[Closed] Tiny panniers

Bump ffs.

I was inspired by that video and have bought a rack, the revalate ones too spendy. ive bought some midi size panniers. Not tried them out yet but I'm fed up with seat packs I'm not sure there's a benefit for the riding I do.

link

I'm interested in this.
Panniers are very handy, especially if doing non-singletrack touring and my CX bike has front and rear racks....

I've some cheap Lidl panniers but wouldn't mind something better quality, especially for the front

Molly,Topeak do a fold down set on the trunk bags that fit their seatpost rack.
Like this one

Now I've got Elton John in my head singing "Put your things in tiny panniers..."

I had a real problem with a pannier rack, but I've put it behind me now.

ortleib front rollers or carradice front panniers - I have a set of each.

I made my own, drybag in a size to suit, ortleib spares, a plastic backer for stiffness, Bob's your dad.

Topeak also do smaller bags that don't have the drop down ears.

I’ve used Front Rollers on the rear panniers for years now as I wanted smaller bags. They work great.

Ortlieb City are 12.5l each.

Ortlieb gravel pack panniers

I have a pair of the Alpkit ones - totally let down by the plastic clips which are badly designed and broke first time. They don’t do spare clips. Small, lightweight ones like Revelate micros are a good idea for longer trips as you can stash them easily once empty.

I went down this route last year as I found large saddle bags made it very difficult to get on/off the bike. Many hours of googling didn't turn up anything better than the revelate nano pannier.
One DIY option is military style molle bags and a good sewing machine.

Pretty sure that's Jeff (haven't looked at the vid, just the pic). username is summit toppler on the bear Bones forum

He posted up about them a short while ago

Revelate Nano seem the smallest pair. A list of other small panniers can be found here: https://bikepacking.com/index/panniers-for-bikepacking/

Ortleib and the like are heavy no doubt but have their advantages but hardly bikepacking ethos. More turn up at the hotel, quick unclip and check in 🙂

Ortlieb accessory pocket seems to have mini pannier potential but I haven't really thought through how they'd attach. There's mount loops on the back that should work with a custom/bodged rear rack of sorts that used a larger OD rail (or just a sleeve over a Tubus Fly rail) for the pocket to strap to. If I was using small rear panniers I'd want some sort of minimal rack to suit.

Panniers being good for carrying kit whilst cycling.

Who'd have thunk it?

Those stupid oversized saddle bags are just the worst. In the way of all the shite of your rear tyre, and with the added bonus of not being able to access any of the kit inside without taking it off and rummaging.

Panniers FTW.

Sorry, bit of a hijack - any recommendations for a rack please?
Quite like the idea of strapping a dry bag to the top of a rack so I can still use my dropper post but not make the bike too much wider
I kinda thought a rack was a rack but then had a bit of a look and there’s all sorts from £15 to well over a hundred!

I came to the conclusion that a dry bag on top of a simple rack is the most effective carrying method for terrain that isn't too gnarly. Even the Ortlieb gravel panniers are still ~600g each, whereas a 20L Alpkit dry bag is <200g.

Rack-wise I have a Tubus Vega, they used to be ~£50 from the German online bike shops like Rose. It is about as simple as you can get and 600g all in, but still rated to the usual 20kg or thereabouts.

The other school of thought would be that if you're only carrying a few kilos on it any rack will do, maybe sourcing some higher quality bolts for added piece of mind.

any recommendations for a rack please?

Tubus Fly for minimal, light & not cheap.

This has done me well:
https://www.wiggle.co.uk/tortec-ultralite-rear-rack?lang=en&curr=GBP&dest=1&sku=5360151756

£21 and 560g

I did drybag on a rack before bikepacking kit was a thing and it worked great just make sure its strapped on tight. In fact I had drybag strapped to bars and another one strapped to top tube with tent in.

Jeff did a review of the Revelate Nanos on fat-bike.com: https://fat-bike.com/2021/04/revelate-nano-panniers/

Racks - my wife has an Arkel Randonneur bike rack, fits to the saddle post and rails. Dunno how it would work with a dropper. Somewhere I've a Tubus rack that I've used occasionally, very well made. The weak point with any rack off-road isn't really the rack but the mounting bolts, there can be quite a bit of shear force on them. Similarly as @Dovebiker has found out, the attachment points between rack and panniers needs to be well thought through - any movement and the forces become pretty big.

@Merak - saddle packs are fine so long as you keep the size down, I don't think I've gone above 8L, anything more than that and I need to reassess what I'm taking. Usually I'm in the 3-5L sort of range.

Really tiny panniers:
https://alpkit.com/products/goucho

Don't even need a rack but cost per litre of bag is v. steep.
As above Carradice or Ortileb work well and have done on thousands of bikes for years. Which one of the two is you favourite is a matter of debate but either is great. N.B. I'm sure Revelate are great too but I've not seen any IRL.

I have an Old Man Mountain rack, bombproof.

The weak point with any rack off-road isn’t really the rack but the mounting bolts, there can be quite a bit of shear force on them

Far less with tiny panniers though.

I have the Topeak trunk bag up there. It’s really good.

It isn’t all that light. And a strong rack won’t be that light either.

I don’t think that’s all that important.

If I was going somewhere especially rough or planning to (try to!) go especially fast, or trying to go especially light I’d use my big seatpack, take less stuff, and be prepared to be less comfortable while off the bike.

Surprised no-one's mentioned the Tailfin rack/bags yet. Not panniers exactly, but same sort of idea.

Was just discussing this morning actually how on the face of it they solve a lot of the problems with panniers for off-road touring (durability, weight, width) while keeping most of the advantages (stability, easy access, attachment/detachment).

As Bob says, small seat packs are fine. The problem is when you try and use a massive one to capacity. But it works for some.

I just use some Ortlieb city front panniers

Tubus Fly is too narrow if you want to strap stuff to the top. Tortec rack is a bit wider, much more useful, and not much heavier.

Carradice rack pack has fold out mini panniers. https://www.carradice.co.uk/bags/rack-packs-stuff-sacks/carradura-rack-bag

Ortlieb Gravel Panniers and Topeak Super Tourist DX rack. Not the lightest set up but I'm not bothered about that, it's robust though. Ready for KAW next weekend, fingers crossed for the weather

Surprised no-one’s mentioned the Tailfin rack/bags yet. Not panniers exactly, but same sort of idea.

The X Series is a pannier rack.

The weak point with any rack off-road isn’t really the rack but the mounting bolts, there can be quite a bit of shear force on them.

Tailfin with axle mounting.

Though check your bank balance first.

Forget the panniers and use a frame bag

I’ve preordered a Tailfin S3 alloy rack with the intention of strapping a drybag to the top of it. Then on Instagram last night up popped the presale for the Tumbleweed T rack so preordered that. So will try both and keep one.

Just received my my Tumbleweed rack the other day that I got in the last preorder. Went for the Pannier over the T-rack, seems really nicely made and fits great on my Longitude. Good to have a rack that actually clears plus size tyres!

Forget the panniers and use a frame bag

Yeah just hold your water bottle in your teeth.

I used the alp kit rack on my longitude. I had to modify the mount on the outlier gravel pack panniers as the alp kit rack is sort of only designed for one ortlieb attachment point at the bottom. Clears my 2.8 tyres easily and relatively cheap for a rack.

I’ve preordered a Tailfin S3 alloy rack with the intention of strapping a drybag to the top of it. Then on Instagram last night up popped the presale for the Tumbleweed T rack so preordered that. So will try both and keep one.

Just received my my Tumbleweed rack the other day that I got in the last preorder. Went for the Pannier over the T-rack, seems really nicely made and fits great on my Longitude. Good to have a rack that actually clears plus size tyres!

I don't want to be one of those "WHAT??? HOPW MUCH???" type people but what's the advantages of racks like that over one of the less fancy looking racks like alpkit and topeak? Is it mainly weight and strength? I'm not too bothered about weight (quite new to all this and the equipment required so there's definitely other places I'd rather spend the money to save weight) but I definitely wouldn't like to have a rack fail out in the middle of nowhere!
The T-Rack looks a pretty sturdy beast and I like the idea of mounting water bottles on the rack so I could use a full frame bag

Might as well do it properly. No need for a rack.

View this post on Instagram

@saynotoslomo that was my reasoning also, neither my Salsa Vaya nor my Surly Krampus have fork bosses so these are a good alternative. The T rack is definitely my favoured version for clearing a 29x3.0 Tyre as I fear the Tailfin might not but took a chance anyway, plus it was ordered several weeks ago before the T rack presale launched. I can always return it and I only intend to keep one rack so not too concerned.

I quite like these:

https://rockgeist.com/product/microwave-panniers/

Yeah, it's not super cheap but it's steel so will likely last a lot longer than most Alu racks, especially for off road use. Compared to full RRP on a tubus rack it's not that much more, but from a much smaller company so economy of scale plays a part. Of course it's possible to buy a pannier rack for much less but I want something I can rely on. The mounts on the side are also something that no-one else is really offering unless you go custom made (and therefore even more expensive).
Buy once, cry once 😄

@steexysix I like your sentiment. Totally agree.

I don’t want to be one of those “WHAT??? HOPW MUCH???” type people but what’s the advantages of racks like that over one of the less fancy looking racks like alpkit and topeak?

I don't have a Tailfin so can't confirm, but what I have read is the main advantage is rigidity, including the panniers. Apparently nothing moves even when climbing out of the saddle. From a design point of view I like the axle mounting system which avoids frame mounts - should be stronger and is quickly attached and detached.

Podsacs fork bags (4 or 5.5l) work well as micro panniers. They used to be cheap, sure I paid about a fiver a pair.

Thule pack n pedal rack is the danglies, we use modified (widened) ones on our fatbikes.

Good point. The Tailfin rack, by giving you triple boss fork mounts, opens up any of the fork mounting solutions.

Which also makes me wonder if it would be advantageous to have something made that simply provides fork style mounts where panniers would go, with no rear deck at all. You could get some great stability that way, and the results could be pretty light.

My wife uses an Ortleib mini pannier, designed for the front but she only uses on the rear rack of her bike. It was a gift. It's had dog's abuse and is still going strong after many years. Still totally waterproof. I can't find what exact model it is, as they seem to have changed a bit in design. But they seem to still do small panniers.

Apparently her friend bought a pair, and didn't need two so gave her the spare.

Which also makes me wonder if it would be advantageous to have something made that simply provides fork style mounts where panniers would go, with no rear deck at all. You could get some great stability that way, and the results could be pretty light.

The original Tailfin T1 was exactly that. I would hazard a guess that the current X Series which can take a top bag as well, isn't much heavier.

That's still a pannier rack rather than an anything-cage rack.

Ah I see what you mean.

£249 for a pannier rack?? Even the Tubus Titanium ones are only half that!

That’s still a pannier rack rather than an anything-cage rack.

Not quite sure what an anything cage rack is but is it like a lowrider rack?

Talking of cages, what about a couple of Blackburn Outpost Cargo cages with 5l dry bags?

The Tailfin X-three is only £129 for the rack - this will fit normal panniers with some extras.

I have the S-three which is only £99, and has the anything cage bolts on the side.

I got some of those planet-x podsacs with the cages included when they were not silly money.
The cage is pretty good, the bags not so much.

I'll second @yourguitarhero , got the same Tortec rack from Wiggle on my Pompino. I use the Ortlieb gravel packs because the size is just right (potential for heel strike on the Pomp). I had to add a couple of spacers to clear the V brakes but it's good and solid.

Not quite sure what an anything cage rack is but is it like a lowrider rack?

An "Anything cage" is a large cage that fits to three bottle bosses, it's made by Salsa, review here - https://bikepacking.com/gear/salsa-anything-cage-hd-anything-bag/ . There are several similar models such as the Gorilla Cage. Some forks come with the three bottle bosses on each side so you can fit a pair. I installed a set on the downtube of my fat bike using Rivnuts to add the bosses.

Bikepacking.com have a list of those available - https://bikepacking.com/index/cargo-cages-anything-bags/

My train of thought is to use a drybag on the top of the rack.

Any suggestions as to a good quality drybag with good abrasion quality

My train of thought is to use a drybag on the top of the rack.

Any suggestions as to a good quality drybag with good abrasion quality

My wife uses one of these - https://alpkit.com/products/airlok-xtra-dual-13-litre , there's a 20L version as well.

An “Anything cage” is a large cage that fits to three bottle bosses

Got it, thanks. It was the ‘rack’ bit I was unfamiliar with. Assuming now that there are racks out there which have three fittings for cages?

Assuming now that there are racks out there which have three fittings for cages?

This guy goes one better:

View this post on Instagram

it's a really neat idea, he can make them for front or rear & add bosses to racks. It's a simple bespoke way of bikepackifying your regular bike (as long as it has bosses). He makes some really nice items.

I reckon a minimal rack design with 3 bosses per leg and a concave top to accept a dry bag would be a great product.

That S3 is almost what I am thinking of but I want the top strut to be much shorter. The legs with the bosses on could then slope up towards the saddle, this would put the centre of mass a lot further forward which would reduce waggle. It'd be a bit like having cage mounts on your seat stays, but with wheel clearance.

Pretty tempted to bust out the 3d printer and make a prototype. Anyone got a CNC machine?

I used the Zefal gizmo bosses on my forks to hold some Blackburn cages. Works well, costs about £10

I have a Lomo rack bag on my front rack mainly for commuting, as recommended by someone on here at the time. It will fit a rear rack too although it is slightly wider than a rack the roll top clips round the rack to snug it down. It's very solid and you can open it more easily than a normal dry bag to get stuff out en route. Good value too.
Their dry bags are also said to be solid.

https://www.lomo.co.uk/acatalog/dry-bike-tail-bag.html#SID=152

Pretty tempted to bust out the 3d printer and make a prototype. Anyone got a CNC machine?

I keep looking at box section carbon fibre tubing and wondering if it's possible to build a rack similar in construction to how Atherton bikes are assembled, using 3d printed lugs and epoxy. Might be an interesting (and probably very light) project.