grocery bikes

I have one of these:

http://www.leggero.com/leggero/shop/...IDProdukte=420

I saw them online last fall, but couldn't find a US distributor. We were headed abroad last winter (because I was going to die if I didn't see the RSC performance of King Lear...but that's another story). My husband ordered from the co. in Switzerland and had them ship to our hotel in Munich.

It was kind of a PITA to get home, and US Customs in Cincinati was all kinds of suspicious, but it was worth it.

Maybe TE could be their US distributor?

Hey, there's a Croozer Cargo right now on ReturnsForSale!

My panniers arrived
grocery panniers
I had thought, since most of the other panniers I saw for sale were priced PER PANNIER, that these were $55 EACH, so I ordered two. Turns out the $55 was for a PAIR (they didn't really make this clear on the site), so I wound up with two sets! :eek: No problem....my husband can try my set out in a couple of weeks when he puts his rack on, and if he likes them he can keep the second set. If not, we'll just return one set. The great thing is that REI lets you take all the time you want to return stuff, especially if it's still new. :) I called them to be sure.
My rack should arrive any day.
But I really can't wait to have the new brifters installed, as that will make my Rambouillet more comfortable for me to handle. I'm bringing it to a good LBS for 48 hours for that procedure, and I'll pick up a heavy new lock then too. If I'm lucky it might all be ready within a week to 10 days.

Incidentally, today I took my car to the supermarket and loaded up on the really heavy or bulky non-perishable stuff like cat sand, detergent, TP and paper towels, sugar, etc.

My experience with grocery panniers is that they work a whole lot better if they have a strap that goes over the top of the pannier to stabilize the side away from the bike. Mine did not have such a strap, and my groceries spilled out all over the street because the weight shifted to the outside when I went around a corner (centrifugal force). A bungie cord would work well. I got rid of mine after that because I was so disappointed with them, and my food coop was only three blocks away, so I walked.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by tulip

My experience with grocery panniers is that they work a whole lot better if they have a strap that goes over the top of the pannier to stabilize the side away from the bike. Mine did not have such a strap, and my groceries spilled out all over the street because the weight shifted to the outside when I went around a corner (centrifugal force). A bungie cord would work well. I got rid of mine after that because I was so disappointed with them, and my food coop was only three blocks away, so I walked.

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Wow! :eek: Can you say what brand and type your panniers were?
Did you put the bungee cords across the middle of the top of your pannier parallel to the bike, or cross-wise?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BleeckerSt_Girl

Wow! :eek: Can you say what brand and type your panniers were?
Did you put the bungee cords across the middle of the top of your pannier parallel to the bike, or cross-wise?

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Mine were Nashbar, but they look alot like yours. In my case, the pannier needed additional support over the top of the pannier, to keep the top closed and the groceries tucked in. I did not use a bungee because I decided to walk for groceries, but I thought it would help the situation. Some sort of elastic net might also do the trick.

I hope Lisa's are like mine - stiff metal frame. I've seen some that didn't have that, and I could certainly see needing to stabalize the load. I've not gone that far with mine (the store is close...), but I've not had a problem (except with a case of wine divided between 2:rolleyes::rolleyes:).

CA

Tulip- thanks for the tip, I can see where that might be something to watch out for. :eek:
If the bags you got were these:
nashbar panniers then mine with be 1" taller (not much I realize, but something) ...but I dont use paper bags, I use those heavy duty reusable grocery shopping bags they sell cheap these days, sort of like this one:
http://images-cdn01.associatedconten...470_153332.jpg
so it will be easy enough to tie the handles closed on top.
I'll keep an eye out for trouble though on the cornering! :)

And CA in NC- yes mine are the same as yours, the Novara ones, and they do have pretty good aluminum frames around them. They seem pretty sturdy.

I had the same Nashbar grocery panniers and we had the same problem. Reusable grocery bags did not solve the problem unless you only filled them about half full and then tied them at the top.

I switched to the wire baskets and never tried a pair with a wire frame. The Nashbar panniers feel fairly stiff but they don't hold up under a load. My husband occasionally uses them for the farmer's market but we've had a lot of veggies fall by the wayside.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by xeney

I had the same Nashbar grocery panniers and we had the same problem. Reusable grocery bags did not solve the problem unless you only filled them about half full and then tied them at the top.

I switched to the wire baskets and never tried a pair with a wire frame. The Nashbar panniers feel fairly stiff but they don't hold up under a load. My husband occasionally uses them for the farmer's market but we've had a lot of veggies fall by the wayside.

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Whoa, glad I didn't get the Nashbar ones! :( I can't imagine they'd be much good without some kind of metal frame reinforcement in there somewhere.

The Novara ones I got do have sturdy aluminum frame rods both going all around the top plus a pair of roads running diagonally down to the bottom as well, so I suspect that would be a good thing.

I can hardly stand waiting any longer for the rack and the brifters! :(

Lisa got a derned good deal on those... All the grocery panniers I looked at were priced individually, and my Jandds were $55 each.

I've not had good luck with Nashbar panniers, either. I didn't get the groceryones, but back when I was starting out with the commuting thing about a year ago I bought a set of their DayTripper saddlebags. First of all, they're pretty small as panniers go. They didn't have hooks to connect them to the rack, but came as a single set that folded over the rack (sort of like the saddlebags in the old cowboy movies) and sort of held on. I replaced them with another set in pretty short order, and they've been in the "spares" box ever since. I buy a lot of stuff from Nashbar, but not panniers any more...

Remember, the Xtracycle isn't a new bike... it goes on the one you have :)

If the $55 / pair ones are enough room, great... but by the time I priced out everything I'd need to make my bike haul the stuff I wanted, it wasn't too far from the Xtra, and the complete ease of just tossing things in there and its mysterious mojo drove me to sell the car.

The kitty litter buckets will hold one of the reusable grocery bags worth of groceries. The lids hold the items in

UPDATE:
Ok well the first step is done in converting my Rivendell Rambouillet into my errand/grocery bike.
It went in the LBS and is now back, having been switched from its original bar end shifters with hard-to-reach brake levers....to new 9 speed Ultegra brifters with short reach. (Yikes but they cost a pretty penny!)
This will do two things-
First, it will enable me to have the same shifting system on both my bikes. I've had a really hard time remembering which levers go in which directions for which gears between the two very different shifting systems. :(
And second (and most importantly), I have always found it really hard reaching the tips of my fingers securely around the brake levers with the bar end shifters and regular brake levers. I have to go down a very steep hill when I leave my house, and it ends abruptly in a T at a busy highway. It's always given me the creeps not getting a good grip on the brakes, especially when wearing winter gloves....but now it will be a breeze, just like it is on my newer bike. :p

So.... I could not test ride the new brifters yesterday due to rain...but today I will take it out to go to the PO and bank- just to basically test the new brifters out. The bike doesn't look photo worthy yet because there are no rack/panniers on yet and I've left the handlebars untaped in case I want to adjust the brifter hood positions first before taping.

I took off my old saddlebag and its mount a while ago, but I'm trying to get DH to put my new rack on today sometime. Then I can mount the panniers and be set to go!

I know it's raining, but we still want to see photos asap!

The test ride of the new brifters went well, but my DH will have to tweak the derailleurs- the lowest back gear keeps jumping out to the two next higher gears when I'm crankin' up the steep hill....not pleasant! DH knows what to do though- he keeps my other bike working great. My gear spread is reallly wide and they have to be tuned to a hair trigger point for the complete spread to work right.

So now I need to have DH put on the rack AND tune the derailleur. :cool:

But other than that, I had a great little errand run to Ralph's, the PO, the bank, the dentist, and the hardware store. :)
I LOVED being able to really grab onto those brakes on the big downhill.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BleeckerSt_Girl

I LOVED being able to really grab onto those brakes on the big downhill.

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Isn't that awesome? I never get over it. Actually, the very first time I felt that security when I switched to short-reach brifters, I got so excited I wanted to find more BIG, STEEP hills to ride down...just because I finally knew I'd be able to stop myself if needed. Heh. :D:cool:

I have to do more test riding of the GroceryRambouillet tomorrow.
DH tweaked the derailleurs to correct it's jumping abruptly out of the lowest gear several times yesterday going up the hill without its rack and panniers on yet. The lbs guy, who mostly did a fine job, had the new cables a bit too tight for one thing...he was trying to pre-compensate for new cable stretch, as he informed me when we picked up the bike.
DH put on the new rack today and we put the panniers on. Rack and panniers went on without a glitch. Rainy and windy all day and it was almost dark by the time we finished.

So, with my old large canvas saddlebag of 'essential road riding stuff' completely removed (don't need maps or first aid stuff, and my grocery bike flatfixing/tube/pump kit will be a cell phone :D ), along with removing one of the 2 bottle cages....(on this errand bike I will never likely be farther from home than maybe 3 miles...certainly walkable if I have bike trouble)...

and then adding the new rack, two empty panniers, the new uber heavy U-lock/cable combo, and putting my old ching-ching bell back on....

It now weighs 6 pounds more than when it was setup only for road riding with the large saddlebag (29 lbs then), and it weighs ten pounds more than my steel Luna road bike currently does when it's loaded for a ride. :eek:
The whole shebang weighs 35 pounds with empty panniers. That doesn't sound like a huge amount, but when I go to pick it up, it feels like a TON in the back! :(

Oh well, I refuse to be intimidated just yet. Tomorrow i will take it gingerly down into town (no shopping yet) and ride it around the empty school parking lots and up and down a few gentle hills around town to test how she flies. There may be gear jumping issues still, or the steering may act and feel very different with the new weight in the back, or some other unforeseen issue I need to know about. If all goes well, I'll then head home again and the last test will be the steep 1/4 mile hill up to the house with nothing in the panniers. Wish me luck getting up the hill!
DH, ever practical, reminds me that if I had to I could probably walk the bike full of groceries up our hill at the end. He's right of course. :) And that wouldn't be the end of the world, either. It's all saving gas and helping the planet and building up my body strength.

I might have to make some changes tomorrow, so not worth a photo just yet I think. :cool:

well, okay, we'll wait for the pictures. 35 lbs does sound like a lot to me. but if it gets the job done..

Did my first test ride this morning, with empty panniers....

Steers great, gears shifting s-m-o-o-t-h-l-y (thanks to wonderful DH), and
I made it up my hill with it being 10 more pounds than my other bike... with no big problem!!! YAY!! It only actually felt like maybe it was an extra 5 pounds or so. (but it wasn't, I weighed it on the scale)

Will try to tape up my handlebars today so I can take a decent photo of it.

Now I can start testing my limits by buying small amounts of food and other junk I frequently buy in town. Now I can go mail cumbersome packages at the post office and not have to give up when they don't fit in my backpack!

WHEEEEE!!!!! I'm tickled pink! :D :D :D


(and 'monster quads' here i come!)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Biciclista

35 lbs does sound like a lot to me. but if it gets the job done..

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Just think of how STRONG you'll get, BSG! :cool:

Lookin' forward to the pix.

I think you should test out the cumbersome package part by mailing me something.

Just a thought....

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SouthernBelle

I think you should test out the cumbersome package part by mailing me something.

Just a thought....

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Actually, I am going to bike to the PO to mail my first cumbersome package out tomorrow- coincidentally to another TE member! :D
But sorry, I don't have any cumbersome packages lined up for you yet... :o

what, still no pictures? What do you think, we're patient or something?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Biciclista

what, still no pictures? What do you think, we're patient or something?

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OK OK! :D

I cork-taped and twined my handlebars this evening in the living room. no paint or shellac finish yet, but it'll do for now.

I PROMISE I will take a couple of pictures of the 'new' GroceryRambouillet tomorrow, even if I don't go for groceries yet!

Trying to leave the car at home and use my bike for almost all errands and shopping....gee, just in time for this week's delightful forecast!:

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Monday Night: A slight chance of snow showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 25.

Tuesday: A slight chance of snow showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 36. North wind between 7 and 11 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%.

Tuesday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 20. Northwest wind between 11 and 13 mph.

Wednesday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 34.

Wednesday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 19.

Thursday: Partly sunny, with a high near 36.

Thursday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 19.

Friday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 36.

Friday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 18.

Saturday: A chance of snow. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 34. Chance of precipitation is 30%.

Saturday Night: A chance of snow. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 21. Chance of precipitation is 30%.

Sunday: Partly sunny, with a high near 35.

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Will post a photo or two tomorrow here.
"I'm ready for my closeup now......" :eek: :eek:
http://www.lesliehawes.com/wordpress...-closeup-2.jpg

Ok, so here are some pictures...
First let me say however that I don't think the changes are a beauty improvement- in fact I think the clunky modern black metal/plastic appendages now hanging from my lovely steel Rambouillet are obviously an eyesore. HOWEVER- the real beauty here lies in the non-esthetic aspects of the changes to my now secondary bike....the beauty of not using gasoline or polluting the planet, of saving money on gas, of getting healthier and stronger while I do my shopping and errands. All these things are beautiful and inspiring to me.
So first a "before" picture, then 5 pix from this morning. One shows the panniers folded up, others opened out, with or without the supermarket liner totes I usually use and will bring into the store with me so I can judge how much stuff I can fit or manage. I put some hidden zip-ties securing the panniers to the rack in 4 places to discourage any jokers trying to just casually pick them up quickly and walk off with them while I was in the store.

This thread really helped me get a wide range of ideas for this little project, and my thanks to everyone for making suggestions and showing what they did to their bikes. :) Now that the pannier/rack project part is pretty much done, I will post future noteworthy errand expeditions in the "Errand Bike" thread in the Commuting forum. I started the errand bike thread over there for those of us who do not necessarily commute to our jobs by bike, but who nonetheless purposely use our bikes for other practical every day purposes as opposed to using cars.
These panniers seem like just the thing for me- sturdy yet elegantly minimal. I also now have a nice long storage space all along the top of my long rack now, so I have attached a couple of bungees there for strapping down extra objects if needed. My rack is a few inches longer than most, so we were able to attach the panniers a couple inches further back and avoid any possibility of heel touch while riding. The panniers seem to fit well with this particular rack, so I'm happy about that.
The combination U-lock/Cable I bought is pretty formidable and very heavy, but I'd rather go that way with a little overkill than be worried every time I'm in the supermarket. I can always make changes in the future if I need to.

BEFORE:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3153/...c3a68fcd01.jpg

AFTER:
(notice too the new brifters in place of the old bar end shifters...that was a little project in itself and was certainly the most expensive part of the project)
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3179/...73c4ec0ab9.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3286/...014698b13e.jpg

Panniers folded up out of the way:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3290/...bfb78d8a2b.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3069/...6c6c864eab.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3237/...7902b13895.jpg

I confess I was tempted to put some "fake" groceries into the panniers for the photo shoot, but somehow I managed to restrain myself!
Plus, I was fresh out of wax fruit.

lookin' good. now go shopping :D

Lisa,
I'm at the office so I can't remember off the top of my head, the reflective strips on the back, bottom of those Novarra Panniers, did you add those or were they there already?

I can't remember if mine have those!


BTW, I just finished ordering a vintage errand bike from ebay. More news later.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SouthernBelle

Lisa,
I'm at the office so I can't remember off the top of my head, the reflective strips on the back, bottom of those Novarra Panniers, did you add those or were they there already?

I can't remember if mine have those!


BTW, I just finished ordering a vintage errand bike from ebay. More news later.

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The reflective strips are on them already, but only on the one end, so you need to mount the panniers so the reflector strips face the back of the bike. You can easily overlook them and mount them the other way with no difference except the reflectors will face front instead.

I look forward to hearing/seeing all about your new/old errand bike- be sure to post details and pictures about it in the errand bike thread! :) :) :)

Will do!

Very good job, Lisa, it's impressive!

And what a pretty bike.

2 questions:
What is the black thing on the right side of the handlebar stem? A bell?
How come you got rid of the bar-end shifters?

I really like those panniers. Might have to treat my bike to a set of them. :)

Thanks Grog! :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by wackyjacky1

2 questions:
What is the black thing on the right side of the handlebar stem? A bell?
How come you got rid of the bar-end shifters?
I really like those panniers. Might have to treat my bike to a set of them. :)

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The black thing is a bell....the old fashioned "ching-ching!" kind.
I got rid of the bell on my long rides road bike, but now going through town and to the stores on this errand bike, I find I have to deal a lot more frequently with pedestrians crossing the street without looking, etc....so the bell is back on this bike.

Earlier in this thread I explained why I changed from the bar end shifters- there were a couple of reasons that I elaborated on. :)

REI.com seems to be out of these panniers now....but apparently they get new versions of stuff for the new year so hopefully they will have new improved ones soon...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BleeckerSt_Girl

Earlier in this thread I explained why I changed from the bar end shifters- there were a couple of reasons that I elaborated on. :)

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LOL, I had been following this thread fairly closely but somehow managed to miss that part of your post. D'oh! :rolleyes: