Backpack vs Panniers

[Blue Hills]

There's been all sorts of odd accidents.

I knew a guy personally who always wore a 2 inch or so cross on a chain around his neck, had an accident and that cross went into his neck and buried itself to where the chain met the cross, it just missed his artery by 1/4 of an inch, so does that mean not to wear a chain with something on it? no, because I'm pretty sure that's never happened before or since!

I knew another guy back in the day of Walkman's, crashed and landed on his Walkman that heavily lacerated his kidney. Actually, wearing something hard on your side and getting seriously hurt from it in an accident is not as uncommon as it seems back when people wore those side bags, I haven't seen people wear those in a very long time.

This next situation is also more common than people realize, but a person crashes lands on his back, but in his jersey pocket was something hard, like a pump, or a multi tool, etc., and that thing damages a vertebra, I knew a guy that happened to as well and he could no longer ride a bike after the surgery.

all very true - I have always remembered the advice from a motorcycle book when I rode one (OK - two Vespas) to never carry a chain round your body for just this reason - it was rather fashionable amongst some bikers. Then some hipster cyclists years later took up the fashion - made me wince whenever I saw it around London.

Will those roadies live and learn though?

 

[Blue Hills]

It's a lesson I learned as a kid with a bag of shopping on the bars. I didn't quite come off but it was obviously a bad idea

I went over the bars in front a bus and the schoolgates once carrying books in a bag over the bars. Had double vision for a while - went home for the rest of the day. After that my mum got me a rack.

 

[avecReynolds531]

This is my 25th year of commuting by bike & first choice is panniers. I was taught to let the bike carry the weight. This includes lunch/ flask/ water canister, multi-tool & pump, etc...
Ortlieb have useful & effective reflective patches that aid visibility as well as options for strident colours - the orange should be used with sunglasses.
I've found that traffic allows a little more space when passing a bike with a right-sided pannier.

 

[simongt]

I was taught to let the bike carry the weight.

As I was also taught back in t'day. My preference has always been for panniers & rack / saddlebag. I understand the apparent need for backpacks and the new trend for bikepacking bags as it narrows the profile which enable folk to get through confined spaces that aren't usually encountered by tourers on roads.

 

[Etern4l]

As I was also taught back in t'day. My preference has always been for panniers & rack / saddlebag. I understand the apparent need for backpacks and the new trend for bikepacking bags as it narrows the profile which enable folk to get through confined spaces that aren't usually encountered by tourers on roads.

It's also a function of the load and weather. Up to a few kg in colder weather will probably be imperceptible in a good backpack, and at that cargo weight a pannier rack is more of an overhead in relative terms.

I imagine a backpack would also be more convenient at lower loads when traveling to low-security public locations where removal of the bag from the rack is advisable when leaving the bike unattended.

My takeaway is that unless the rack weighs a lot, there is little downside to l attaching one to a commuter to have the option, if a need might arise to carry heavier loads. I presume the overhead some people report has more to do with the bags than the rack itself.

 

[flake99please]

I use the Ortlieb classic front panniers fitted to my rear rack. Plenty of room for my commuting requirements with some weight / bulk savings over the rear panniers.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

I prefer to use a bag or bags that are on the bike
However, last year I spent a lot of time carrying my good camera around on my bike. AFter a bit I realised that this meant that the camera was being subjected to all the bumps and shocks without and cushioning except for the minimal bit from the tyre
I am not a great fan of those sort of shocks on electronic devices that are not designed for it - especially larger and heavier ones.

Hence, I have mostly stopped carrying my camera around - if I do then I used a backpack. On the rare occaision I carry my laptop on my bike then I also use a backpack

 

[Etern4l]

I prefer to use a bag or bags that are on the bike
However, last year I spent a lot of time carrying my good camera around on my bike. AFter a bit I realised that this meant that the camera was being subjected to all the bumps and shocks without and cushioning except for the minimal bit from the tyre
I am not a great fan of those sort of shocks on electronic devices that are not designed for it - especially larger and heavier ones.

Hence, I have mostly stopped carrying my camera around - if I do then I used a backpack. On the rare occaision I carry my laptop on my bike then I also use a backpack

Excellent point. This will apply to some extent to other electronic devices suhh as laptops. Even if mechanical disk drives are rare, there are other mechanical components which might be affected by vibration shocks (display hinges, motherboard and other internal mounting elements etc.)

 

[freiston]

Years ago when my bike commute was a short ride (about 3 miles each way), I took a small Karrimor 18 litre rucksack (before Karrimor was ruined by Sports Direct) but on the odd occasion that I commuted by bike when my journey was about 12 miles each way, I used a single pannier. I don't like to ride for long with a rucksack on my back. I do have some designed-for-cycling messenger style shoulder bags of varying sizes but I'm not keen on using them for cycling other than short utility rides.

The point about camera gear is interesting - when younger, I used to carry my 35mm SLR in my Karrimor Bardale which, by the nature of it's bracket and shock chords, had quite a bit of "suspension". I carry a small bridge camera in my Ortlieb bar bag but I wouldn't carry my DSLR in it on account of the camera being too big to fit in the bag with my other odds & sods, and that I reckon it's a bit more of a rough ride than the bardale.

When I was a schoolboy, almost everyone cycled to school and almost everyone needed to transport books and P.E. gear. The usual method was a sports bag, briefcase or satchel held by a rear spring-loaded rack or in a basket on the front. There were less safe methods involving hanging thing from handlebars and popping bags on top of the top tube and handlebars.

If I were commuting nowadays and wanted the convenience of a rucksack or shoulder bag, I reckon that I would be looking at a method of putting it on a rear rack or in a basket (front or rear). A front basket would give more peace of mind if there were [possibly fragile] valuables in the bag. I understand that there are offerings from, Rixen Kaul, Ortlieb and Racktime (division of Tubus) that meet the brief - Ortlieb even make bags and baskets designed to work with Racktime racks and fittings.

 

[Profpointy]

Excellent point. This will apply to some extent to other electronic devices suhh as laptops. Even if mechanical disk drives are rare, there are other mechanical components which might be affected by vibration shocks (display hinges, motherboard and other internal mounting elements etc.)

But that said I must have done 15000 miles with a laptop in my panniers without issue, including two "offs" which hurt me but not the PC and other where the pannier pinged off, again with no harm done to the PC

 

[Etern4l]

But that said I must have done 15000 miles with a laptop in my panniers without issue, including two "offs" which hurt me but not the PC and other where the pannier pinged off, again with no harm done to the PC

That's good. I suppose a lot depends on the laptops' build quality. In the limit there are rugged laptops one could safely use to fortify a pannier rack.

 

[Blue Hills]

Years ago when my bike commute was a short ride (about 3 miles each way), I took a small Karrimor 18 litre rucksack (before Karrimor was ruined by Sports Direct) b

on that side point Karrimor was ruined before Sports Direct got hold of it as little more than a brand.
Some venture capitalist bunch got hold of it -not UK based - south african maybe - and jusy started slapping the brand on cheap stuff they had acquired from wherever. They persisted in slapping the union jack on everything though.

i have a few bits of old Karrimor stuff, though one great thing I lost on a ride.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

I commuted with laptop in panniers. No problem you just put laptop in a padded pouch.

 

[fossyant]

I use the Ortlieb classic front panniers fitted to my rear rack. Plenty of room for my commuting requirements with some weight / bulk savings over the rear panniers.

Same here. deal for commuting, and will hold a laptop in a shockproof case.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

Many years ago I needed a walking rucksack for my daughter
We looked in a shop in Betws-y-Coed because we lived near there (ish)
Her favourite was a bright yellow ladies cycling backpack

Never seen one like it since - but it had a stretchy string bag on the back for a helmet and the lightweight frame held most of it away from the rider so allow air to circulate

Brilliant design - wish I could find one like it but bigger - no idea of the make