looking for a rack and panniers for summer trip i'm planning.
40-60 litres capacity any makes you would rec or avoid, would rather pay more for a bit of quality.
about £100 budget all in.
going for some of the highly praised shwalbe marathon kevlars but not sure on size. are 32's a good combo of speed/comfort or go bigger/smaller
My experience of puncture proof tires is so poor in terms of sluggishness and punctures I tour on regular ones, most recently conti and michelin.
Panniers, roll top are best imo, easy to load and carry, possibly outside your budget tho. I don't know much about racks, I've got a 25s year old Blackburn that's been over the Rockies and a Bonty that's been fine.
I use the Thorn carrier and Carradice panniers, which I very much like. These don't get used for touring but for shopping,
e.g. last night 6 miles with
15 bottles of beer,
3 litres apple juice,
3kg of various meat,
3kg various frozen berries,
1kg coffee
in the panniers and 12.5kg of birdfood strapped across the top. Been doing this for years and the kit is putting up fine with it.
Overboard do some decent kit at very competitive prices:
http://www.over-board.co.uk/waterproof-bike-bags.html
I picked up one of their rucksacks for my commute and can't fault it a year later.. never fails to keep my stuff dry and plenty of room.
And Spa Cycles generally have decent deals on touring gear:
http://www.spacycles.co.uk/products.php?plid=m2b0s79p979
Hope you got a nice, long trip planned 😉
Paniers, Ortlieb or Vaude, both high quality, made in Germany not China, the Ortliebs hold their value as well if you come to sell them later.
If you don't have a rack already, Tubus are good, if you look on [url= http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/wunschrad_de/m.html?_nkw=vaude&_sacat=0&_odkw=&_osacat=0&_trksid=p3911.c0.m270.l1313 ]ebay.de[/url] you can find some combos of Vaude panniers and Tubus racks which are good value for money
Tires, Schwalbe Marathon Dureme Evo Ceramic, the smallest is 35mm, but they are very fast, not cheap though, [url= http://www.rosebikes.co.uk/article/schwalbe-marathon-dureme-evo-hd-ceramic/aid:409204 ]Rose[/url] are normally the cheapest
None of this is cheap though (you said about paying a bit more for quality), and you will struggle to get good stuff for less than £100.
AS above - I use tubus and carradice but you will struggle to get that for £100.
Racks that have metal bars for the top mounts tend to be more stable than ones that use flat strips. IIRC edinburgh bike co op own panniers are a reasonable cost / quality comromise
Tyres - I have used the conti protection tyres in av ariety of guises - sport contact for road use only - great tyres - not heavy or draggy and the puncture proof works
I've got a steel madison summit rack. Very solid, although I think they only do a aluminium one for some reason now, (why did stop making the steel one?). I the aluminium one are of the same design so I would expect them to be just as stiff. If you can fond one of these they are very good value strong racks.
For panniers I bought some carradice second hand. I make do with front ones on the rear though.
rack £30 ince p&p
Large carradice rear panniers ~ £85 inc p&p
So £115 in total.
Hmm, I've found the sport contact tyres to be very draggy, wear quickly, and not very puncture proof. But then I ride with big loads (see above - total all up weight including rider about 140kg)
Interesting - we have used them for years on various commuters with a very low puncture rate and not high wear or draggy. What pressure did you have them at? Of course for us they are on MTBs so the comparison is with other MTB tyres or some marathons which were much heavier and had zero grip
We have even had them on the tandem
Edinburgh Bike Co Op rolltop panniers are ace. Great value, made by Vaude, last for ever. Daughter has used them for years without problems.
Ortlieb and Carradice great but expensive.
Use Ortliebs myself, but the EBC ones are just as good.
Blackburn racks are cheap and very good.
TJ,
I used 1.3s for commuting on my MTB and got less than 1k out of the rear. 85psi.
Put 1.6s on and they were slow as hell (80psi) - used to use Conti Avenue 1.7 in late 1990s which were really fast (but didn't grip or wear) but they've not made them for years. Speed is important because when I do ride it's quite a long way.
Resorted to the tapes in the tyres to prevent punctures, but oddly on my racing bike Conti Gator Skins seem nearly indestructible. Can't understand why tyres from the same manufacturer would be so different as the intended use is very similar.
Interesting
+1 for Tubus and Ortlieb/Carradice. Keep an eye on the CTC classifieds.
Schwalbe Marathon plus tyres for me from now on. I'd been recommended Vittoria Randonneurs and Specialized Armadillo tyres for the trans am. I got about 1200 miles out of the Vittoria, 1800 miles out of the Srecialized. A foldable Panaracer got me to Missoula MT where I bought a Marathon and binned the front Vittoria. I rode the remaining 800 miles and then a further 500 and it showed no signs of wear at all. The others wore down to the puncture protection strip. My mate rode all 4300 miles on one set of Schwalbes without rotating them.
Having said all that mine were 28mm (all that would fit in my frame) and Rich's were 32s.
Marathons are great tyres, but check you can get them on and off easily.
They can be a nightmare to fit.
I like Panaracer T Servs or Paselas for touring, as they seem to last for ages, are cheap and don't puncture.