Any Students?

[xeney]

I am hoping there are some student commuters here who might have some good suggestions for my husband, because bike commuting as a student presents a few different issues than bike commuting to work, namely, having to carry more stuff and having to carry that stuff with you all day.

For the last few years he's commuted to work/school, and only taken a couple of classes. This year he is going to school full time and working as a consultant, which means he is dragging around more books plus a laptop and going between class and work at odd hours. One week of classes taught him that his old method of hauling stuff around in a messenger bag was not going to work, because it was killing his back. So he bought a seatpost rack (his commuter road bike doesn't have rack mounts) and this Cannondale pannier, and he's trying that out. But he is not sure he's going to like it, so I was wondering how other students manage this.

Most panniers won't work because they are designed to be left on the bike, and they'll just get stolen on campus. This one was the only one we found that looked like it might be okay to carry around all day. His other option is a backpack, but it gets really hot where we live and he has a long enough commute to make that a little gross and sweaty. (He doesn't really have either time or a place to shower.)

Last night he was eying my old-school metal baskets (heavy, but okay to just leave on the bike) and wondering if he could just toss his backpack/messenger bag in one of them and be done with it. I am not sure that is a good idea for a laptop, though, because they do rattle a bit when you go over bumps.

How do y'all do it?

[Blueberry]

*sniff*

For those that are, enjoy it while it lasts.

When I was in law school, I had Arkel Panniers (T-42) and a shoulder strap. I carried the heavy stuff in the panniers and used the shoulder strap to carry them around. Then I carried the light stuff in the messenger bag. Somewhat cumbersome, but it worked. I was lucky, though, I could deposit some of the books, etc in my locker (law books are HEAVY).

Wire baskets might work, but I'd put some sort of net across the top to keep things from bouncing out. Plus I'd worry about rain (panniers fare much better in the rain).

Carrie Anne

[xeney]

For those that are, enjoy it while it lasts.

Ahem. He's 34 and has been in school consistently since he was ... well, FIVE, I guess. And he is totally jealous when I tell him that we had lockers in law school. If anything, his text books are heavier than mine were -- every book is the size of one of those ultra-fat Con Law books.

Lockers would make such a difference. It doesn't even seem like it would be all that expensive or troublesome for schools to rent them out, you know? In law school they were free, but we got all kinds of perks nobody else on campus got.

Thanks for the info on the Arkel panniers, though. I haven't found a local dealer for those so we couldn't check them out in person but I know people love them.

[betagirl]

Hey I'm a grad student. Clinical Psychology. And yes, I have to carry a lot of sh*t! I have a medium timbuk2 messenger bag that I've more than occassionally overstuffed with books, clothes, a computer, etc. I've tried my best to limit what I carry to only what I absolutely need that day. I got a hand-me-down PDA that I carry instead of my laptop and went back to using old fashioned notebooks to take notes. I do an inventory every time I go in to make sure I'm only taking what I need, but it's still usually a lot. So some sort of panniers are probably a good idea for him since the bag on the back is painful. Since I don't use them, I can't be of much assistance there. But I can understand the whole conundrum

Hope he finds a solution.

[eofelis]

I'm a student, at 38! Undergrad in Geology. Thankfully, I don't have to carry rocks back and forth to school.

I have a 15 min walking commute to school. I use a big backpack, a Kelty Redwing 2400ci. I have occasionally rode my bike to school. It's not easy to ride with the big pack. I have used my old Novara panniers and clipped them together with a shoulder strap to carry around.

On the note of trying to carry the least amount of stuff....
I am in a Calculus 1 class. The huge text book covers Calc 1, 2 and 3 class materials. I saw no need to carry info around that I didn't need for the semester so I did some home surgury on the book. I now have the 1/3 of the book that I need to take to class. Next semester when I take Calc 2 I will slice another 1/3 of the book out. They are coming out with a new edition to this book so I probably wouldn't be able to sell it back.

[trickytiger]

[QUOTE=surlypacer]I'm a student, at 38! Undergrad in Geology. Thankfully, I don't have to carry rocks back and forth to school.


Hey Surly, congrats! Great choice! I just finished a master's in Geology (watch out, you're not gonna want to stop). I ended up putting "panniers" on a mule to do my research.....sort of like a bike, but bites.

[Veronica]

My husband tried the basket routine and hated it. He now uses a Gille Berthold handlebar bag that comes off pretty easily and he can carry onto BART. It's pricey, but was the best solution we could find.

I wonder if your husband could get a rack and then attach a back pack to it with compression straps.


I forgot, we also have an Arkel handlbar bag. It also comes off pretty easily. But is kind of heavy for lugging around. If you could fit, you'd want to be inside that bag during an earthquake!

V.

[light_sabe_r]

Okay. BF is a PhD student doing molecular biology. He carries, lunch, lap top, clothes, and usually papers and other useless crap. He hauls it on his back

The biggest thing for him was his lap top... Heavy bulky piece of junk.

He got sick of it and UPGRADED to a very tiny weeny light as a feather but still powerful as type of machine. HUGE weight off his back. (using the STUDENT union computer purchasing program)

[xeney]

Veronica, I think he might wind up doing exactly that, with the backpack and compression straps.

As for a smaller laptop: we both use Dell Inspirons (his is a 700, mine is a 710) and they are teeny weeny. They don't get much teeny-weenier. He doesn't carry his every day but he's a computer science major, not to mention a database programmer/consultant, so he needs it several days a week.

The pannier didn't work out so well today; he couldn't carry the laptop and he said the pannier was awkward off the bike. He has a separate bag for the laptop -- one of the TimBuk2 sleeves that has its own shoulder strap -- so he can carry that separately, but then he's hauling two bags around all day.

This is why people drive cars, isn't it? (Not an option for him, there is no parking on campus.) I can carry my laptop, whatever work I brought home with me, and extra clothes for days when the a/c is crazy at work, all in a medium sized TimBuk2 bag ... but I can leave it all in my office all day.

Anyway. Thanks for the suggestions! I will pass your thoughts along. And thank my lucky stars that I am not in school anymore.

[Bad JuJu]

I'm not a student, but a teacher. And when I did live close enough to work to commute by bike, I liked the Arkel Bug--basically a pannier that turns into a backpack. I still have that thing and have found it very useful for day-trips on the bike. Check it out: Arkel Bug
Mine's older, so it doesn't have the cool helmet carrier on the front, but that looks like a handy feature.

[Geonz]

I'm not a student, but I work at a college and end up carrying lots of student-type stuff. (Welp, about half the time I'm a student, too - courses are free for staff.)
This is not the cheapest option, but it has only grown on me since I did it... and I don't have to think at all, my back doesn't have to sweat, I can carry everybody else's books too... oh, and of course that wheel you need to get fixed (honestly, there are accessories so you could carry just about anytyhing).


www.xtracycle.com - it's an extension put onto my original bike. The whole stuff cost a couple hundred... but by the tiem you get all the extra doodads for other carrying options... and I gotta tell ya, the karma is just so good... and it will do ANYTHING.
It also attracts the press and it's very visible... visible is GOOD...

[Clare]

I'm a student and I used to carry my books in panniers that I had cable locked to the bike rack. I found a 1/8-1/4 in. cable approx. 2 feet long and worked the cable aroung the rack and panniers and locked it up with a padlock. It worked really well and I had no problems with anything being ripped off. Just had to make sure that the cable was clear of the back tire.

Clare

[uk elephant]

I've always cycled to work/school/classes and I've always just carried a backpack. I never bothered taking text books with me, but usually carried laptop (not the teenyweeny type), notebooks, food, snacks, sweater/jacket and sometimes even some work-out gear. Just a normal school bag type backpack seemed to work well for me. If it got a bit heavy the hip-straps helped take the weight off my shoulders. I've had anywhere from 2-40 minute commutes depending on where I was studying and where I was living. Seemed to work ok for me.

If you insist on going with panniers I know there are several that come with back-pack type straps to be carried as a regular back-pack off the bike.

An option for lockers is to check out the gym on campus. Most places I've been a student, they have lockers for rent at the gym.

[xeney]

It must be a lot cooler in the UK than it is in inland California! For about nine months of the year here, even a two-mile ride with a messenger bag leaves you with a strip of visible sweat across your chest; wearing a backpack on a bike means your entire back will be soaked in sweat.

[HipGnosis6]

I have the strange fortune to be a fashion design student. So far I've managed to take my bike with me to school exactly twice. There are no bike racks there, so if I want to take the bike I have to chain it up to a light post in the designated smoking courtyard.

Getting the appropriate amount of stuff to and from was crucial - I could only do it on days where I didn't need to pack my patterndrafting rulers, which are large and unwieldy. And then I'd have to pack my clothes (had to change into street clothes at work, back into bike gear for the middle part of the commute, and then back into street clothes for class) and two meals' worth of food. That pretty much stuffed my 80's vintage Traveler panniers, which are fortunately quite easy to take on and off the bike and carry around. I had to take a backpack as well to get my books and supplies to class.

I hate riding with a pack or bag on my back, and would rather have a pannier by a long shot. It keeps the center of gravity low, you know? So instead of wearing the backpack as I rode, I used a cargo net to secure it to my rack. It seriously looked like I was headed out for a weekend junket, but compare that to the crap most people drag around with them every day in their car....