Thanks for that comparo; it's useful. I've used the Packer series (Plus and Sports, or big and small), and the Back-Rollers, not to mention a couple dozen other types, and for volume and easy on-and-off and flexible capacity, any of the larger Ortliebs are great. The extendable collars with separate drawstrings on my Sports Packers have saved my metaphorical hide on more than one occasion. And you can get a case -- 12 bottles -- of ale into a Back-Roller.
The problem -- and I fully admit that this is a princess-and-pea problem; nay, a princess and groat or millet seed; yea!, a veritable grain of mustard seed problem, but all the Ortliebs have fussy closure systems. I had not heard of Ortlieb's shopping pannier, and, looking at it, I thought at first it would be the ideal, but I wonder about the zipper -- zippers IME are a weak link, and I often overstuff my panniers, which -- and this is a question -- might make it (a) hard to zip up the flaps? And (b) be prone to zipper-split with sudden and unusual pressure? As much as I don't-very-much-like Fastek buckles, they are certainly durable and secure; as when, say, you overstuff your bag and then shove down hard with your weight to close it. Will the zippers hold up in such case? I'm not concerned with carrying the panniers off the bike, since I wheel the bike through the store as my grocery trolley. My problem is stuffing the bags and closing them while in the checkout line. Back to the Backabike panniers: the salient advantages are: (a) flexible, but stiff enough to hold their shape when empty; the original Riv bag family -- Cartwright; I owned Adam and Hoss -- are too floppy. (b) Single, unencumbered, large compartment. That's it. Amen. No interior pockets -- as with the Ortliebs -- to snag when you are trying to shove in a last square box while holding up the bike, which wants to slip, with gloved hands while wearing dark shades in dim light with sweat pooling in your eyes, the people behind you fidgeting and muttering disrespectfully. (OK, that is a worst case scenario, but awkwardness does occur.) (c) Simple closure: flap with elastic cord and toggle. Fastek buckles and I often do not agree; and the supposed yank-and-adjust method for strap length always requires me to use 2 hands to feed the webbing through the slots, and several aborted trials, before I click and pull. Perhaps Riv will one day make Backabikes that are 50% larger. I hope they will save me a pair. On Sat, Feb 1, 2020 at 11:20 AM Pat Smith <pbsmi...@gmail.com> wrote: > I have had a pair of "Bike-Packer Plus" bags for some time now, not quite > the same as the "Sport-Packer Classics" you mentioned, but they are the > same design, just larger (meant for rear instead of front) and with a > little better material. > > So I like a couple things about the Ortlieb Bike Packers - they have a > small front pocket, they are mostly waterproof (but not like a back > roller), and they can be over stuffed! The overstuffing comes from a second > set of draw cords inside the bag that allow the vertical height to be > increased by several inches. This works well for light and longer items and > I have used this feature frequently when grocery shopping or bike camping. > > So I dislike a one thing about the Bike Packers as well - the ability to > carry them off bike. I use an Ortlieb Bike Shopper as my daily bag for > commuting. It's great because it has a simple zip closure and a really > comfortable permanent handle to carry it off bike. Compared to the Bike > Shopper the Bike Packer is a super pain to carry. You can either carry it > by the release strap (not really the purpose) or you can carry it by using > the shoulder strap. The should strap can be cinched short enough to carry > by hand, but it's not as comfortable as the Bike Shopper handle. But the > real drawback here is that the carry strap MUST be removed before cycling. > There is no way to secure down the carry strap on the Bike Packer and it is > extremely dangerous as it can catch in your spokes and cause a crash. I've > read more than one account of this happening online, and I've personally > left mine on and had it start to get tangled in my spokes - luckily I was > rolling at a slow speed and stopped immediately. > > So here is where I'm at - the Bike Packer (or in your case, you're looking > at the Sport Packer) is great for touring - it holds a ton and has a nice > design on bike, but practically speaking it is not great for frequent > carrying use. I am over the moon with my Ortlieb Bike Shopper for exactly > your scenario - groceries. Note that I almost never zip closed the BIke > Shopper, I just leave it open as a tub. It holds a normal paper grocery bag > worth of groceries just fine if you keep it open, a little less if you try > to zip it closed. > > Patrick in DC > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "RBW Owners Bunch" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/0e23da6b-487f-48ea-9e19-446ee9ed5686%40googlegroups.com > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/0e23da6b-487f-48ea-9e19-446ee9ed5686%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Patrick Moore Alburquerque, Nuevo Mexico, Etats Unis d'Amerique, Orbis Terrarum -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/CALuTfgtcTxtjZOqwoCkY8BiT-SAyWY5MvA3G-ZD62NEJKBauvQ%40mail.gmail.com.
