Another Commuter Question

[Rebeccah]

I've got a pair of grocery bag panniers from REI that paper grocery bags fit in perfectly.

http://www.rei.com/online/store/Prod...HP_CYCLING_TOC

I use one to carry my clothes etc when commuting to work.

I got a pair of those at my local REI, and they work great and hold a lot. The minor inconveniences about this particular model I found were:
1. I had to be careful how I positioned my feet on the pedals, or I would sometimes hit my heel on the front corner of the bags. Not a problem when they're folded up.
2. The snaps for holding them in the folded-up position are on the front and back, about half-way down in the open position. In the folded-up position, they are closer to the bottom than the top. This gives a poor mechanical advantage for actually keeping them closed.
3. In the folded up position, the tops of the bags are a few inches above the top of the rear rack. Combined with the top gaping open slightly (see #2 above), I found I sometimes got my foot caught on them when dismounting from the bike.
4. Although not as heavy as metal baskets, they're still a bit heavier than I like to drag around all the time. Combined with the dismounting issue (#3), this means I took them off for most of the time, and only plan to put them back on again when I'm going shopping. Plus, I got a handlebar bag for carrying smaller amounts of stuff.

Overall, a worthwhile purchase, though.

Rebeccah

[fatbottomedgurl]

Okay the waste baskets are about as "Fred" as you can get. Perfect for my anti-consumerism anti-brand personality. I would just have to get up the nerve, but heck, I could buy two at the 99 cent store and save 40 bucks. hmmmmmm....

[HipGnosis6]

Okay the waste baskets are about as "Fred" as you can get. Perfect for my anti-consumerism anti-brand personality. I would just have to get up the nerve, but heck, I could buy two at the 99 cent store and save 40 bucks. hmmmmmm....

Hee hee... milk crates can at least be played off as "old school"

and for the antiestablishment bit in all of us, you can steal one from behind the market to stick it to the man a little bit