Single pannier - but which side?

patricktaylor · Post by **patricktaylor** » 22 Jul 2008, 12:52pm

I shop at Tesco several times a week. Any excuse to ride my bike will do, and often I don't buy much. So single pannier. Sometimes two, but on this run, mostly single.

I've been putting it on the left of the rack to balance the weight of the drive train. Technically correct maybe, but now I'm not so sure. It's closer to pedestrians. Perhaps it should be on the right so that motorists give me a wider berth. And I lean the bike towards the left on the Tesco bike stand so it would be easier with the pannier on the right when I lean over and lift it off with my right hand (standing on the left side of the bike to stop it falling over).

And the bloke across the road (who knows a lot about cycling) rides a bike to work, and he puts his pannier on the right.

Plus, I have two panniers and don't want to wear one out before the other, so I should possibly alternate, but that would mean constantly shifting the tool set from one pannier to the other.

I appreciate that SinglePannierPerson deserves to be an object of ridicule, but two panniers is no use when it would mean carrying both around Tesco and only one is needed.

AndyB · Post by **AndyB** » 22 Jul 2008, 1:34pm

I presume you know what you've started / this isn't a wind up...?

Having the weight on the right counters the camber of the road.

lauriematt · Post by **lauriematt** » 22 Jul 2008, 1:34pm

i have an under-saddle tool bag which carries all the tools i need even tho its little! including adjustable spanner, cone spanners, chain tool, puncture kit, tyre levers etc
perhaps that could be an option??

try each side with one pannier for a week or two...and feel which one feels the most natural to you

patricktaylor · Post by **patricktaylor** » 22 Jul 2008, 1:47pm

I can't fit the mini-pump in a small under-saddle bag and I don't want it against the frame, or I'd use one of those all the time, even without the pannier.

As well as the shopping, in the pannier goes waterproof jacket, tools, pump, spare tube, bike lock, mobile phone, disposable rubber gloves, Germolene tube, and money.

reohn2 · Post by **reohn2** » 22 Jul 2008, 2:09pm

devient's,perverts.

lauriematt · Post by **lauriematt** » 22 Jul 2008, 2:12pm

reohn2 wrote:devient's,perverts.

just for the record i use 2 panniers :lol:

hubgearfreak · Post by **hubgearfreak** » 22 Jul 2008, 2:18pm

patricktaylor wrote: I have two panniers and don't want to wear one out before the other, so I should possibly alternate, but that would mean constantly shifting the tool set from one pannier to the other.

if you really must use a single pannier, you must use one one day and then the other the next. this way, when you do finally see the error of your ways they will both match in terms of patina.
otherwise you'd look as daft as a single pannier user (SPU) even when you use both, and because of the mismatched sun bleaching and wear, we'll know

what you'll have to do is get a duplicate set of all the items on your list below, and keep a set in each

patricktaylor wrote:As well as the shopping, in the pannier goes waterproof jacket, tools, pump, spare tube, bike lock, mobile phone, disposable rubber gloves, Germolene tube, and money.

patricktaylor · Post by **patricktaylor** » 22 Jul 2008, 2:52pm

hubgearfreak wrote:use one one day and then the other the next.

But when I get to Tesco, what then? You mean every other day, lean the bike towards the right (on the bike stand) instead of my usual left where I have the protective strip on the fork? And lift the pannier off the bike with my left hand? (I'm right handed, but now I'm getting confused with which hand I'd be lifting the pannier off with)

gaz · Post by **gaz** » 22 Jul 2008, 2:54pm

Whatever side you choose is the unimportant.

You have already embraced the one true, but sometimes wobbly, path that is the way of the single pannier.

Watch out for the pannier police, they'll be after you soon. Just remember you are not alone.

lauriematt · Post by **lauriematt** » 22 Jul 2008, 2:57pm

gaz wrote:Whatever side you choose is the unimportant.

You have already embraced the one true, but sometimes wobbly, path that is the way of the single pannier.

Watch out for the pannier police, they'll be after you soon. Just remember you are not alone.

is this like an underground gang who cycle you down and puncture your tires for riding single pannier???
:lol:

Post by **ncutler** » 22 Jul 2008, 3:19pm

Burgundy Canal: 9-07-2008

We found the French friendly & sympathetic on asymmetric days.

Nick

pigman · Post by **pigman** » 22 Jul 2008, 3:26pm

ncutler wrote:

Burgundy Canal: 9-07-2008

We found the French friendly & sympathetic on asymmetric days.

Nick

shorts and short sleeves - I remember those days of past ...

workhard · Post by **workhard** » 22 Jul 2008, 3:41pm

patricktaylor wrote:I can't fit the mini-pump in a small under-saddle bag and I don't want it against the frame, or I'd use one of those all the time, even without the pannier.

As well as the shopping, in the pannier goes waterproof jacket, tools, pump, spare tube, bike lock, mobile phone, disposable rubber gloves, Germolene tube, and money.

Is your Tesco's, like, 20 miles away? Or do you take a really, really long route to get to one?

Shopping trips for me are a bike, a single pannier, zip tied to the bike's offside with BIG zip ties, so it is going nowhere fast, with a reusable M&S bag in it for in shop use, and a wallet/phone stuck in a pocket. Wallet has pack of leeches in it (well it makes a change form condoms) minipump - why not use a bottle cage mounting one, mines doesn't touch the frame that way. lock, frame mounted ABUS one but I did have a rack fitting one that broke.

gaz · Post by **gaz** » 22 Jul 2008, 8:34pm

workhard wrote:Wallet has pack of leeches in it

Ferocious blood-sucking ones? A fearsome security device if ever there was one. :lol:

Post by **Mick F** » 22 Jul 2008, 8:35pm

Mine has moths in it!