We’re about to chuck some money at 2 pairs of rear panniers. They will get a lot of use: Shopping trips every week, allotment runs full of spuds, commuting and some fairly long distance touring one a year at least.

Ortlieb have the reputation of being the best, but I quite like the look of Vaude, and (being a tart!) I’d like mine to match the Vaude bar bag I picked up for cheap in the USA

Has anybody got any comparisons between or experience of (Specifically) the Ortlieb Back Roller and the Vaude Aqua Back?

Cheers 🙂

think outside the box pp, crosso.

I’ve never used Vaude, so can’t comment on them.

But, I have used my set of backrollers relentlessly for their four years of life so far and they are basically indestructible and hold ridiculous amounts. In fact, today one will be containing my clothes and the other the Islabikes Rothan I got off inbred853 on here, for the commute home. Versatile and indispensable. I would never hesitate to recommend them.

Ton, Crosso – Who supplies/imports them?

Bear in mind I work in a bike shop, so I’m ordering them in and paying trade….. 8)

got mine from cyclesense in Tadcaster.

http://www.crosso.pl/pages/en/start.php

I like my back rollers. Not had them long, but they look like they’ll take some punishment. As mentioned above, they are big! Mine will be carrying a telescope home today 🙂

got mine from cyclesense in Tadcaster.

Yeah, I need to deal direct with the importer though. I’m not going to pay more than the £61/pair I can get Ortliebs for

I have Vaude and Ortleib.

The Vaude’s leaked very slightly after 12 hours in torrential monsoon rain in Thailand, but are still a great set of panniers.

Ortliebs – well, they are Ortleibs.

I’d buy either again.

I bought Ortlieb panniers for the infamous West Country C2C where it rained every bloody day! They did a sterling job and still look like new.

Can’t wait to use them again, whenever that will be. 🙂

Oh yeah. “The Tour From Hell”.
You did well there…. 🙂

Ortleib, topic closed.

+1 for Back Rollers

3 week tour across France, rained every day, incessantly, stuff stayed dry. Win!

Crosso look nice Ton, and less than £60 a pair online

Around 14’000 miles of touring on my Ortliebs plus use about town over 5 years or so. Still completely waterproof. I replaced the buckles this year. They look good for thousands more miles.

Their biggest flaw is that after much use the spacers they use to step down the hooks from 15mm to the width of your rack come loose and fall out. They still work fine but aren’t as secure on the rack. Only a problem on off road or bad surfaces. The work around is not to use spacers and instead make the rack bars 15mm. As per this article.

https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/?o=CT&doc_id=8298&v=k

I’ve never used Vaudes but would buy Ortliebs again without a second thought.

I looked at both Vaude and Ortlieb, couldn’t see any difference in quality (they both appear to be made from exactly the same materials), so bought the £20 cheaper Vaudes.

Ortleib – the Gaggia Classic of the pannier world

As per this article.

https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/?o=CT&doc_id=8298&v=k

Which make me want to buy the Vaudes…… 😕

Which make me want to buy the Vaudes……

Though Vaude panniers use a similar system of spacers to step the hooks down. It may be the case that Vaude paniers get the same problem but it is less visible as Ortliebs outnumber anything else for long distance touring.

http://www.ubergear.co.uk/vaude_bike_pannier_systems.html

By the way I’ve had no problem with the lower hooks on my Ortliebs.

Maybe check both spacer systems side by side and see which looks most secure?

I am getting some Ortlieb back roller plus for Christmas, not seen them under £92 though (Spa Cycles)

I highly rate these
Classic Waterproof Bike Pannier – 17 Litres

Not used Vaude, but my Ortlieb’s have been well worth it. Had them about 2 years now, used for commute minimum 3 times a week (often 4-5) 26 miles a day. Hardly a mark on them, hard wearing, still waterproof, worth the money. Would buy them again – though I doubt they’ll wear out any time soon!

Had my Vaude panniers since 2006, still in very good condition and waterproof. The £20+ I saved over the Ortliebs was also welcome.

I have arkels, and they are bloody brilliant.
http://www.arkel-od.com/us/all-categories/touring-bike-bag.html

not water proof, but they are far better to use than the ortliebs i also have. I really don’t like ortliebs lower mounting bracket thingy.

i do liek the multi pocket of the arkels and the ruck sack thingy on the front paniers.

Crosso look nice Ton, and less than £60 a pair online

I got the big dry version.

they are very big and so fat, have kept all put in them dry.
half the price of ortliebs, which is a big buying bonus for me.

I went vaude in the end – thought the hard plastic inner and locking mechanism was a step up from other offerings (including ortlieb) and they have some nice touches like the steel wire loops which allow you to padlock them to each other / the rack.

For all the ortlieb end of thread comments there are a fair few grumbles kicking around the web – clearly not the fail proof system many users would like to believe.

Only real drawback to the ortlieb and vaude systems is the propriety hook system – if that sheers on the other side of the world it would harder to bodge than the Crosso system for example which uses cold rolled steel hooks riveted in place.

Slightly off topic I know but I suspect someone will suggest em sooner or later…

I tried Carradry after seeing many positive reviews on CTC. Material started to delaminate after two of months of every other weekday commuter use.. (so not a vast amount of use)..where the top rolls down. Ended up with puncture repair patches dotted on em. Then started leaking from the bottom. The sharp corners are a clear weakness and the material wears here.
Really wanted to buy British …and they had good reviews but very disappointing.

If this happened on a long tour, you’d be pretty frustrated

Was gonna replace with Ortlieb but saw so many good reviews on Vaude, thought I’d give em a try. (I also have a tent by ’em …well made and 30 years old …still going…still waterproof)

Seem good so far. The strap thing works well for carrying off the bike (heard tales that the Ortlieb ones don’t measure up quite so well in this respect but can’t remember details??). It’s also quick. (The Carradry pannier-rucksack carrying system was so tedious that I tried it once and didn’t bother after that)

Possible weaknesses
…the lower clip system – doesn’t seem massively robust.
…The sharp right angle corners – look like an obvious place for material wearing prematurely. You’d think they would have gone over these with a second strip of cordura or something for some added protection..especially at the base, where they’ll be in contact with the ground plenty taking em on and off. (I may be worrying excessively about this on the back of bad experience with Carradry)
…the base is same material as everywhere else. No additional protection.

I have arkels, and they are bloody brilliant.
http://www.arkel-od.com/us/all-categories/touring-bike-bag.html

not water proof, but they are far better to use than the ortliebs i also have.

?

Surely being waterproof is a fundamental design requirement for a touring bag? …Otherwise you’re gonna need liner bags/shopping bags/raincovers/whatever.

Even in a “dry” country not sure I’d wanna assume that the bag wasn’t gonna get wet.

Went for the Vaudes in the end. 2 sets of nice red ones (one for Mrs PP) as there seems to be very little to split them other than price and there are some Ortlieb grumbles about if you look. Indeed this thread probably made my mind up!

We shall see… 🙂

Edit:
Also 2 stainless steel racks from Raleigh (Raleigh the distributor that is, who I was ordering the panniers off anyway) at a bargain price. They look pretty beefy.

another heads up for the Crosso bags from Cyclesense
£55 pair is incredible value

Possible top tip for any Ortlieb users, by another pair of the rail clips and fit 1 extra to each bag. This means you get 3 clips to spread the load when touring and have a spare on hand should you break one. I also bought a spare pair of the lower ‘tongues’ so had 2 on each bag, again to add stability and as the best place to carry a spare.

I did this years ago when i first bought them and was worried about the problems people say happen to ortliebs. I took them off not long after as regular commuting didnt require them, infact after over 6 years of daily use (of at least 1 bag) they still look in great condition. Ive not lost any rail clips/reducers (typically broken by mis-handling of the bags when removing/fitting on rack) and the bags show little wear, even on the plastic back where it rubs on the racks.