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.

[j4.livejournal.com]

I won't say "you don't want the thing you say you want", but I will say "don't get one like I used to have", which was a rucksack that zipped on to the pannier-back bit that attached to the bike (if you see what I mean). The zip between the rucksack and the bike-attachment-bit was the weak point, and eventually broke while I was cycling, which meant I suddenly had a rucksack trailing in my wheels, half-attached to the bike, impossible to unzip from the bike-attachment bit because of the broken zip. Messy and awkward and potentially dangerous. So, er, beware of zips. Sorry if that's not very helpful! :-}

(These days I just have a rear basket which I can put any bag in.)

[mr-tom.livejournal.com]

I'm not a pannier person, but the received wisdom is Ortlieb or Carradice, both of whom make a panner-backpack thing.

Another option is to use a regular backpack, bungeed to the top of the pannier rack.

[mister-jack.livejournal.com]

Not to do the LJ thing but... is there a reason not to get a normal laptop backtop and put it on a rack positioned above the rear wheel?

Otherwise, I found this which lets you convert a normal panier into a backpack (reviewed here) - which might be useful?

[feanelwa.livejournal.com]

There must be a good engineering solution to this that doesn't knacker the laptop. I mean, the human race can make microscopes three stories high that withstand magnitude 6 earthquakes without bashing the sub-millimetre cleared parts together. Things on bicycles ought to have a lot less leverage to cause damage than that for a similar job.

[hirez.livejournal.com]

At this point I tend to turn to the Edinburgh Bicycle catalogue, but while there are rucsacks, panniers and laptop bags, there isn't A rucsack-laptop-pannier-bag.

I'd go for wire basket bolted to top of pannier rack with rucsack therein.

[ruanae.livejournal.com]

I know very little about bikes and panniers etc

But a bit of googling turned up
http://www.carradice.co.uk/products/type/carradry-rucksack-pannier

Don't know if its any use though...

[dr-bob.livejournal.com]

I use an Arkel shoulder bag/panier. Very robust and waterproof (although the hook part of the attachment got mangled in my spokes last year). When I was looking into it a few years back, they were the only people who made a rucksack/panier (the bug). There is a dedicated computer sleeve you can add which keeps the computer from banging on the ground when you put the bag down.
Summary of Arkel commuter paniers here .

[ewx.livejournal.com]

I routinely cycle with one pannier; I've never noticed any balance problem as a result.

I don't have any special knowledge about how to find a backpack pannier. I do have a warning which might or might not apply to them: my panniers have a shoulder strap but if you use this often then the hooks that attach the pannier to the rack wear a hole in the back of your coat.

At least for the pannier I have, it's possible to get replacement hooks for when they break. Obviously if they break regularly then that's rubbish though…

[smorgasbord.livejournal.com]

Probably not helpful what with you wanting to leave it in a station but I use large cheap panniers and then place eveything inside that in their own bag. They are not easily detachable so safe against idle thieves and if they do eventually get nicked then they did not cost a lot.

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/basil-mara-35-litre-double-pannier-bike-bag/

[alien8.livejournal.com]

nothing to add ref Rucksack. thing. Carradice are interesting and I have a few things from them - they work.

Ref Seating postition *aw* shucks. Glad you did it, I'm thinking of your knees here. Now consider moving the saddle back a bit. mmkay? use those glutes :)