Cycling UK Forum

Is there anyone out there who commutes to work carrying a laptop in a pannier bag. Have you been able to complete your journeys without damaging the laptop? Has it withstood the bumps and vibration caused by the road surface?

I'm interested in any answers!

I plan a Grand Tour this May/June, and wouldn't mind taking this here MacBook with me. It'll be in a protective bag inside my suitcase on my trailer. The only worries I have, are:
1. The excess weight. It weighs a couple of Kgs or more.
2. Waterproofing. The last time I went away for a long time, I had torrential rain for a day or two, and the wet penetrated the suitcase's zip.

The thing is robust enough when it's switched off. I understand you can drop one without any harm!!!!!!! I daren't try!

I do it everyday it takes a real bashing on my route. It just gets shoved in a pannier. The ibm thinkpad was fine like this. I suspect the new dells they've given us will last 6 months max.

An ibook is a solid piece of kit, just make sure its well padded it will be fine.

I do not carry a laptop everyday, but do on occasion and not the most robust of computers. I use a laptop bag bought very cheap in Halfords. It has decent metal hooks to go on the rack but also tilts the bag so the front is higher than the back. It is then not caught by the shoe. It also came with extra interior padded bag.
The laptop is then held well as the outer bag is not very wide thus not allowing it the move very much.
I think it works so well by the padding stopping the laptop moving about inside the outer bag. If that makes sence?

Yes, I did this for five years - no problem at all. Admittedly the laptops were all Dells, which are very robust, but you shouldn't have a problem.

The only thing I did to protect it was wrap it in an old jumper, just for a bit of cushioning.

Ben

I carry a 15" HP Laptop in my Carradice Bike Bureau. It's been out in all weathers and hasn't let a drop of rain in. However - it will only take a standard 15" laptop. A 15" widescreen MacBook Pro for example wouldn't fit.

Also, there are a couple of screws on the inside that have scratched the laptop - I have now covered these up. Luckily, it is a work laptop, so I'm not too bothered about a little bit of cosmetic damage.

I take my work laptop home on my bike. It's a 15" Dell and I pack it into the free laptop bag that came with it, then that goes into an empty AGU pannier. There's no room for anything else and the pannier lid only just closes but it seems to work.

I'm sure there are better ways but I only take the laptop once or twice a week so I haven't invested in a dedicated bag.

essexman wrote:The ibm thinkpad was fine like this.

When I'm out and about I carry my laptop (an IBM Thinkpad) around the borough in of my panniers. This is usually once or twice a week.
It fits in quite snuggly, but doesn't have any special padding. I've been doing this for the last year or so and laptop still works!

I too am thinking about touring with a laptop, but I haven't done it yet. Because of your issues (weight and water-- especially water. In my experience, nothing is ever waterproof!) I am thinking of getting a travel laptop. If you look on ebay for One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) laptops, you can find them cheap, and it's possible to find solar panels to charge them.

This is my plan as I do not want to risk ruining my macbook in some torrential downpour! Not only is the OLPC more robust than a macbook or conventional laptop as it uses solid state memory instead of a hard drive disk (no moving parts to break), it's cheap enough that loss or damage wouldn't kill the trip.

Other similar laptops include the Asus eee PC.

Mick F wrote:I'm interested in any answers!

I plan a Grand Tour this May/June, and wouldn't mind taking this here MacBook with me. It'll be in a protective bag inside my suitcase on my trailer. The only worries I have, are:
1. The excess weight. It weighs a couple of Kgs or more.
2. Waterproofing. The last time I went away for a long time, I had torrential rain for a day or two, and the wet penetrated the suitcase's zip.

The thing is robust enough when it's switched off. I understand you can drop one without any harm!!!!!!! I daren't try!

I commute fairly often with a laptop (an expensive 13" Sony SZ) and no matter how robust it is, I won't use a pannier for it reguarly. This is partly because there are lots of potholes in Oxford (it's built on a swamp). It is also because I have had a laptop motherboard fail on me costing several days of work (ok it was an Acer). A motherboard is just the sort of thing to literally get shaken to bits.

My advice is to use a computer backpack. This means that your laptop is carried with your body acting as a huge shock absorber. Any bumps won't reach your laptop.

Touring with a laptop...oh please! How sad is that. And carrying a laptop on your bike... I find it sad that these poor souls have to take their work home with them. Can't they get it done in the firms time? A sad reflection on modern society.

I've been commuting daily for almost twenty years, most of that time with a laptop, using a Carradice Bike Bureau. Not the same laptop, obviously - I must be on about number four now. Never had a problem - even got side-swiped once, which popped the CD drive out but caused no other damage.

Lawrie9 wrote:Touring with a laptop...oh please! How sad is that. And carrying a laptop on your bike... I find it sad that these poor souls have to take their work home with them. Can't they get it done in the firms time? A sad reflection on modern society.

Not sad at all. I don't tour with a laptop but I can understand why people do. A laptop provides a source of entertainment, a method of communication, a storage device for digital photographs and much more.

I don't "take my work home" - I'm on call 24hrs (only one week per month though) so it is a necessity but also, having a laptop means I can work from home without disturbance, handy when you want to get documentation done or you need to be in the house to let the plumber in etc. Poor soul? Definitely not!

Lawrie9 wrote:Touring with a laptop...oh please! How sad is that. And carrying a laptop on your bike... I find it sad that these poor souls have to take their work home with them. Can't they get it done in the firms time? A sad reflection on modern society.

Nah! hippy crap... I'm not working for The MAN . I spend half of my working life at home in my 'Office Shed' (an eco-pad with screen, docking station and views of growing vegtables). The other half I cycle to my other office which is in the centre of town for meeting clients/public and so on. So yes, bringing work home all the time, but that's cos I can, and it's sooo groovy.

As for touring with a laptop, it's just not my style. Frankly, I've always favoured a minimalist touring - I've spent three weeks abroad with just a Carradice Camper Longflap saddlebag and a credit card, total luggage including saddlebag weighing about 6kg. I would find a laptop a severe encumberance. Instead I use a windows mobile computer phone device, used a Kjam in the past, upgraded to a HTC TYTN, it does everything you need including GPS mapping and it's got a workable thumboard.

Of course there are people who think giving up technology gives you a better touring experience, in a sort of ride a penny farthing naked all the way to Skye for the autumn equinox sort of way . But the only reason why they can do that without getting stoned to death by highland cattle thieves is cos we live in a modern society and people are more interested in Youtube or drugs than screwing hapless eccentrics.

This couple took one on their round the world trip.See this for information.http://www.erck.org/gear/