anastrophe

Road bike commuter + bad pavement + a dozen eggs = sadness

Haven't broken any yet, but grocery shopping is making me anxious! Does anyone have any good ideas to reduce road shock when transporting eggs?

Doug5150

How about--carry them in a backpack?
~

anastrophe

that would work but meh, I use panniers, don't like having stuff on my body.

tsl

I've never had a problem. I bring home a dozen every two or three weeks on a road bike with grocery panniers. I've packed them flat in the bottom of the pannier, on end against the side of the pannier, and on top. Never an issue.

This is on pavement where I've launched a four-pound bag of oranges right out of the pannier over one bump and a can of soup out over another. (Combo of just a bit too much in the panniers and just a bit too fast over the bump.)

The oranges were a mess. The bag bounced out the front, I hit it with my heel, which sent it into the spokes. Several were sliced open by the spokes and one ended up attached to a spoke. Juice everywhere. Thank heavens for fenders.

But nope, I've never broken an egg.

FWIW, think about how hard you have to smack one against the edge of the pan to crack it open. You're not likely to get that kind of impact in that small an area on a bike.

Chris H

If you're that worried, just put in one of these:

https://www.rei.com/product/696008

However, I don't see where you'd have many problems with them.

Chris H

Or you could buy eggbeaters.

Michel Gagnon

We have potholes, and I find that as long as the box is flat and closed, I keep my eggs intact. When I buy eggs, I typically use one of those cheap plastic bags they have at the grocery and tie it closed so the box can't open. If I have other stuff to pack in the panniers, I like to top the panniers with milk bags and then to have the eggs on top of that.

wahoonc

Those work pretty decent. I put my eggs in my front basket and the suspension fork does the rest... (BTW there is usually more stuff than that in the basket.) And now that we have chickens I only get eggs at the store if I am making deviled/hardboiled eggs (fresh eggs don't do hardboiled very well)

Aaron

Powerarranger

Don't you know that you shouldn't put all your eggs in one basket?

Sorry, I couldn't resist...

My first day in clipless, I dumped the bike over with a dozen eggs on end in one of the panniers along with the other groceries. No extra padding, went over pretty hard. Up until then I was also very nervous about breaking eggs in my bags and the resulting mess.

No damage whatsoever. Nary a crack. They were in the typical styrofoam container.

The broccoli, on the other hand...roadkill.

tsl, love the story about the oranges!

TrishY

I like the plastic egg box idea - be good for touring too. I don't need to carry eggs home from the shop as I have four hens in the back yard, another solution

wahoonc

Sweet! we have about 26 right now with 24 more on the way...

Aaron

cyclezealot

I have an insulated rack trunk. I even place down a layer of bubble rap should I have super sensitive items such as eggs. That and avoid the worst roads. Normally, I have no problems. One of my oddities, I hate bananas with ugly large sized brown spots. That is usually my bigger concern when transporting groceries home from the store.

weed eater

We run a chicken co-op on a farm at the edge of town, so I regularly pedal the 11 miles home with a dozen or two eggs in my panniers. I've been doing this for about a year now, and have broken a total of one egg (touch wood)... and it was a weak-shelled one at that. So, despite my own trepidation about damaging the eggs, they have proven to be pretty sturdy. Chickens do good work!

I go over plenty of rough pavement, but it probably helps that my bike wears 38mm wide tires.

I carry the egg cartons in large ortlieb panniers in which there are usually a few soft things underneath, like plastic bags or articles of clothing. If the eggs are really small and rattling in the carton a lot, I will sometimes lay down a hankie (or one of those plastic bags) on top of the eggs and then close the lid of the carton over it, and secure it with a rubber band or bit of twine. keeps 'em snug.

I've also used bubble wrap or padded shipping envelopes to carry eggs and other fragile things to and fro (we get a lot of Fedex at work). But usually I just put the carton of eggs in the pannier and head home.

The worst grocery disaster I've ever had is when I was much younger and would often stop at the grocery store on the way home from work. I would carry a large backpack and cram my purchases into it. I bought a 12-pack of beer, it wouldn't fit in my panniers, so I squeezed it into my backpack. As I rode away from the store, the zipper on the backpack failed, the box of beer fell out and hit the street pavement, and most of the bottles broke on impact. I think I was able to salvage a few bottles... which is more than I could do with my attitude that evening. Ah, youth.

patrick

wahoonc

Should a bought cans....

Aaron