How Can I Put Smart Luggage With Wheels Onto Bicycle Rack?

General cycling advice ( NOT technical ! )
ship69
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How Can I Put Smart Luggage With Wheels Onto Bicycle Rack?

Post by ship69 »

Hello

Background:
I need to buy some sort of smart over night luggage (for a 2 night stay) onto a bicycle... that I can then take onto public transport (train, bus, tube etc). I am going to smart business meetings so whatever form of luggage I get, it must be fairly smart as well as being pretty much waterproof in case it rains. I have a robust rack on my bicycle that can handle panniers.

Which should I buy:

A) A rucksac ?
(Not so smart, and less good for heavy weights within urban environment. Also tends to crush smart cloths. Also may not fit into aeroplane cabins should I use it for that... Also tends to be difficult to store in over-head luggage racks. Also the rucksac straps tend to rather destroy the shape of any smart jacket I'm wearing at the time.)

B) A small 'cabin' bag with handle & wheels?
But if so, how can I attach such a thing onto the bike's panniers?

Any advise?

J
alicat
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Re: How Can I Put Smart Luggage With Wheels Onto Bicycle Rac

Post by alicat »

Yes - check out Cyclechat for the answers to your post on that forum.
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Re: How Can I Put Smart Luggage With Wheels Onto Bicycle Rac

Post by Vorpal »

This may not be the answer you are looking for, but my solution is to buy smart clothes that are wrinkle-free. M&S make some nice ones (crease resistant), and for reasonable prices, too :) I roll them up and they look fine the other end. I can pack a suit in my laptop bag that way.

Otherwise, if you want to put one of those wheeled carry-on bags on to your luggage rack, just get a couple of small cargo straps, and strap it down tight, or use a motorcycle cargo net.

Another possible alternative is to buy a garment bag with handles. It can be rolled up & strapped to your rack, then carried by the handles, as luggage. Any place that sells luggage will have them, and they're usually fairly inexpensive. They are usually reasonably waterproof, but if it's rolled up, you can also just stick it in a bin bag to protect it, then leave the bin bag with your bike.
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foxyrider
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Re: How Can I Put Smart Luggage With Wheels Onto Bicycle Rac

Post by foxyrider »

Ortlieb used to make a trolley case with a racktop mounting, they don't now but you can still buy the fixing system so you could make one from any reasonable ABS flight bag
Convention? what's that then?
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NUKe
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Re: How Can I Put Smart Luggage With Wheels Onto Bicycle Rac

Post by NUKe »

Panniers would be the ideal solution. Ortlieb roll tops are waterproof, carradice also have some smartone designed for city commuters, Basil do some boxy type ones and there are rack mounting hard shell cases. if your worried about taking them in to client meeting, I wouldn't.
If this is a one off rather than recouring use a travel case or small holdall and use bungee straps or a cargo net to fix to the top of the pannier rack. pack very carefully. use what they call butler folds to minimise creasing.

Another trick I used when travelling on business was to hang my clothes up in the bathroom, turn the shower on hot, the steam helps remove the creases

http://www.carradice.co.uk/index.php?pa ... saddlebags

http://www.rosebikes.se/artikel/ortlieb ... aid:498318
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Elizabeth_S
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Re: How Can I Put Smart Luggage With Wheels Onto Bicycle Rac

Post by Elizabeth_S »

I bought an Osprey Farpoint 40 travel on luggage pack over wheeled luggage for a recent trip, it looks good and you can tie your smart stuff down firmly and the back pack part zips away, it has a laptop sleeve, and it is carry on size. Haven't tried to get it on a bike though and it isn't completely waterproof (no rucksack is). I packed enough for a 5 day sightseeing trip to the Netherlands easily and it was comfortable on my back.
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Re: How Can I Put Smart Luggage With Wheels Onto Bicycle Rac

Post by Vorpal »

You can alwas buy a rucksack raincover http://www.amazon.co.uk/Trekmates-Water ... B0041GCRIW sort of thing comes in different sizes and colours. They are adjustable, so it's possible to get one that is too big, then put it over the whole bag on the bike. It won't be perfectly waterproof. It should be enough for most journeys, just not a whole day out the bike in a downpour.
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ship69
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Re: How Can I Put Smart Luggage With Wheels Onto Bicycle Rac

Post by ship69 »

Interesting. Thanks. To answer some of your questions it needs to be much larger than a briefcase, and it MUST have wheels!
Re budget, I dont mind spending the money so long as I can use it on an aeroplane and so long as looks fairly pretty smart. It needs to be as large as possible that will still be allowed into a British airline cabin (i.e. must be squeezable down to 55 x 40 x 20 cm). I can't decide if it should be a solid shell or flexible.
AND
It order to be easy to handle on public transport it must have wheels (ideally 4 rather than 2 wheels - to avoid tipping weight, which can be a pain over longer distances).

I have a cabin bag already but I have not obvious way to attach it to my rack. It is slightly too floppy to just strap on with bungees - which in any case would probably be quite time consuming (not to mention a danger to one eyes over time!). If I added a flat solid board I could probably stick on my existing rack if I had to but the use of bungees remains rather a pain for repeated use.
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RickH
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Re: How Can I Put Smart Luggage With Wheels Onto Bicycle Rac

Post by RickH »

ship69 wrote:I have a cabin bag already but I have not obvious way to attach it to my rack. It is slightly too floppy to just strap on with bungees - which in any case would probably be quite time consuming (not to mention a danger to one eyes over time!). If I added a flat solid board I could probably stick on my existing rack if I had to but the use of bungees remains rather a pain for repeated use.

Might it be possible to attach one of these from Ortlieb to your current bag? If so, that could then be used in conjunction with the corresponding adapter that attaches to a pannier rack.

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Elizabethsdad
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Re: How Can I Put Smart Luggage With Wheels Onto Bicycle Rac

Post by Elizabethsdad »

What about a trailer? A Carry Freedom Y frame would be a good choice to strap a small suit case/flight bag to. Or, there is the Radical Designs trailer if you feeling a bit more flush - I had one years ago for going away at weekends and it is a good piece of kit. Both these trailers have quick release wheels so they convert to 'luggage' in seconds.
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Re: How Can I Put Smart Luggage With Wheels Onto Bicycle Rac

Post by pete75 »

ship69 wrote:Hello



B) A small 'cabin' bag with handle & wheels?
But if so, how can I attach such a thing onto the bike's panniers?

Any advise?

J


Hard shell version and then mount pannier fittings on the back.
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Re: How Can I Put Smart Luggage With Wheels Onto Bicycle Rac

Post by Vorpal »

What about a Bike Friday travel system? They are travel luggage and bike trailer in one. Although they are intended to carry a Bike Friday, it's a Samsonite suitcase with a packable trailer frame.

Or maybe the Carry Freedom City Trailer? Or make your own with a hardshell suitcase and a basic Trailer, like a Carry Freedom Y frame?
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foxyrider
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Re: How Can I Put Smart Luggage With Wheels Onto Bicycle Rac

Post by foxyrider »

RickH wrote:
ship69 wrote:I have a cabin bag already but I have not obvious way to attach it to my rack. It is slightly too floppy to just strap on with bungees - which in any case would probably be quite time consuming (not to mention a danger to one eyes over time!). If I added a flat solid board I could probably stick on my existing rack if I had to but the use of bungees remains rather a pain for repeated use.

Might it be possible to attach one of these from Ortlieb to your current bag? If so, that could then be used in conjunction with the corresponding adapter that attaches to a pannier rack.

Rick.

Thats what i suggested above, very secure and potentially useable with any bag! :D
Convention? what's that then?
Airnimal Chameleon touring, Orbit Pro hack, Orbit Photon audax, Focus Mares AX tour, Peugeot Carbon sportive, Owen Blower vintage race - all running Tulio's finest!
ship69
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Re: How Can I Put Smart Luggage With Wheels Onto Bicycle Rac

Post by ship69 »

I dont think any sort of trolley system dragging the luggage behind is going to work because:

a) Having sufficiently large wheels to cope with potholes will add weight. This is not acceptable because I have a large hill on the way home.

b) Having large wheels etc will take up space on public transport and will *look* too eccentric. I need the thing to look "smart" in the clean/ tidy / trim / dapper sense. I will be attending business meetings with this thing and I do not want to be making a big eccentric 'statement'. So it can be unusual but it needs to be slick / smooth / minimalist and not Heath Robinson!

foxyrider - The basket you suggest is too small. Plus if large enough, if it stayed on permanently would be a serious wind-resistance pain. Attaching an adapter directly too my existing cabin luggage AND having it look smart, is beyond my DIY skills.
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