Pannier bag size for commuting

acr

Hi Folks,

Was wondering if anyone has an opinion as to an ideal-ish size for commuting panniers. I like the Altura Dryline stuff, however according to Wiggle they come in 56L and 32L sizes (pairs), so that's 28L and 16L each. Problem I'm having is that I can't picture how big these really are and can't find dimensions for love nor money, and they are rare birds in the LBS. So how big is 16L, or what could I get in it, are we talking a pair of shoes or two ? Even better, if you have one of these and can post dimensions that would be cool. And can they (or do the need to be) angled back to avoid heel-strike ? Cheers.

PrettyBoyTim

I have a pair of the 16L ones - he's a crap picture taken of one on my desk:



I'd guess it's about 30cm x 40cm x 13cm in size. Best thing to compare it to on the picture is prbably the can in the foreground, as my keyboard is weird and the monitors are fairly large.

acr

Cool, that works, cheers for that. So we looking at about 3 and a half coke cans in height. Initial thoughts are that it looks small, mind u they are 19 or 21 inch monitors which dwarf it. Could be leaning towards the 56's on the basis of that pic.

PrettyBoyTim

I'm not sure the first shot does it justice, so I figured I'd see how much grocery shopping you could cram into one - hence a quick raid on the kitchen:

All packed up:


And the contents:


(This picture is missing the 500g block of cheese, which I forgot to remove from the pannier before taking the picture)

The pannier held:

750g box of 'Malt Wheaties' 6 Pint bottle of milk 1 Litre carton of Apple Juice 750ml Bottle of wine 3 tins of chopped tomatoes 500g block of cheese (not pictured) 1 Loaf of bread (although a few slices had already been eaten)

It was pretty much at its full capacity. I find the 32L ones are good enough for holding my clothes and bike bits & pieces, with enough room to spare for a bit of shopping on the way home. Probably not large enough for a big shopping trip though.

acr

Wow, Tardis effect. Thanks for taking the trouble, much appreciated.

Next question, can you get a laptop in it, or would you. I guess u could based on the "Malt Wheaties" box size. I actually have the Altura laptop/office bag that takes a 17" screen. However it's very obvious that you're carrying a laptop (well I think it is). May as well slap a target on me and say come and rob me as you ride through the more dodgy areas. Hence the need for something less obtrusive.

PrettyBoyTim

I just had a look and my Wife's 15" laptop fits in okay, but I don't think I'd want to put a laptop in there wihout some kind of protective cover - the pannier itself is not padded in any way. I found the 15" laptop took up pretty much the entire length of the main bag, and about an inch of the inner bag. It fitted the size of the pannier quite well. I imagine you could probably squeeze a 17" laptop in there with some cover on it, but it'd probably be pretty snug.

Remember that although the larger pannier holds has a 75% larger capacity, it doesn't need to increase by much in any dimension to achieve that. By my calculations, you could add 4cm the the height, width and depth of my pannier to achieve roughly the same capacity of it's larger brother.

If all you want to carry is the laptop and a few other bits and bobs (say, laptop on one side, change of clothes on the other), you might as well stick with the smaller one. If you want to be able to carry a fair bit of stuff as well as your laptop, clothes etc, get the larger pannier. If when the pannier arrives you find it's the wrong size for you, you can always return it and exchange it for the other. Evans has a 28day money back policy, and you're covered by the distance selling regulations for 7 days after delivery anyway.

RufusA

acr wrote:

Wow, Tardis effect. Thanks for taking the trouble, much appreciated.

Next question, can you get a laptop in it, or would you. I guess u could based on the "Malt Wheaties" box size. I actually have the Altura laptop/office bag that takes a 17" screen. However it's very obvious that you're carrying a laptop (well I think it is).

I have an Altura Urban 15" Dryline and IMHO it doesn't look any different from any other of the Altura Urban range - it doesn't look at all like there is a laptop inside.

However it's too small - I can just squeeze in a pair of shoes, or a shirt/trousers with the laptop, but not both - Grrrr!

Rufus.