Pannier rail thickness. Is it critical?

[Easy Rider]

Hi,

Doing the Way of the Roses soon and needed some new panniers. The ones i chose have a larger clamp on the rail brackets than my older ones and doesn't grip it either.
The panniers more or less just rests on the rail with the lower clamp securing any outward movement.
Is this the norm. Does anybody else run like this. I know you can get a rack with wider rails but would rather not shell out if needed.
Thanks for any input.

[gaz]

Wrap insulating tape (possibly over some inner tube off-cut) around the rack at the points where the clamps attach to increase the diameter?

[Sweep]

Will watch this thread with interest as my Ortleibs have shed their hook inserts (a common problem I think) and so they are often used on a rack with "thinner" tubes.

[Vantage]

I'd worry about the panniers bouncing off over less than smooth ground surfaces.
I replaced a newly purchased front lowrider with another thicker tubed lowrider for just this reason.
I've not much faith in the newer one either coz of the mods I had to make to get things to fit, sheesh, can't win.

[Redvee]

Will watch this thread with interest as my Ortleibs have shed their hook inserts (a common problem I think) and so they are often used on a rack with "thinner" tubes.

Not had an issue with my Ortleibs doing this, the inserts were hard enough to fit so can't imagine them coming out too easily.

[rfryer]

You can easily buy lengths of water hose with internal and external diameters to match your rack and pannier respectively. Just split down the middle, slide over the rack, then hold in place with a wrapping of insulating tape.

Edit: Here's were I got mine from: ebay

[[XAP]Bob]

I'd worry about the panniers bouncing off over less than smooth ground surfaces.
I replaced a newly purchased front lowrider with another thicker tubed lowrider for just this reason.
I've not much faith in the newer one either coz of the mods I had to make to get things to fit, sheesh, can't win.

My pannier is a random bag from a trade show somewhere.
It uses the hooks from an old halfords pannier (which was diagonal, so the laptop punched a hole in the corner eventually).

I took the plastic "stiffening" piece and made a slit at the bottom of the back of the bag - insert plastic, bolt hardware through rear fabric.

Then I have a bungee wrapped around the rack, so I drop the pannier on the rail - the middle bit "clips" on - and pull the bungee over, so it doesn't bounce around at all. Nice, cheap and simple.

Bag is a great fit for the laptop, and bing straight it doesn't have a tendency to punch through a corner. 3 1/2 years so far, and still going strong.

[andrew_s]

Will watch this thread with interest as my Ortleibs have shed their hook inserts (a common problem I think) and so they are often used on a rack with "thinner" tubes.

http://www.outdoorgb.com/p/Ortlieb_Inse ... _QL2_Hooks

[rfryer]

Using the hose tip above, I use my Ortliebs without hooks on two different sizes of pannier rack. Works great!

[geocycle]

I use tubing on the corner of my tubus rack to prevent scrubbing when leaning against a wall and to stop it wearing into the pannier. My first tubus cargo rack perished at the lower corner. So far (since 2006) the ortlieb inserts have fine, although others report problems.

[Suffolker]

For panniers with hooks, I've stuck with various Carradice models. The hooks "lock", and provided that you've also got an attachment to the rack lower down (hub-wards) as well, I've never had a problem; although the rails on different racks go from half-inch diameter-a tight fit on the hooks-down to smaller and slacker.

At present, I'm using panniers from American makers, which are all in one I.e. Left and right conjoined, or else laced together to form one. They lay over the rack, are variously secured with loops and studs in various places, and are very secure. The big disadvantage is that they are fiddly and tiresome to put on and remove. The Carradice-style clips are much better for a lot of "on/off".

[Sweep]

Will watch this thread with interest as my Ortleibs have shed their hook inserts (a common problem I think) and so they are often used on a rack with "thinner" tubes.

http://www.outdoorgb.com/p/Ortlieb_Inse ... _QL2_Hooks

yes I know - those are the bits that can easily pop out.

A fair few others have had the same issue I think.

The inserts on my nice smallish Altura panniers are solid as a rock.

Can't figure out why Ortlieb haven't sorted this problem.