[Closed] Riding with one pannier

Once you're moving it makes little difference. I preferred to have it in my left as that's the foot I put down in traffic. However, I can appreciate that having it on the right might make the bike look wider and encourage drivers to give you more room.

Laptop, clean shirt (sometimes shoes), various paper files and other stuff was my regular load.

Yeah I need computer, eagle creek pack-it with smart clothes and then shoes.

I used to ride to work with one pannier. Pretty light, but still found I got speed wobbles one day trying to set the speed camera off, and that put the willies up me a bit. I blame my lone pannier.

Oh, and don't try to do any jumps either. No matter how small.

If I get a lot of shopping on the way home, I can end up with a pannier fully unrolled and stacked well above the top of the rack.
Clothes, laptop and shoes won't give you any problems.

I fill mine with shopping regularly (inc milk, tattie, OJ and booze i.e. the heavy stuff) it's only a PITA as I've not bothered to mount it rigidly.

After dropping the kids at school, my Kona Ute is usually heavyily loaded one side with my 17" screen Dell Precision behemoth in a big laptop bag, with food & other bits. Doesn't seem to phase it at all.

I ride with one pannier all the time. In fact, I bought it from our very own druidh (who seems to have gone on holidays or something).

In any case, the only time I have found the weight made a difference is when I really had to pack it one day, and getting off to walk the bike was a bit awkward. Otherwise, it's no problem at all.

My normal load consists of laptop, papers, book (or two), shirt, and sometimes shoes.

I do the commute thing - appart from the laptop /papers /clothes I always take a bungee cord with me in case I need a bit of exra space and can bungee something to the top of the rack on my way home(clothes / shoes in plastic bag type thing).

[quote=SaxonRider ]I ride with one pannier all the time. In fact, I bought it from our very own druidh (who seems to have gone on holidays [b]or something[/b]).

** waves at SaxonRider **

We were on the Long Mynd last Sunday and just about to enter Minton Batch when a guy rode in with one pannier on his touring type bike so it can't be that difficult 😯

I have had the laptop and 6 bottles of wine, so 10-12kg fine until you try to climb out of the saddle

Only problem I have with using one pannier is my bike falls over when parked sometimes with the weight. It'll be fine.

scotroutes - Member

Once you're moving it makes little difference.

This. I only tend to use 2 if I can't fit the stuff in one, weight doesn't come into it.

I've been experimenting with this a little recently as I'm off to Paris in a couple of weeks and wanted to travel light, but not at the cost of stability.

The interesting thing for me so far is that, as mentioned above, the actual effect on balance once you;re moving seems to be pretty minimal - even a standing sprint from the lights the unbalanced load seems to be minimally affecting the way the bike behaves.

But - and it's a biggy for me - there is obviously some effect because each time I have finished the ride (just under an hour normally) with a sore back on one side. I'm guessing that there is a subtle difference in the way the bike behaves and that your body naturally caters for it.

I'm going to stack two panniers on for the next week or so and see how I go.

EDIT: I am prone to a dicky back, tho, YMMV...

never really found it a problem with commuting, would have some shopping some times, gym kit, never a laptop though..

Interesting on the "which side" question (dress to the left/right).

I tended to put the pannier on the right as it was easier to hook/unhook and if loading, it seemed easier to do that too. YMMV.

Always drive side here for 2 reasons,
I have to lift the bike so much easier & Cleaner to shoulder the bike on non drive side

It is on the outside when cars pass from the rear & in winter I hang an LED from it

Well I didn't fall off. It was noticeable in terms of handling, being ever so slightly more responsive in swerving one way than the other, but not in any way an issue and I soon stopped noticing it. I rode about 8 miles or so in traffic, so quite a lot of sprinting out of the saddle and stopping and starting.

However I have got into the habit of super smooth out of the saddle on that bike cos the previous rack was a bit wobbly, so that probably helped.