Panniers or trailer?

[Moto700]

Which do you use or would use and why? I'm planning a long distance trip next year (I hope) and working on the logistics now.

 

[bjjoondo]

We've only done one multi-day tour and a couple of weekenders but so far a set of panniers for each bike has worked very well. I confess we did what we call a Visa Card tour, ie: no camping and no cooking of meals so we didn't need max. packing space. IF, we decide to "tent camp", then I'll be looking at a purchase of a BoB trailer to carry camping gear, etc. I just kinda dread the idea of pulling a trailer up a pass, especially if we take the "Tandem" instead of the singles! :O

 

[Moto700]

Originally Posted by bjjoondo .

We've only done one multi-day tour and a couple of weekenders but so far a set of panniers for each bike has worked very well. I confess we did what we call a Visa Card tour, ie: no camping and no cooking of meals so we didn't need max. packing space. IF, we decide to "tent camp", then I'll be looking at a purchase of a BoB trailer to carry camping gear, etc. I just kinda dread the idea of pulling a trailer up a pass, especially if we take the "Tandem" instead of the singles! :O

Yeah, I could see how a trailer would be a a little problematic with a tandem. In the reading I've done so far there are two types of trailers, single wheel such as the BoB and two wheel like the Burly Nomad. Each has its pros and cons. Single wheels are better suited to off road excursions with a narrower width and better handeling off paved surfaces but are more easily affected by cross winds on paved roads and from passing cars and trucks. Two wheel trailers are better suited to paved surfaces and more stable, plus drivers tend to give you more room passing because of the width, but because of the 2 wheels have a greater rolling resistance and are less manuverablle off road in narrow trails.Still trying to if I want to carry or pull. Thanks for the info.

 

[Aushiker]

Hi Both in my case If I am off-road touring and hence using my Giant XTC 2 mountain bike, e.g., as per this ride of the Munda Biddi then I pull the trailer, a BOB Ibex. However, based on my last tour in July I will now be fitting a front rack to this bike and will use a set of front panniers in combination with the trailer. I am doing this as I find the weight distribution is to much to the rear and hence particularly on the single track I am pulling the front up way to much ... On the road I have gone with panniers only and with trailer only (well plus one pannier). My decision with these rides came to down to how I am getting to the start of the tour. On the Geraldton to Perth ride I caught the bus to Geraldton so using the trailer was my preferred option. On the Esperance to Perth ride it involved flying, so the easier option was taking panniers. With my planned Dreaming Tour from Darwin to Perth, I will be pulling a trailer behind the Surly LHT which will also have a full set of panniers simply because I will be carrying on some sections in excess of two weeks of food and in excess of 25 litres of water. So for me no hard and fast rule ... more about need and convenience. Andrew

 

[Moto700]

Originally Posted by Aushiker .

Hi

Both in my case /img/vbsmilies/smilies/smile.gif

If I am off-road touring and hence using my Giant XTC 2 mountain bike, e.g., as per this ride of the Munda Biddi then I pull the trailer, a BOB Ibex. However, based on my last tour in July I will now be fitting a front rack to this bike and will use a set of front panniers in combination with the trailer. I am doing this as I find the weight distribution is to much to the rear and hence particularly on the single track I am pulling the front up way to much ...




On the road I have gone with panniers only and with trailer only (well plus one pannier). My decision with these rides came to down to how I am getting to the start of the tour. On the Geraldton to Perth ride I caught the bus to Geraldton so using the trailer was my preferred option. On the Esperance to Perth ride it involved flying, so the easier option was taking panniers.





With my planned Dreaming Tour from Darwin to Perth, I will be pulling a trailer behind the Surly LHT which will also have a full set of panniers simply because I will be carrying on some sections in excess of two weeks of food and in excess of 25 litres of water.

So for me no hard and fast rule ... more about need and convenience.

Andrew

Thank you for the details! This is a big help and gives me a lot to think about. Good luck on your Dreaming Tour. Will you be blogging this? I'd like to keep up with your progress. Thanks again Andrew and Happy Pedaling. Patrick

 

[Aushiker]

Hi Patrick Glad to be of help. I will document the Dreaming Tour but not sure if I will do this via my blog as an end of the trip right up or via CrazyGuyOnABike. Need to give that some thought. If all goes to plan the ride will take place in the dry next year (July to September ish). Andrew

 

[Moto700]

If all goes well, a very big "if", I will already be in or on my way or in Seattle by then. Houston to Seattle, 1600+ miles.

 

[roundsidedown]

I have always used Panniers, I do a fully self suprot type of touring that as often as not means that I have to at some point "lift my load" over things in order to get to some campping spots. and In my minds eye I see this as being hard eunoug as it is, without adding a trailer to the mix....I also have been giving many a ride that likely never would have happend if my load where any bigger. I begain bike touring in the mid 80's and this photo was taken in 7/15/2012......Just two weeks ago. I just came off the road after 2 months and will be going back out in Oct or so......I ride on any roadway Dirt,gravel, and ofcourse blacktop.

 

[Volnix]

1600 miles??? Wow... That is gonna be a long ride lololol

I never used a trailer, I think of them useful only in carrying bulky items that you cannot fit on panniers. If you have full panniers and a trailer that would probably be very very slow on the road...

I used a combination of panniers and strapping some gear on top of the rack once and it worked fine for about 160km. Until the bike broke down /img/vbsmilies/smilies/biggrin.gif. (Nexus-7 hub, not easy to repair on the beach... /img/vbsmilies/smilies/smile.gif). I think the bike is more important in a trip like that...

If you try to do that with very limited items, like jacket-blanket-pillow-combination etc items then you might be fine with just a pair of panniers and a tent.

I think that very high-end camping and trekking products (especially the climbing stuff) pay off well in situations like that. If you can get a 1kg heavy 3 person tent instead of a 3kg heavy 2 person tent etc you will be more comfortable with less weight etc.

Water might be an issue if you make stops in longer then 40km sections. I think that up to 30km daily is fine so you wont get tired... This way you can carry 4litres of water which is not that heavy. Getting totally stranded is not a good idea, especially alone. You dont want to end up like this guy from the "into the wild movie". /img/vbsmilies/smilies/biggrin.gif

The panniers should be very waterproof though... /img/vbsmilies/smilies/biggrin.gif

 

[gudujarlson]

On my last trip, 4 days 360 miles, I left the panniers at home and used waterproof nylon compression bags strapped to my aluminum road race bike. Bike and gear weighed 38 pounds. I didn't carry food or cooking equipment, but I did have 40F (4C) camping gear. The bike handled magnificently and I was able to cover 90 miles/day. I don't think I will go back to heavy panniers.

 

[v1pro]

For credit card touring, rear rack with small panniers does the trick for me! I also install a handlebar bag to help out with little items like camera, food, map and reading cue sheets. In colder weather I have larger bags to carry normal pants, shirt, shoes and fleece jacket if needed.

 

[v1pro]

For credit card touring, rear rack with small panniers does the trick for me! I also install a handlebar bag to help out with little items like camera, food, map and reading cue sheets. In colder weather I have larger bags to carry normal pants, shirt, shoes and fleece jacket if needed.

 

[roundsidedown]

I always find it rather funny that every time bike tourist come together and talk about Panniers over trailers,,,,,the cridet carders coma along and tell about there thing. I doubt that to many folk's that are thinking about out fitting a "touring" bike with panniers or a trailer care how a guy on a race bike and a credit card are doing much of anything......I'm just saying

 

[vspa]

I always find it rather funny that every time bike tourist come together and talk about Panniers over trailers,,,,,the cridet carders coma along and tell about there thing. I doubt that to many folk's that are thinking about out fitting a "touring" bike with panniers or a trailer care how a guy on a race bike and a credit card are doing much of anything......I'm just saying

even on a self supported tour the credit card is needed, less but still needed, but i see your point,