my Sierra Designs Lightning tent. Sierra Designs had replaced the carbon fiber poles with aluminum poles since I purchased my tent. REI did not have any replacement poles, so they gave me a new tent. Because I bought my tent at full price when I purchased it, and it was on sale when I returned it they gave me a cash refund of $75! The tent was 5 years old and was used hard during that time.

It is hard to beat that kind of service!

djb

Doug, MEC here in Canada is pretty much the same with their customer service. I have shopped there for about 20 years or more and they've always been good. For a large company that can absorb cases like yours, in the long run it certainly is good for business. Treatment such as yours as certainly kept me going back to MEC, as well obviously as their good cost/value balance of a lot of things.

mdilthey

I don't know if a tent pole return in-store has much relevance to an Ortlieb repair over the phone, especially because the amazing customer service you got was such a corner case. Maybe REI has slacked off recently, but I was NOT pleased. I have recieved adequate customer service in the past, but companies like Zappos.com and EMS are consistently good.

I'll take consistently good over occasionally amazing and sometimes awful, I think.

seeker333

+1

RepWI

I have known of this sale for weeks. REI sent me a flyer. Are you a member?