I've never owned a sleeping bag let alone a mountain bike

[venta]

So, cycling persons... I need a recommendation. I want to buy a rear pannier, but I want one that turns into a rucksack when it's not on the bike. I know these exist, because I know someone who's got one. But they seem to be very thin on the ground (or, possibly, are known by a particular name which I do not know and thus cannot google for). Needs to be large enough to fit a 15" laptop and a bunch of other stuff, and should have a few zippy pockets.

I am currently using a Hamax pannier rack - I don't know how much variation there is in racks, or whether there are different systems for fixing, so any advice on that would be welcome.

If you're going to do the classic LJ-answer-thing and tell me why I don't want what I think I want but should instead buy something totally different, please read the detailed bit below :)

1. Yes, I know having one pannier on unbalances the bike. But I've been doing it (with a borrowed pannier) for a few months now and I'm ok with that. Yes, I could just put my laptop in a normal rucksack to carry it when I'm cycling; I did that for around 6 months and ended up with quite a sore back. Even if I could find a better rucksack, I vastly prefer cycling without one.

2. Yes, I does have to convert into a backpack. I have a lot of neck problems, and carrying a shoulder bag (currently the borrowed pannier) is doing me no good at all. I don't care how comfy/padded/supportive the shoulder strap/handle is, I wanna rucksack! Having to carry the bag some distance without the bike is unavoidable in my current commuting pattern.

3. Today in my bag I have: 15" laptop, waterproof trousers, lights, gloves, hat, lunchbox, gym kit, magazine (because I couldn't fit in a book). It all just fits into the borrowed pannier. I'd like a little more space if possible. That pannier is also just like a big bucket with not much in the way of pockets - all the little bits (pen, puncture repair kit, sweets) just rattle about at the bottom.

3a. I'm currently using one of those neoprene sleeve things to protect the laptop, so although it'd be nice if the rucksack had an inbuilt laptop-pocket, it's not the end of the world if it doesn't.

4. The borrowed pannier hooks onto the rack with a series of plastic hooks, which seem to have developed plastic fatigue and are shearing off one by one. I reckon it will become useless if one more goes (at present it's fine so long as I don't hop off kerbs too violently). Something which has a more robust attachment mechanism would be nicer.

In other cycling news, I finally decided I was brave/balanced enough to put my seat up to the proper height for the length of my legs. Whereupon my nasty very-uncomfortable-saddle problem promptly vanished. Which just means I should have listened to alien8 and put the saddle up in the first place :)

Comments

[rabbit1080.livejournal.com]

slightly bigger pannier-bag wot fits a smallish proper rucksack? keep the trousers, gloves & hat in the pannier-bag during the day? (assuming you only wear them whilst cycling)

the best rucksack i ever found for cycling was sold as a climbing rucksack. it's quite narrow across the shoulders, so you can still move your arms a lot and most of the weight is at about waist-height. it fitted my old 13" laptop, but a 15" one might be a little ambitious. possibly worth a try though.

one of my prejudices is that it's preferable to carry your laptop on your back rather than in a pannier-bag, so it gets less vibration from cycling. reduces wear-and-tear on moving parts (esp hard-drives). i haven't done any scientific studies on this though, due to an unfortunate lack of volunteers for donating control-laptops.

good rucksacks have a waistband so that most of the weight is on your hips rather than on your shoulders. looks a bit pants but works a treat for not getting sore shoulders :-)

neoprene laptop sleeves are awesome. yes i am biased.

[venta.livejournal.com]

slightly bigger pannier-bag wot fits a smallish proper rucksack?

Not a goer, unfortunately. My bike lives overnight at Reading station, which means I have to take all detachable bits off it - so I'd still have to carry the pannier bag :)

I can see your point about it being preferable to carry the laptop on one's back, but I care more about me than I do about my laptop :) It's not a sore-shoulder issue; I got a lot of lower back pain and also found it greatly reduced my ability to twist to look behind me. On account of the stuffed neck, I do most of my turning in my back and it just didn't work well when wearing a rucksack.

[rabbit1080.livejournal.com]

Ah, yes, overnighting at a train-station is probably not a good idea for a pannier-bag :)

I assume you have a bike-rack on your bike, on which you attach a pannier-bag? I used to strap a ruck-sack to the top of suck a bike-rack. I used one of those adjustable tapes-with-clippy-things wot they sell at outdoors shops (just as long as the clips are very tough). That way I had a proper ruck-sack that was comfortable to wear. I made sure the tape went through a few loops of rucksack-handle, so even if the rucksack slipped loose it wouldn't fall far, giving me valuable seconds to find a safe spot to stop and fix up the mess.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Ah, yes, overnighting at a train-station is probably not a good idea for a pannier-bag :)

Out of curiosity, I left the (defunct) frame-fit pump on the bike to see if anyone pinched it. In around a year, they haven't. Although they did pinch my nice green bell (http://venta.livejournal.com/351415.html#cutid1).

I don't think a bag would be wise, though :)

[rabbit1080.livejournal.com]

ps. i use these straps to tie my kayak to the roof-rack on my car. the fastener is really easy to use and very tough, which is a nice combination. the straps come in different lengths (well, you could also cut to length :) tends to be a surf-shop thing cos of the roof-rack association. http://www.sidssurfshack.co.uk/rhino-3m-tie-down-straps.html

since i discovered these, i don't like bungee-cords any more. especially for something heavy.

[feanelwa.livejournal.com]

Hey, another one! Where do you paddle?

[rabbit1080.livejournal.com]

:)
I live in Perth, Western Australia. I generally paddle at the beach (which is pretty sheltered from waves, so mostly there's not much surf). Although I went paddling on the river with BIL and his new wife last weekend.

[feanelwa.livejournal.com]

I have yet to go on the sea! I go to the River Don near Sheffield, UK. It's not very exciting but I'm not very good yet! I will go to Anglesey in April and get my first salt-water capsizes in...

[venta.livejournal.com]

I have very fond memories of playing tiggy on the River Tees when I was a teenager. The Tees (at that point) was extremely flat, shallow and uninteresting but it was still a lot of fun.

(Our rules - you have one football, to "tig" someone you simply have to hit their canoe with the football. Obviously it has to be a light plastic football to avoid damage/risking causing someone to capsize. Time-out penalty if you hit a human rather than their canoe. Works best in quite a small area, good for improving manouevering rather than speed/strength.)

I've only been in a kayak once in about the last 20 years, when I was on holiday a few years ago. I was really surprised how much I remembered - and even more surprised at just how much my muscles hurt for the next 3-4 days. Turns out muscle memory doesn't imply you still have the strength to do what the muscles remember :)

[feanelwa.livejournal.com]

Ahh, that sounds great fun. I wonder if the kids at canoeing would be up for that (and in a couple of cases, non-dangerous enough). I definitely would but I suspect they would thrash me because they are smaller!