Ortlieb panniers?

General cycling advice ( NOT technical ! )
gbnz
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Joined: 13 Sep 2008, 10:38am

Re: Ortlieb panniers?

Post by gbnz »

SupermanVsSnowman wrote: 29 Sep 2021, 1:09pm I relish reliability. I don't intend to change them any time soon.
Well, you won't have to. Whilst I've never been a devotee of this product or that, I suppose I I have found the Ortlieb panniers to be incredible.

Put's their "indestructability" into focus, when reviewing the fact that the metal struts on the second, brand name, top quality rack they've been fitted to, are worn a third of the way through. due to contact with the Ortliebs How on earth do panniers made of plastic and cloth, wear through hardened metal struts, whilst showing no wear in themselves :?: :
colin54
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Re: Ortlieb panniers?

Post by colin54 »

pete75 wrote: 29 Sep 2021, 11:10am
Bmblbzzz wrote: 29 Sep 2021, 11:01am
pete75 wrote: 29 Sep 2021, 9:00am

What brands of appliances do you buy? Get Miele next time you buy and they'll last 20 years or more.
Carradice saddlebags and panniers made before Ortlieb was founded in 1982 are still in use, so Carradice is proven to be longer lasting. Most of their products are made from sustainable, natural materials too.
I like Carradice products and that's largely because of the waxed cotton material, but they do contain a lot of plastic as well: the hooks, backing plates and bottom stiffeners on the panniers, the lining that's on the lid of the saddlebags, the inner flaps and their drawstrings, the reflectors... It's a lot less than Ortlieb or most other manufacturers, who use plastics for every part, but it has to be pointed out that even Carradice are not really sustainable or natural. Perhaps they still were as late as 1982, I don't know (ignoring the thorny question of whether leather and metals are sustainable... !)



They contain some plastic but I wouldn't call it a lot. The bulk of most panniers and saddlebags is cotton. The saddlebag lid lining appears to be cotton.
Hi Pete,
I think the more modern Carradice saddle bags have a woven (overprinted in the case of this green bag) synthetic
lid-lining. Picture of old shoelace-tied bag overlaid by modern drawstring design. The current black bags have a brown lid-lining made of a similar material I think.
P1150183.JPG
P1150186.JPG

The small interior stiffener (used to be fibre board) at the base of Carradice large panniers can eventually wear through the canvas at the corner, it took about 30 years on this pair mind. A good mod' might be to add a bit of rubber or plastic tube around the corners of the boards from new. Tricky to repair there once it's worn through.
P1150188.JPG
I have a pair of the smaller Ortlieb front panniers; they could do with an external pocket like Carradice (the larger rear ones at least), I believe Ortlieb sell an add-on one, which seems a bit daft to me. Does anyone actually fit these ?
There's a good ancient thread on the Crazy guy site from some U.S early Ortlieb adopters, an interesting read (possibly !).
https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/reviews ... ted=0&v=3E
Grammar edit !
Last edited by colin54 on 30 Sep 2021, 9:37am, edited 1 time in total.
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Bmblbzzz
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Re: Ortlieb panniers?

Post by Bmblbzzz »

I do know someone who has fitted those add-on pockets, so yes!
colin54
Posts: 2529
Joined: 24 Sep 2013, 4:34pm

Re: Ortlieb panniers?

Post by colin54 »

Bmblbzzz wrote: 30 Sep 2021, 9:03am I do know someone who has fitted those add-on pockets, so yes!
:)
Edit; link added.
A previous thread on here about adding the extra pockets( and links to another one within it).
viewtopic.php?t=49528&p=412634
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pete75
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Re: Ortlieb panniers?

Post by pete75 »

Bmblbzzz wrote: 29 Sep 2021, 9:27pm Does sustainable need defining? It means capable of being sustained indefinitely. The production of Carradice luggage in its current form involves fossil products – plastics and metals – and is therefore by definition unsustainable. At some point we will reach the last drop of petroleum and lump of iron ore. It's certainly "more sustainable" than most luggage and definitely more easily adaptable to a sustainable design (for instance the plastic parts are fewer and could be replaced first by metal, which is recyclable, and ultimately perhaps even by wood; but people probably won't be cycling when we reach that stage!)
Who knows what is capable of being sustained indefinitely? People say animal farming is unsustainable yet it's lasted for millennia, predating crop based agriculture and is the only form of farming possible on quite a lot of the earth's surface.
Much steel these days is produced from scrap steel usually using an electric arc furnace not from ore.
'Give me my bike, a bit of sunshine - and a stop-off for a lunchtime pint - and I'm a happy man.' - Reg Baker
Psamathe
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Re: Ortlieb panniers?

Post by Psamathe »

Bmblbzzz wrote: 29 Sep 2021, 9:27pm Does sustainable need defining? It means capable of being sustained indefinitely. ...
Trouble with that use is nothing is sustainable (indications are not even our Universe).

I see it as a question of degree. Often a well made product will have close to same plastics, footptint, etc. as a poorly made product so the longer lasting better made is more sustainable (or less unsustainable).

Ian
Bmblbzzz
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Re: Ortlieb panniers?

Post by Bmblbzzz »

Yep.

Apparently proven oil reserves are only 47 years – I thought it was about 70. Obviously more is yet to be proven, but from about 2070 it looks like plastic will only be available recycled. But I expect Carradice will have adapted their designs long before then!

https://www.worldometers.info/oil
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