Oldest Still Serving Panniers/Saddle Bag

[RobC]

Bad? I’d say it’s great! It’s a family heirloom, no way I’ll let it out of my sight

[whoof]

I had a Karrimor Silverline rear pannier that I bought at a car boot sale in 1992 and it was a number of years old by then. I used to mainly use for commuting but stopped and bought an Altura one a number of years back. I found the Karrimor one in the loft a couple of years ago and tried it out, I put my keys and phone in the rear pocket and they swung around and went into the rear wheel, fortunately at relatively low speed. I think that's one of the reasons I stopped using it, that and it was a pain to get on and off so gave it away.

My Ortlieb Roller Classics are 17 years old. Not that long compared some on here but still in very good order with no signs or aging and the only maintenance they have every received is a wipe over with a cloth.

[mercalia]

I had a Karrimor Silverline rear pannier that I bought at a car boot sale in 1992 and it was a number of years old by then. I used to mainly use for commuting but stopped and bought an Altura one a number of years back. I found the Karrimor one in the loft a couple of years ago and tried it out, I put my keys and phone in the rear pocket and they swung around and went into the rear wheel, fortunately at relatively low speed. I think that's one of the reasons I stopped using it, that and it was a pain to get on and off so gave it away.

My Ortlieb Roller Classics are 17 years old. Not that long compared some on here but still in very good order with no signs or aging and the only maintenance they have every received is a wipe over with a cloth.

yoy say cloth? do these have some poly-covering that makes them water proof and this is still intact? or have Ortlieb changed their material since then?

[whoof]

I had a Karrimor Silverline rear pannier that I bought at a car boot sale in 1992 and it was a number of years old by then. I used to mainly use for commuting but stopped and bought an Altura one a number of years back. I found the Karrimor one in the loft a couple of years ago and tried it out, I put my keys and phone in the rear pocket and they swung around and went into the rear wheel, fortunately at relatively low speed. I think that's one of the reasons I stopped using it, that and it was a pain to get on and off so gave it away.

My Ortlieb Roller Classics are 17 years old. Not that long compared some on here but still in very good order with no signs or aging and the only maintenance they have every received is a wipe over with a cloth.

yoy say cloth? do these have some poly-covering that makes them water proof and this is still intact? or have Ortlieb changed their material since then?

As above I've wiped the panniers with a cloth. Mrs Whoof bought a pair of rear Ortliebs last year and the material used to make them is the same as mine dating from 2003. Mine and still water proof and in pretty much the same condition as when I bought them, the material doesn't appear to have degraded in any way.

[robc02]

I have a Carradice nelson Longflap that came with my first "grown up" bike - a BSA Gold Crest - around 1970. Like the bike, it looked decidedly secondhand even then! It has a North Street badge so that dates it to the 1960s:

http://www.classiclightweights.co.uk/components/carradice-components.html

For the past few years it has been permanently fitted to my 1951 Humber roadster, which is used several times per week.

[foxyrider]

I have various bit of Ortlieb, some of which date from @ 1998 that have seen a hard life and are still, whilst a bit scruffy to look at, waterproof, no failed seams or even broken hooks or other fixings. The set that i use for camping were bought so the bike didn't look as scruffy and i was fed up with yellow! They do clean up quite well but take a bit of effort.

Although its not been slung under a saddle for a few years, i do still have one of my parents Carradice saddle bags from the late 50's which i did used as a teen in the '70's.

None of my panniers from the 80's lasted very well although i may have a bar bag lurking somewhere still, wire support, bungees to the front axle. useful, light and ideal for going to races as there was no fixed bracket.

[jonk]

My ortleib Front rollers have had 12 years of daily use, sometimes quite heavy, and they seem to be just the same as when I bought them. Like the poster above I bought a new pair for camping because they look smarter and I fancied a change of colour.

[Chat Noir]

We bought two pairs of panniers from a shop in Birmingham in 1978 for our first cycling tour, over to Ireland. One pair is still going strong, Karrimor something or other, made out of duck cotton, used on commuting bikes in London for years as well as on tours. I still occasionally use one or both of these when I want something light and easy to affix: strong metal hooks, secure on any rack we’ve ever used, strong piece of elastic cord with hook to attach the bottom. Last year did an east-west Pyrenean Raid with three friends. All of them had migrated to bike-packing bags that strapped inside the frame triangle, handlebars or onto the seat post, etc, all looking very neat. Trouble was, seemed to me, took them ages to take on and off, probably weighed as much as my single light bag + rack, so not sure I could see any advantage over a simpler pannier.

Anyway, here’s a photo of bike and Karrimor pannier on an end to end ride the other year - let's hope all of us can be doing the rides we want to in the coming months!

[Johnocyprus]

As an aside I foolishly replaced my 35 year old still serviceable Carradice Overlander panniers with some shiny new Ortlieb panniers. Within a month my bike ( with those panniers ) was stolen.
Lesson learnt, now my bikes sport old panniers.

[philg]

I still have (somewhere) my green panniers from the late 70's - the ones with proper metal buckle bits not the modern plastic ones!
Also the matching bar bag which slides over the bull horns mount that I never managed to fit correctly on first attempts.

Both abandoned long ago in favour of Ortlieb, sad to say.

[arnsider]

I like the way us cyclists have an almost sentimental attachment to simply made durable items of kit. This really flies in the face of the planned obsolescence that pervades most of what is made these days.
My own example is not as long lived as any of the Carradice or Karrimor luggage mentioned, but is the red Pro Cycle, Roll top, Ortlieb clone panniers that Lidl marketed back in around 2006.
They were incredibly cheap at underr £10 a pair and bomb proof. My right hand one is looking its age and I've repaired it with Gorilla tape, but the left one is pristine.

[buryman]

Twenty plus year old Karrimors still in daily use on a bike that may interest Morzedec.

[a.twiddler]

Still got my Carradice Nelson Longflap circa 1980. It has had long spells of use when I have had saddles with bag loops, with spells of not being used in between. I sold my last leather saddle, a "Middlemores of Coventry" last year (same vintage as the bag) due to finding it uncomfortable. Since then I had pondered whether it was the saddle or me that had changed, or whether I should have just cycled more and got it to fit again.

Anyhow, I missed the saddlebag enough to buy a bracket from SJS cycles which clamps to the seat pin and gives you somewhere to fit your saddlebag if you have a saddle with no loops. So it is still in use attached to my touring/general purpose bike. The only thing that has suffered wear, strangely, is the woven Carradice badge on the flap which has unravelled a bit. It is definitely a well made, useful bit of equipment.

[recumbentpanda]

I have a black racktop bag that came along with a secondhand bike I bought. I was locking up next to another cyclist when I spotted she had the same bag, but in a fetching camel colour. ‘Oh,’ says I, we have the same bag. Didn’t know it came in brown as well.’ ‘It’s the same colour as yours she replied, it’s just faded.’ I became aware I was in the presence of high mileage greatness.

[Invicta Tourist]

I bought these Karrimor panniers second hand over 20 years ago, and still use them as front panniers when cycle camping or as rear panniers if hostelling for a few days. They're lightweight but unfortunately no longer waterproof. I use drybags in them which keeps the contents nice 'n'dry.