Bike Buckets & other DIY panniers

[Ricd11]

Noticed a few guides on how to make bike bucket panniers on crazyguyonabike, they seem pretty decent and have lasted the useres a few thousand miles so should be plenty for my summer tour.

Does anyone have any experience with them? Or know anyone that does? Off the top of my head I can't think of anything that comes in nice buckets which would work as panniers.

I've been reassessing my budget, and its getting pretty tight. I have large rear panniers, but would much rather have front panniers to distribute the weight and not have the rear ones filled to the brim.

2 slightly differing DIY guides are found here:

http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/?o=RrzKj&doc_id=1841&v=1f
http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/?o=RrzKj&doc_id=6410&v=t

Thanks,

Rich

 

[andym]

The only thing I can think of that might come in buckets like that is paint - and even then IIRC Dulux sell their paint in big round containers. But that would definitely be an expensive way of buying plastic buckets.

The plastic storae containers might be an option (iKEA for example) but the problem is that you really want something that is taller than it's wide - which is an unusual shape.

 

[Crankarm]

Sorry but have to LoL . I would still prefer conventional panniers. I suspect if you crashed then cracking/shattering of the buckets would be a real worry. Also they look very large encouraging one to carry far too much crap. Plus wind resistance must be a real issue as they look huge. But they are still LoL uncool .

 

[Ricd11]

haha, I'd be well chuffed making those though! 2 hooks, a couple of holes and a bungee cord - its artwork

 

[Ricd11]

Good point with the shattering... maybe back to material

I'm standing by their coolness though!

 

[Arch]

Just a thought, I'm sure I've seen animal feed in buckets like that (the pellet/biscuit/supplement sort of stuff.) Try looking round a local big petshop? They might even have some used ones going spare. Or a stables, or something like that.

This for example, although it seems to be an oval bucket, not square... (I love the name!)

http://www.rideaway.co.uk/dodson-and-horrell-stroppy-mare/default.aspx

Ah! this one for example (and it ready marinades your horse...)

http://www.rideaway.co.uk/naf-garlic-powder/default.aspx

 

[Anthony]

I guess you'll be getting rid of the bar bag next and making your own front basket.

 

[TheDoctor]

I once did a tour when I had no panniers - I was young, poor and stupid then, but I'm older now.
I had a Tesco shopping basket held on top of the rack with leather toestraps.
*the shame*
Worked surprisingly well, but on a scale of 1 to cool it was minus several million.

 

[Crankarm]

I guess you'll be getting rid of the bar bag next and making your own front basket.

Cool .

 

[Crankarm]

Just a thought, I'm sure I've seen animal feed in buckets like that (the pellet/biscuit/supplement sort of stuff.) Try looking round a local big petshop? They might even have some used ones going spare. Or a stables, or something like that.

This for example, although it seems to be an oval bucket, not square... (I love the name!)

http://www.rideaway.co.uk/dodson-and-horrell-stroppy-mare/default.aspx

Ah! this one for example (and it ready marinades your horse...)

http://www.rideaway.co.uk/naf-garlic-powder/default.aspx

They'd have to be washed out good and proper otherwise one could get herds of horses, packs of dogs, cats, rabbits or no end of farmyards animals chasing you down the road. Maybe even elefants depending where you were cycling. One could even use them to wash in. If you found some big enough then maybe one could take a bath .

 

[TheDoctor]

LOL !!

 

[Arch]

I quite like the idea of cycling along followed by a trail of farmyard animals.... A sort of pied piper on wheels... And handy when it comes to dinner time, if you have a big enough penknife...

There are of course, the commercially available Bikebins which are pretty robust, even enough to double as stools for sitting on. I borrowed one from Piemaster on the East Yorks camping trip, to sit and eat the bacon sandwich he'd just cooked us!

 

[chris667]

2 army surplus bread bags @ £4.50 each. Piece of corrugated plastic glued to the back edge (an estate agent sign, perhaps?) Rixen & Kaul fittings fixed to a bit of wood drilled through the bag and plastic inside if you felt posh, or some hooks from a hardware shop if you didn't. Job's a good 'un.

You could easily make a brilliant set of panniers this way for less than £20. They'd be reasonably waterproof as they came, or totally waterproof if you put some rubble sacks inside.

 

[Crankarm]

I quite like the idea of cycling along followed by a trail of farmyard animals.... A sort of pied piper on wheels... And handy when it comes to dinner time, if you have a big enough penknife...

There are of course, the commercially available Bikebins which are pretty robust, even enough to double as stools for sitting on. I borrowed one from Piemaster on the East Yorks camping trip, to sit and eat the bacon sandwich he'd just cooked us!

Bikebins look a lot more sensible although I suspect they come at a price which sort of defeats the original intention to create panniers on the cheap. Plus being a hard rigid box wouldn't stuff inside always be rattling which would drive me potty? Plus fragile stuff such as say camera equipment you'd need to wrap in lots of shock absorbing material. If a conventional pannier is used then there is more give as the material is flexible absorbing much of the vibration and not transferring it directly to the contents.

 

[Arch]

Bikebins look a lot more sensible although I suspect they come at a price which sort of defeats the original intention to create panniers on the cheap. Plus being a hard rigid box wouldn't stuff inside always be rattling which would drive me potty? Plus fragile stuff such as say camera equipment you'd need to wrap in lots of shock absorbing material. If a conventional pannier is used then there is more give as the material is flexible absorbing much of the vibration and not transferring it directly to the contents.

Well, durrr, the intention of Bikebins is to market a product, not make something cheaply. I merely mentioned them in case the OP wasn't aware of them.

Yes, you'd wrap stuff up - but anything I put in a pannier that's at all fragile, I wrap up anyway. If you're on tour you have clothes etc to cushion stuff. My boss had a pair for review and found them very useful for day to day use, including his camera and stuff, cushioned with a bit of bubble wrap. And it works both ways. The bucket is more robust against accidental blows than the cloth of a pannier.

I always thought it would be fun to fill them with water and a couple of goldfish...