dhague
New Member
- Location
- Virginia Water, Surrey
Hi all,
First post - hi everybody!
I thought I'd share some recent experience, in the hope that it helps other people who may be in the same place.
I'm about to start commuting to work (7 miles each way, mostly flat), and after much research I bought a Giant Expression N7 which I like a lot. Seeing the hub brakes and 7-speed hub gears, the guy at the LBS I got it from (Action Bikes in Woking) commented that he probably wouldn't be seeing much of me, there was so little maintenance overhead on the bike.
Next up, as I need to carry a laptop both ways, I got an Altura Urban Briefcase from an internet supplier (Stows, also a LBS) to clip onto the pannier rack. What I didn't realise is that although it's not mentioned anywhere, the Altura R&K clips will only fit 10mm or smaller rails, and the pannier rack on the Giant is made of sturdy 13mm rails. Bum.
A little more research and pannier deconstruction revealed that the R&K fittings were bolted onto a removable plastic plate in the pannier. More research showed that Ortlieb's QR1 system works on the same principles. Googling for "Ortlieb spares" led me to Action Outdoors, where £20 got me a top rail, bottom rail and handle/hooks that I could bolt on in place of the Altura R&K items.
The Ortlieb QR1 bits arrived today, and after drilling new mounting holes in the plastic backplate, I had everything ready to bolt in. With one small problem: although they were shown in the product photo, some essential nuts & bolts to connect the hooks to the rail were missing. I emailed Action Outdoors about this, and in a matter of minutes I had a reply from Graeme Knott, their online shop manager. It turns out that those nuts & bolts are not a part of that particular Ortlieb kit, even though they are shown in the product photo. Here's where Graeme reacted perfectly - he's posting them to me anyway, and has even edited the photo to remove the nuts & bolts - all within half an hour of my original email! Part of the reason I'm writing this post is just to highlight the great service I had.
So, long story short: I hope to have the nuts & bolts tomorrow, and then I will have "Ortliebed" my Altura briefcase pannier so it will fit my new bike. Once the snow has cleared, I can finally start commuting to work.
Cheers,
Darren
First post - hi everybody!
I thought I'd share some recent experience, in the hope that it helps other people who may be in the same place.
I'm about to start commuting to work (7 miles each way, mostly flat), and after much research I bought a Giant Expression N7 which I like a lot. Seeing the hub brakes and 7-speed hub gears, the guy at the LBS I got it from (Action Bikes in Woking) commented that he probably wouldn't be seeing much of me, there was so little maintenance overhead on the bike.
Next up, as I need to carry a laptop both ways, I got an Altura Urban Briefcase from an internet supplier (Stows, also a LBS) to clip onto the pannier rack. What I didn't realise is that although it's not mentioned anywhere, the Altura R&K clips will only fit 10mm or smaller rails, and the pannier rack on the Giant is made of sturdy 13mm rails. Bum.
A little more research and pannier deconstruction revealed that the R&K fittings were bolted onto a removable plastic plate in the pannier. More research showed that Ortlieb's QR1 system works on the same principles. Googling for "Ortlieb spares" led me to Action Outdoors, where £20 got me a top rail, bottom rail and handle/hooks that I could bolt on in place of the Altura R&K items.
The Ortlieb QR1 bits arrived today, and after drilling new mounting holes in the plastic backplate, I had everything ready to bolt in. With one small problem: although they were shown in the product photo, some essential nuts & bolts to connect the hooks to the rail were missing. I emailed Action Outdoors about this, and in a matter of minutes I had a reply from Graeme Knott, their online shop manager. It turns out that those nuts & bolts are not a part of that particular Ortlieb kit, even though they are shown in the product photo. Here's where Graeme reacted perfectly - he's posting them to me anyway, and has even edited the photo to remove the nuts & bolts - all within half an hour of my original email! Part of the reason I'm writing this post is just to highlight the great service I had.
So, long story short: I hope to have the nuts & bolts tomorrow, and then I will have "Ortliebed" my Altura briefcase pannier so it will fit my new bike. Once the snow has cleared, I can finally start commuting to work.
Cheers,
Darren
