Mainly to carry my work stuff to and from and of course touring. I fondly called them “bags of evil” simply because you keep putting stuff in them, extra lock and a brick and some tools and a brick and extra layer as it might be cold tonight when going home and that brick you forgot, now did I take a lock might as well just put one in to be sure etc etc. And the pannier just takes it and you end up with all that stuff you don’t need to take.

Since I do carry heavy things in my panniers and rest my Surly Long Hall Trucker against the wall with pannier as the wall support I have already worn a hole in the pannier. Might resort to the classic repair job with some duct/gaffa tape to stop it wearing thin where it is rubbing.

For some reason the spacers or grippers (as Erin and Sam call them) are starting to fall out of the hooks, when taking the pannier of the racks.

Erin and Sam of “A honeymoon to remember” fame over on crazyguyonabicycle.com, are suffering the same problem as me. They have a brilliant review here about that problem and general use of the Ortliebs.

I would say that using it that heavily as Erin and Sam have done over the last 18 odd months. I can understand why something breaks down, though their problems started early on their tour. Peli is using her pannier as much as me and takes hers off more often than I do; don’t have the issue with the grippers. It is only one of the grippers on one of my panniers that keep dropping when taking the pannier with me.

I’m still thinking of a way to solve this problem, which Erin and Sam rightly states shouldn’t be there since you have paid good money for our Ortleib panniers. I have looked at ortliebs .de and .co.uk sites and neither of them have these grippers for sale, so I do need to find a way to secure them.

Super glue : Will only shake/brake lose after a few miles, I’m sure. Though that is the easy option atm since I got glue at hand. Will use this option until I come up with an permanent solution.
Cable ties : They will just stop the hooks and locking mechanism to work, so that option is out.
Dental flush or thin string : Will easily wear out and therefore replaced often. Which of course will break when you don’t have string or paying attention.
Heat : Heating the grippers up and expand them so that it sits more snug in the hooks. Though I got a funny felling that this will not work either.

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Description: (From their site) With its classical lid closure the waterproof rear pannier Bike-Packer Plus allows fast access to the bag’s interior. An internal double drawstring snow flap provides additional protection against dust, humidity and snow. A fixed inner pocket with main compartment and zippered mesh pocket helps organising items inside the bag.

As seen on the blog: Label : Ortleib

I will split this review up into a few bits, first the Handle bar bag, then the front panniers and last but not least the rear panniers.

Ortlieb Ultimate 5 Plus (handle bar bag)

First lets just bad things out of the way, what is the point of the lock on these ? There is no way I would leave my valuables on my bicycle in a handle bar bag that can be easily opened. And then there is the spacer or room divider what ever you want to call it, to make some compartments for you stuff. Brilliant idea, until you start cycling and everything get shaken about and every thing falls to the bottom and the spacer crawls upwards.

Now to the good news, I really love it, I can have my bits that I need quickly and easy accessible. Such as my passport, camera, tickets and above all my map. Oh yeah also the chocolate bar, snacks and all the odd small bits that can’t really go anywhere else.

I just need to figure out a way to make some compartment that work an don’t back the bar bag one big hole where everything wants to lay at the bottom

Ortlieb Sport Packer Plus Pannier (Front)

These bags are brilliant, does what it says on the tin, keep my stuff dry in worst of weather. We use it for our Alpkit SkyeHigh 800 Sleeping bags, as they just fit nice and snugly inside. And best of all we know that our down sleeping bag will be dry after a long day ride in the rain.

Rating:

Ortlieb Bike-Packer Plus (Rear)

These bags just olds everything and keep it dry, well until you put something wet inside, doh. The only gripe I have with panniers in general is that they tend to be one bag, one hole for everything.

Which took some time to get used to, you just use plastic bags or the like to split your gubbings and make things easier accessible. Though the Ortlieb Bike-Packer Plus have a compartment on the outside, which I use a lot, one got my book I’m reading plus a first aid kit. The other got my rain jacket and cap e.g. my wet area. I also added to these bags the Ortlied Outer Pocket (large ones) for which I have my tools in one and my toilet bits in the other.

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That you do not have any room for your shopping, so that you have to stuff it any available pockets and have a plastic bag dangling off the handle bars :)

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We just put our orders in for some bits and bobs for our new bikes.

Ortlieb panniers, racks, sleeping mats, tyres, brooks B17′s etc.

Just can’t wait until we get our Surly Long Haul Truckers, and we can go touring :)

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