Panniers for road bike?

[l200]

I got my first road bike, a Scott S40 (2011 Version), not too long ago and have been loving it....



One problem I have is that when I wear a backback, it provides inadequare space and makes my back very sweaty as it traps heat. I have considered a messenger bag but a pannier seems the way to go because I do not plan on going racing, in addition I can also go shopping with my bike if I have a pannier.

Now my question is, since I am a noob to cycling/road bikes, what I need to look for in terms of a rack + pannier. I assume that not all racks will fit my bike? And if not, what type of rack do I need and what should I look for?

If you have any recommendations on racks/panniers, I would greatly appreciate it. I don't want to spend more then $100 total but if it justifies the price, I maybe willing to budge a LITTLE bit..

Thanks guys, hope to see you around on the forums! /img/vbsmilies/smilies/icon14.gif

 

[dabac]

That may not be as easy/successful as you might think.

Although I can't answer for all road bikes, last one I tried putting a rack on was just too flexy.
Empty it rode fine. But just with a change of clothes and my lunchbox in the pannier it became another beast entirely.

Next thing is that your bike seems to have fairly short chain stays, which means that you may end up having issues with your heel hitting the pannier, AKA heel strikes.
I've seen one rack with stays that cantilevered forwards, which would sort that out. Don't remember where though.
Otherwise, it's no big deal extending a rack rearwards with some round bar and a couple of hose clamps.

On the good side though your bike appears to have a rack mounting spot - or at least I can see something about 1" below where the seatstays meet the seat tube. Try an M5or an M6 screw in there, see if they'll take thread.
And there is an eyelet down by the dropout as well. Be wary about the drive side screw, if it's too long it'll interfere with the chain/cassette.

Dedicated racks for panniers will have an extra bough extending vertically from the rearmost point of the rack before heading forwards. They're there to prevent the pannier from swinging into the wheel. Maybe you need it for bigger panniers, but I've done fine w/o them.

Top of the line panniers are probably Ortlieb and Vaude, and they sure know to charge you for them.
Excellent quality though. Don't know if I'll ever wear mine out. Ortlieb Rollpacker in particular has a real easy and solid way of lifting/carrying it off the bike.
Less expensive panniers can often have decent bags, but poorer hangers.
If you plan to leave the panniers on the bike, I know several people who are entirely happy with department-store panniers zip-tied to their bikes.

If you're planning to ride enough to merit panniers, consider fenders. Unless you're in one of those places where weather(=rain) is seasonally predictable and in practice avoidable, fenders will keep you much cleaner. And if the front one is long enough, it'll extend the life of your drivetrain. W/o a (long) front fender, the front wheel will send a rooster tail of water and road grime straight on to your cranks and chain.

 

[Volnix]

Its probably a good idea to get something like this for the shopping:



and only use the road bike for the other rides. /img/vbsmilies/smilies/smile.gif

 

[l200]

Originally Posted by dabac .

That may not be as easy/successful as you might think.

Although I can't answer for all road bikes, last one I tried putting a rack on was just too flexy.
Empty it rode fine. But just with a change of clothes and my lunchbox in the pannier it became another beast entirely.

Next thing is that your bike seems to have fairly short chain stays, which means that you may end up having issues with your heel hitting the pannier, AKA heel strikes.
I've seen one rack with stays that cantilevered forwards, which would sort that out. Don't remember where though.
Otherwise, it's no big deal extending a rack rearwards with some round bar and a couple of hose clamps.

On the good side though your bike appears to have a rack mounting spot - or at least I can see something about 1" below where the seatstays meet the seat tube. Try an M5or an M6 screw in there, see if they'll take thread.
And there is an eyelet down by the dropout as well. Be wary about the drive side screw, if it's too long it'll interfere with the chain/cassette.

Dedicated racks for panniers will have an extra bough extending vertically from the rearmost point of the rack before heading forwards. They're there to prevent the pannier from swinging into the wheel. Maybe you need it for bigger panniers, but I've done fine w/o them.

Top of the line panniers are probably Ortlieb and Vaude, and they sure know to charge you for them.
Excellent quality though. Don't know if I'll ever wear mine out. Ortlieb Rollpacker in particular has a real easy and solid way of lifting/carrying it off the bike.
Less expensive panniers can often have decent bags, but poorer hangers.
If you plan to leave the panniers on the bike, I know several people who are entirely happy with department-store panniers zip-tied to their bikes.

If you're planning to ride enough to merit panniers, consider fenders. Unless you're in one of those places where weather(=rain) is seasonally predictable and in practice avoidable, fenders will keep you much cleaner. And if the front one is long enough, it'll extend the life of your drivetrain. W/o a (long) front fender, the front wheel will send a rooster tail of water and road grime straight on to your cranks and chain.

I am new to cycling/road bikes so please forgive me if I make some dumb questions.. That being said, I want to make sure that the rack can handle the weight without any issues. I plan to carry anywhere from 10-25(MAX)lb's of weight on the back, will this be a problem for a light road bike like this? Where does the weight of the panniers go to, the wheel or the frame, etc?

Since I invested about $500 into a road bike, I don't think I want to go with simple zip ties as I want something stable/doesn't look out of place on the bike.

I live in an area with seasonal rain so fenders are of little to no use for me.

Thanks for all this input, I appreciate it!

Originally Posted by Volnix .

Its probably a good idea to get something like this for the shopping:



and only use the road bike for the other rides. /img/vbsmilies/smilies/smile.gif

Well I don't plan to do HEAVY shopping but I would like to be able to bring lunch in a tuboware container, water, a book or two, and some light shopping such as vegetables/box of cereal. Like I said above, 10-25lb's is what I foresee the weight range being.

 

[Volnix]

Originally Posted by l200 .


I am new to cycling/road bikes so please forgive me if I make some dumb questions.. That being said, I want to make sure that the rack can handle the weight without any issues. I plan to carry anywhere from 10-25(MAX)lb's of weight on the back, will this be a problem for a light road bike like this? Where does the weight of the panniers go to, the wheel or the frame, etc?

Since I invested about $500 into a road bike, I don't think I want to go with simple zip ties as I want something stable/doesn't look out of place on the bike.

I live in an area with seasonal rain so fenders are of little to no use for me.

Thanks for all this input, I appreciate it!
Well I don't plan to do HEAVY shopping but I would like to be able to bring lunch in a tuboware container, water, a book or two, and some light shopping such as vegetables/box of cereal. Like I said above, 10-25lb's is what I foresee the weight range being.

The load limits of the bike can be obtained from the manufacturer. For example some bikes are designed for 100kg of total weight and some state that passenger weight of 80kg + 25kg of luggage is the max. load of the design. Checking with the manufacturer would probably solve this.

The weight from the rack goes to the dropouts of the frame and some will go to the seatstays too. (When very loaded the panniers tend to tilt the bike a bit when turning...). They are also not that fast to remove and reinstall. Racks are also rarely used but they cant be easily removed.

A handlebar bag like this one would probably work just fine too without needing to install a rack:

 

[vspa]

a solution to install the rack using two clamps, one to close the seatpost and another to clamp the rack on a road bike, but you still need extra eyelets on the dropouts in the back, most roadbikes don't have it, there might the possibility of finding an adaptor to solve that one, Uploaded with ImageShack.us

 

[CAMPYBOB]

My wife would kill me if I took a bike into the shower, vspa!

 

[vspa]

lol i bet she would !

 

[dabac]

Originally Posted by l200 .


.., I want to make sure that the rack can handle the weight without any issues. I plan to carry anywhere from 10-25(MAX)lb's of weight on the back, will this be a problem for a light road bike like this?
I don't think I want to go with simple zip ties as I want something stable/doesn't look out of place on the bike.

It's not a question of the bike or the rack breaking, it's a question of how the bike will feel/handle when you add some weight like that. And there's the question about how sensitive you are to changes like that. Some will shrug off just about anything, while others can be very, very sensitive.

And don't sneer at the zip ties. Apart from not being easily detachable, if you pick the right dimension they'll hold something like a pannier just as safe as anyone would wish for. And once you trim off the excess length, the fix won't be visible unless you're looking real close at the rack.

 

[oldbobcat]

The S40 frame has a relatively rugged frame, compared to carbon or a more high performance aluminum like the low-number Speedsters or the high-number Cannondale CAADs. If you had bought a Trek 1 series bike, it would have had eyelets in the dropouts and rack mounting bosses on the seat stays, but no, you had to buy a Scott.

But hey, I think the Scott's cooler, but you'll have to be creative. Get a pair of P-clamps for the bottom of the seat stays and a monostay adapter (I think vspa has one of these on his FCR) for the seat tube just below the clamp. Your local shop should be able to order these from J&B or QBP, and show you how to mount the rack if you don't want to pay them to do it.

I recommend Bontrager Trunk racks. They are amazingly stiff and light, and easy to mount with tubular stays that are long enough to work with standard and compact frames of just about any size. Scott Speedster geometry is quite racy, with a short wheelbase, tight clearances, and nimble steering, so you will need to be wary of what a small load does to the handling, but this shouldn't be a deal-breaker.

 

[l200]

Originally Posted by Volnix .

The load limits of the bike can be obtained from the manufacturer. For example some bikes are designed for 100kg of total weight and some state that passenger weight of 80kg + 25kg of luggage is the max. load of the design. Checking with the manufacturer would probably solve this.

The weight from the rack goes to the dropouts of the frame and some will go to the seatstays too. (When very loaded the panniers tend to tilt the bike a bit when turning...). They are also not that fast to remove and reinstall. Racks are also rarely used but they cant be easily removed.

A handlebar bag like this one would probably work just fine too without needing to install a rack:

I checked the manafactures website and road bike reviews but could not find the max weight /img/vbsmilies/smilies/nonono2.gif. The handlebar bag seems like something I would use if I just wanted to bring a few small things but I would like to have the option of carrying clothes, shoes, etc like a pannier allows.

I noticed that you said racks are rarely used.. What do you mean by this? Do you mean for road bikes or ..?

Originally Posted by vspa .

a solution to install the rack using two clamps, one to close the seatpost and another to clamp the rack on a road bike,
but you still need extra eyelets on the dropouts in the back, most roadbikes don't have it, there might the possibility of finding an adaptor to solve that one,

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Could you give me a list and/or links (where I can buy them) of the parts I would need as I am new to this lol. I am not sure what an eyelet is either /img/vbsmilies/smilies/eek.gif. I looked it up on amazon but nothing comes up for bike parts. I am assuming my bike doesn't have eyelets on the back..? What is the adapter that I am looking for called?

Also, why is your bike in the bathtub lol. How do you bathe/shower?

Originally Posted by dabac .

It's not a question of the bike or the rack breaking, it's a question of how the bike will feel/handle when you add some weight like that. And there's the question about how sensitive you are to changes like that. Some will shrug off just about anything, while others can be very, very sensitive.

And don't sneer at the zip ties. Apart from not being easily detachable, if you pick the right dimension they'll hold something like a pannier just as safe as anyone would wish for. And once you trim off the excess length, the fix won't be visible unless you're looking real close at the rack.

I am not a professional cyclist as you probably have noticed haha. I just got my first road bike (the s40 2011 edition) so I doubt I would be sensitive. For the zipties, I thought you were referring to mounting the rack with zip ties thats why I was uncertain. For the pannier, I don't see why it wouldn't hold up.

Originally Posted by oldbobcat .

The S40 frame has a relatively rugged frame, compared to carbon or a more high performance aluminum like the low-number Speedsters or the high-number Cannondale CAADs. If you had bought a Trek 1 series bike, it would have had eyelets in the dropouts and rack mounting bosses on the seat stays, but no, you had to buy a Scott.

But hey, I think the Scott's cooler, but you'll have to be creative. Get a pair of P-clamps for the bottom of the seat stays and a monostay adapter (I think vspa has one of these on his FCR) for the seat tube just below the clamp. Your local shop should be able to order these from J&B or QBP, and show you how to mount the rack if you don't want to pay them to do it.

I recommend Bontrager Trunk racks. They are amazingly stiff and light, and easy to mount with tubular stays that are long enough to work with standard and compact frames of just about any size. Scott Speedster geometry is quite racy, with a short wheelbase, tight clearances, and nimble steering, so you will need to be wary of what a small load does to the handling, but this shouldn't be a deal-breaker.

I was able to find the monostay adapter on amazon but no P-clamps for bicycles as amazon has them for cars mostly.

I am a bit concerned about your last statement. What will it do to the handling? I get the vibe that me carrying around 15-25lbs will make me loose control and crash at even the slighest handlebar movement /img/vbsmilies/smilies/duck.gif/img/vbsmilies/smilies/mad.gif. In your opinion, is putting a pannier on this bike for 15-25lbs a waste because the bike is not meant for it? I COULD sell it (prefer not to!) but I liked this scott because it is a quick budget road bike that is fun to ride. I don't want to ruin the bike either.

I will look into the Bontrager Trunk racks. Is there certain dimmension or specs that I need for this to work or will any rack size/dimmensions do?

 

[dabac]

P-clamps are not vehicle specific. They're generic fasterners to clamp anything round to something else. You just buy them according to the diameter of whatever round thing you want to attack them to - in this case either chainstay or seatstay.

But take a close look look at your dropouts,isn't there a small threaded hole there? That'd be an eyelet. Likewise as I wrote, about 1" down from the seatstay / seat tube junction.

And again, MY experience of rack and pannier on MY road bike was that ride characteristics suffered. Still rideable, but not as fun. And as I had another bike that could take panniers (almost) w/o degradation, I used that instead.

But YOUR bike, and YOUR experience may be different. Or maybe you only have one bike. Then suck up the poor rides, and enjoy the good rides when you can empty/unhook the pannier. THe rack alone won't be noticed.

 

[Volnix]

Originally Posted by l200 .


I checked the manafactures website and road bike reviews but could not find the max weight /img/vbsmilies/smilies/nonono2.gif. The handlebar bag seems like something I would use if I just wanted to bring a few small things but I would like to have the option of carrying clothes, shoes, etc like a pannier allows.

I noticed that you said racks are rarely used.. What do you mean by this? Do you mean for road bikes or ..?

Hmmm, weird I checked the specialized website the other day and they had a whole list with each model and the max. load figures there. Maybe by email they would send a list like that?

Basically I ment that after installing the rack, which is like 4 screws and adjustment on the frame, its used maybe once to carry something in a pannier and then most of the time its not used for anything whilst still carrying it around on the bike allthough there is no purpose for it to be there, just in case that once a month you might carry something bulky. That probably happens because racks are hard to remove. Plus panniers are not that easy to install and remove either. Some need to be secured in at least 2 or 3 places on the rack and when bored to place and remove those too then there is an aerodynamic drag as well as the rack to carry around. /img/vbsmilies/smilies/biggrin.gif Panniers are cool I guess if you go touring once and then just remove them. But keeping a rack on the bike just to carry something once every two months... Maybe a bag would be much simpler. /img/vbsmilies/smilies/biggrin.gif

 

[qdc15]

Old Man Mountain makes racks for any bike. A seatpost pannier rack might work for you.

 

[vspa]

http://www.thetouringstore.com/ ( an eyelet is a small hole design to clamp stuff on, touring bikes get those in the fork and in the back, sometimes two in each side for racks and for fenders ) but you will be allright with adapters,

 

[oldbobcat]

Originally Posted by l200 .


I checked the manafactures website and road bike reviews but could not find the max weight /img/vbsmilies/smilies/nonono2.gif. The handlebar bag seems like something I would use if I just wanted to bring a few small things but I would like to have the option of carrying clothes, shoes, etc like a pannier allows.

I noticed that you said racks are rarely used.. What do you mean by this? Do you mean for road bikes or ..?


Could you give me a list and/or links (where I can buy them) of the parts I would need as I am new to this lol. I am not sure what an eyelet is either /img/vbsmilies/smilies/eek.gif. I looked it up on amazon but nothing comes up for bike parts. I am assuming my bike doesn't have eyelets on the back..? What is the adapter that I am looking for called?

Also, why is your bike in the bathtub lol. How do you bathe/shower?
I am not a professional cyclist as you probably have noticed haha. I just got my first road bike (the s40 2011 edition) so I doubt I would be sensitive. For the zipties, I thought you were referring to mounting the rack with zip ties thats why I was uncertain. For the pannier, I don't see why it wouldn't hold up.
I was able to find the monostay adapter on amazon but no P-clamps for bicycles as amazon has them for cars mostly.

I am a bit concerned about your last statement. What will it do to the handling? I get the vibe that me carrying around 15-25lbs will make me loose control and crash at even the slighest handlebar movement /img/vbsmilies/smilies/duck.gif/img/vbsmilies/smilies/mad.gif. In your opinion, is putting a pannier on this bike for 15-25lbs a waste because the bike is not meant for it? I COULD sell it (prefer not to!) but I liked this scott because it is a quick budget road bike that is fun to ride. I don't want to ruin the bike either.

I will look into the Bontrager Trunk racks. Is there certain dimmension or specs that I need for this to work or will any rack size/dimmensions do?

P-clamps:

And here's the link to the catalog page from Niagara Cycle Works, where I found these: http://www.niagaracycle.com/product_info.php?products_id=401480. They should also have monostay adapters, too, and racks, and I've ordered quite a bit of stuff from these guys and they're really upfront. But if you're a noob, I really advise going to a bike shop to make sure you get the right sizes. They'll charge a bit more but you won't have to pay shipping.

The Bontrager rack I'm speaking of is called the BackRack. Sorry about messing the name. Here's a photo. The "L" (large) is for road bikes larger than 54 cm, "S" (small) for road bikes smaller than 54. I guess if your bike is a 54, you have another good reason to see a Trek dealer about getting the right size. But the only difference might be the length of the two adjustable horizontal stays (S uses longer ones). These can be trimmed with a hacksaw or pipe cutter after fitting. These really are a cinch to fit and mount, and they're strong and they don't sway under load.

And, instead of the monostay adapter that can scratch the frame and slip and is a butt-pain to install, Bontrager has this nifty eyeleted seat post clamp.


The reason I brought up handling is that on a bike with a short wheelbase such as yours, the center of gravity of the load usually ends up directly over or a bit behind the rear axle, which would reduce the weight over the front wheel, sort of like stuffing anvils into the trunk of a Miata. Also, the short stays might mean kicking the bags with your heels. In the old days, as in the '70s, sport bikes were more like touring bikes without racks and fenders, so they were more stable when carrying loads. Of course, they were also a lot less fun. Just be aware, select panniers carefully, mount the heaviest part of the load as far forward as possible, and adjust your riding for whatever you're carrying.