Tiny panniers

Like in this vid:

They look like the Revelate Nano Panniers. Looks like Alpkit had a 5l pannier that isn’t on their site any more. Any other tiny panniers to consider?

I know, no-one likes panniers, but some how these tiny ones appeal to me more than a frame bag. Not least because the frame can still be used for both water storage and a quick carry if needed.

Bump ffs.

I was inspired by that video and have bought a rack, the revalate ones too spendy. ive bought some midi size panniers. Not tried them out yet but I’m fed up with seat packs I’m not sure there’s a benefit for the riding I do.

link

I’m interested in this.
Panniers are very handy, especially if doing non-singletrack touring and my CX bike has front and rear racks….

I’ve some cheap Lidl panniers but wouldn’t mind something better quality, especially for the front

Molly,Topeak do a fold down set on the trunk bags that fit their seatpost rack.
Like this one

Now I’ve got Elton John in my head singing “Put your things in tiny panniers…”

I had a real problem with a pannier rack, but I’ve put it behind me now.

ortleib front rollers or carradice front panniers – I have a set of each.

I made my own, drybag in a size to suit, ortleib spares, a plastic backer for stiffness, Bob’s your dad.

Topeak also do smaller bags that don’t have the drop down ears.

I’ve used Front Rollers on the rear panniers for years now as I wanted smaller bags. They work great.

Ortlieb City are 12.5l each.

Ortlieb gravel pack panniers

I have a pair of the Alpkit ones – totally let down by the plastic clips which are badly designed and broke first time. They don’t do spare clips. Small, lightweight ones like Revelate micros are a good idea for longer trips as you can stash them easily once empty.

I went down this route last year as I found large saddle bags made it very difficult to get on/off the bike. Many hours of googling didn’t turn up anything better than the revelate nano pannier.
One DIY option is military style molle bags and a good sewing machine.

Pretty sure that’s Jeff (haven’t looked at the vid, just the pic). username is summit toppler on the bear Bones forum

He posted up about them a short while ago

Revelate Nano seem the smallest pair. A list of other small panniers can be found here: https://bikepacking.com/index/panniers-for-bikepacking/

Ortleib and the like are heavy no doubt but have their advantages but hardly bikepacking ethos. More turn up at the hotel, quick unclip and check in 🙂

Ortlieb accessory pocket seems to have mini pannier potential but I haven’t really thought through how they’d attach. There’s mount loops on the back that should work with a custom/bodged rear rack of sorts that used a larger OD rail (or just a sleeve over a Tubus Fly rail) for the pocket to strap to. If I was using small rear panniers I’d want some sort of minimal rack to suit.

Panniers being good for carrying kit whilst cycling.

Who’d have thunk it?

Those stupid oversized saddle bags are just the worst. In the way of all the shite of your rear tyre, and with the added bonus of not being able to access any of the kit inside without taking it off and rummaging.

Panniers FTW.

Sorry, bit of a hijack – any recommendations for a rack please?
Quite like the idea of strapping a dry bag to the top of a rack so I can still use my dropper post but not make the bike too much wider
I kinda thought a rack was a rack but then had a bit of a look and there’s all sorts from £15 to well over a hundred!

I came to the conclusion that a dry bag on top of a simple rack is the most effective carrying method for terrain that isn’t too gnarly. Even the Ortlieb gravel panniers are still ~600g each, whereas a 20L Alpkit dry bag is <200g.

Rack-wise I have a Tubus Vega, they used to be ~£50 from the German online bike shops like Rose. It is about as simple as you can get and 600g all in, but still rated to the usual 20kg or thereabouts.

The other school of thought would be that if you’re only carrying a few kilos on it any rack will do, maybe sourcing some higher quality bolts for added piece of mind.

any recommendations for a rack please?

Tubus Fly for minimal, light & not cheap.

This has done me well:
https://www.wiggle.co.uk/tortec-ultralite-rear-rack?lang=en&curr=GBP&dest=1&sku=5360151756

£21 and 560g

I did drybag on a rack before bikepacking kit was a thing and it worked great just make sure its strapped on tight. In fact I had drybag strapped to bars and another one strapped to top tube with tent in.

Jeff did a review of the Revelate Nanos on fat-bike.com: https://fat-bike.com/2021/04/revelate-nano-panniers/

Racks – my wife has an Arkel Randonneur bike rack, fits to the saddle post and rails. Dunno how it would work with a dropper. Somewhere I’ve a Tubus rack that I’ve used occasionally, very well made. The weak point with any rack off-road isn’t really the rack but the mounting bolts, there can be quite a bit of shear force on them. Similarly as @Dovebiker has found out, the attachment points between rack and panniers needs to be well thought through – any movement and the forces become pretty big.

@Merak – saddle packs are fine so long as you keep the size down, I don’t think I’ve gone above 8L, anything more than that and I need to reassess what I’m taking. Usually I’m in the 3-5L sort of range.

Really tiny panniers:
https://alpkit.com/products/goucho

Don’t even need a rack but cost per litre of bag is v. steep.
As above Carradice or Ortileb work well and have done on thousands of bikes for years. Which one of the two is you favourite is a matter of debate but either is great. N.B. I’m sure Revelate are great too but I’ve not seen any IRL.

I have an Old Man Mountain rack, bombproof.

The weak point with any rack off-road isn’t really the rack but the mounting bolts, there can be quite a bit of shear force on them

Far less with tiny panniers though.

I have the Topeak trunk bag up there. It’s really good.

It isn’t all that light. And a strong rack won’t be that light either.

I don’t think that’s all that important.

If I was going somewhere especially rough or planning to (try to!) go especially fast, or trying to go especially light I’d use my big seatpack, take less stuff, and be prepared to be less comfortable while off the bike.

Surprised no-one’s mentioned the Tailfin rack/bags yet. Not panniers exactly, but same sort of idea.

Was just discussing this morning actually how on the face of it they solve a lot of the problems with panniers for off-road touring (durability, weight, width) while keeping most of the advantages (stability, easy access, attachment/detachment).

As Bob says, small seat packs are fine. The problem is when you try and use a massive one to capacity. But it works for some.

I just use some Ortlieb city front panniers

Tubus Fly is too narrow if you want to strap stuff to the top. Tortec rack is a bit wider, much more useful, and not much heavier.

Carradice rack pack has fold out mini panniers. https://www.carradice.co.uk/bags/rack-packs-stuff-sacks/carradura-rack-bag

Ortlieb Gravel Panniers and Topeak Super Tourist DX rack. Not the lightest set up but I’m not bothered about that, it’s robust though. Ready for KAW next weekend, fingers crossed for the weather

Surprised no-one’s mentioned the Tailfin rack/bags yet. Not panniers exactly, but same sort of idea.

The X Series is a pannier rack.

The weak point with any rack off-road isn’t really the rack but the mounting bolts, there can be quite a bit of shear force on them.

Tailfin with axle mounting.

Though check your bank balance first.

Forget the panniers and use a frame bag

I’ve preordered a Tailfin S3 alloy rack with the intention of strapping a drybag to the top of it. Then on Instagram last night up popped the presale for the Tumbleweed T rack so preordered that. So will try both and keep one.

Just received my my Tumbleweed rack the other day that I got in the last preorder. Went for the Pannier over the T-rack, seems really nicely made and fits great on my Longitude. Good to have a rack that actually clears plus size tyres!

Forget the panniers and use a frame bag

Yeah just hold your water bottle in your teeth.

I used the alp kit rack on my longitude. I had to modify the mount on the outlier gravel pack panniers as the alp kit rack is sort of only designed for one ortlieb attachment point at the bottom. Clears my 2.8 tyres easily and relatively cheap for a rack.