Panniers or bike bags for touring ????

[widowmaker]

Planning on doing some touring, possibly staying in B & B's overnight depending on weather so travelling pretty light, and with my Brother so can share cooking equipment/tent.

Need opinions on bike bags that fit under top tube, bars and seat OR traditional pannier located on racks ?

 

[Retro Spud]

Re:

Thank god its for proper touring....

When I first saw your post I thought you were planning on having a very relaxed lap at next years Mayhem.. :shock:

 

[widowmaker]

Re:

I only do very relaxed laps

 

[The History Man]

That's not touring.

 

[widowmaker]

That's not touring.

Have I opened a can of worms

Touring Vs Bikepacking

The appeal of the bike bags is that I could use them on both my Gravel/Adventure bike and the Moutain Bikes I own. And no expense of buying pannier racks either.

 

[highlandsflyer]

Even if you stay in five star hotels it is touring. Panniers for me; easy to chuck off to have 'freedom' to hit some trickier trails, or just mooch around.

 

[widowmaker]

Re:

I was favouring pannier, I was just wondering what the bikes handling would be like with front and rear panniers compared to the bags nearer the centre line of the bike.

 

[highlandsflyer]

I would say this is dependent on how low you can sling them. That really is down to what you are riding.

Never used a frame bag, but I don't like the idea of having even more to heft about between my legs.

That looks nice though!

 

[Adam_S]

It all depends on how much crap you're planning on carrying really. FWIW I can heartily recommend Ortleibs. They're not cheap but they're sufficiently waterproof that you can fill them up with water and wash clothes in them. If you get caught in the rain a decent set of properly waterproof panniers are a life saver. A handlebar bag is also useful for maps, choccy bars and stuff you don't want to spend 10 minutes ferreting around in a pannier to find.

The handling with about 20kg of camping crap on the back is, well, different but on the plus side you've got a lot of time every day to get used to it.

 

[davidj]

Panniers for me every time. I have done a few Credit Card tours (no tent or cooking kit) staying in B&B and buying all meals. A pair of rear panniers is enough to carry clothes and essentalsi for a week. I have been using some bikehut (Halfords) ones for nearly 10 years. They have a waterproof cover you can pull over but I always pack clean clothes and shoes in plastic. They still look great despite the tours and regular shopping trips. I also just have a cheap alloy rack, no need to spend a fortune.

Main thing is to avoid weight on your back, a day in the saddle is bad enough without a rucksack on your back as well.