Planning to go for a week’s holiday in France and want to ride there and back. This will mean about 300 miles so do that over a few days so will be away from home for up to 2 weeks. I don’t fancy carrying a large rucksack so am thinking of getting a rack and panniers for my Inbred but know nothing about them. Any recommendations?

Topeak do the “Super Tourist DX Disk” which will get around any disk fitting problems. Panniers: either Ortleib or Altura Dryline. I prefer the latter as you can get them with an external pocket (handy for snacks etc) and there’s a separate liner – so you can stow wet stuff away from dry stuff.

Consider a bar-bag too – can make life a lot easier by keeping camera, wallet, phone, snacks etc handy

if you’re running disks get one that’s designed to clear disk calipers.

Tubus are good for racks.

Ortleib for panniers.

these are ‘premium’ brands, though.

Thanks – the bike will be rigid with V brakes. Not sure if I want to spend too much as don’t know how often I’ll do something like this.

Anyone you can “borrow” from?

IMO its best to get a pannier rack that supports the panniers quite well, like this
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/p/Cycle/7/LifeLine_Alloy_Rear_Rack/5360027965/
or this
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/p/Cycle/7/Topeak_Super_Tourist_DX_Rear_Rack/5360022940/

rather than this:
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/p/Cycle/7/TorTec_Ultralite_Rear_Rack/5360018945/

Much less chance of panniers getting bounced around and contacting the wheel (especialy if they’re heavily laden).

Premium panniers (esp. Ortlieb) sell for a lot on ebay, so may work out cheaper to own in the long run if it turns out you won’t be doing any tourig again.

Well brother shark i sort of did the same thing as you, only for a bit longer, what i used was this, ortlieb bags Old man mountain rack, they are great functional items and have lasted very well (which with the way i ride is something of a miracle)

http://www.oldmanmountain.com/Pages/RackPages/RackGalleries/Pages/csRear_gallery.htm

feltmountain, those are some nice pics! where is it?

I use a Blackburn rack and Ortlieb panniers. Never had any trouble with them.

I use Ortlieb panniers – indeed at least one is used daily for commuting duties.

I use a cheap Blackburn rack, and would recommend somethinbg more solid, especially if travelling off road (mine is on a road bike). With mine, once the panniers are well loaded, the rack wobbles from side to side….

Enjoy your trip. Sounds ace.

I now use tubus racks having bust several others. Expensive but very strong and stable. Far superior to any other I have used or seen – but at a serious price.

As posted on theflatboy’s pannier thread:

Another vote for Ortlieb panniers – no pockets, but they do keep your stuff dry, even when things go horribly wrong. I’ve been using the TorTec Ultralite rack on my commuter for about 3 years (a few thousand miles I guess) with no problems, and Mrs F has had one on her slot dropout InBred for about 18 months for general fetching and carrying. They’re cheap, and ultralite, pretty rigid and hold the Ortliebs well enough for road use. Not sure how they’d fare heavily laden off road.

madison stainless steel copy here …. done 3500kms round nz on mines and the missus bikes

altura dryline pannier …kept everything dry no worrys

if i was buying fresh the only thing id do differently was run a front rack and use 4 smaller panniers .

**apologies for being really girly here**
oohh… ourmaninthenorth – I have (nearly) the same bike and panniers as you! But my bike is red where yours is blue so the panniers match really well.

ohh… ourmaninthenorth

Steady on old girl – we hardly know each other…

😳

Any excuse to post this picture, but if you aren’t carrying tonnes of stuff then a carradice saddle bag on the SQR mounts is quite a good solution.

This is a longflap camper, they do come in less retro-grouch flavours, and is packed for a long weekend away.