panniers

[badgercat]

I use Wald folding baskets to carry my backpack, lunch, etc back and forth to campus. As far as weight distribution goes, I'm another one who always puts the heavier load (or only load, if I'm just bringing one bag with me) on the right side, because my right food is the one I naturally tend to put down at stops. Once, I had to reverse the weight distribution (because I lost part of the mount on the right side, and didn't want to put much weight in that basket), and then I did feel a bit unstable and "tippy" towards the left. But as long as the weight is roughly balanced or heavier on the right, I have no problems.

When I REALLY had problems were on days that I would ride another bike and suddenly have to go back to carrying all that weight on my back! Once you move to letting the bike carry your things for you, you may wonder how you ever got along before.

[NbyNW]

Arkel makes some nice bags for commuting, that have nice straps for carrying around off the bike.

Arkels are really well-made. Perhaps not as impervious to the elements as Ortliebs, but I'm also unlikely to be cycling in extreme conditions. Never say never, tho!

I have the Shopper for grocery trips. For commuting I use one of their front rack touring panniers on my Dahon. I put it on the left side, and I like that I can adjust the hooks to avoid heel strike.

[Grog]

By the way another good place to shop for not-too-pannier-looking panniers might be Bike Doctor (across from MEC on Broadway).

[badger]

thanks for the link to the Arkel site, I do like the shopper bag.

I went to the Bike Doctor and looked at some bags and if I had the money I'd have bought the Ortlieb urban bag that turns into a messenger bag. I liked their shopper bag, too, but the attachments wouldn't feel good against me, and would look weird if it's facing out.

I've found some reviews of the Detours Toocan, and some of the cons are that it's heavy due to the rubberized bottom and the fact it rattles or comes off the rack easily. Same with the Toto bag, the fact it's only fastened by a magnet leaves it a bit vulnerable if it comes off or if I have the unfortunate experience of coming off a bike.

I guess I'll have to resign to the fact I won't be able to have it all, but the Ortlieb has come the closest so far.