A year and a half after I purchased these bags, it’s time for a review. You can’t buy them anymore, but this is more of a review of panniers in general. I used to ride with a backpack. It works (and is good for laptop shock absorption), but be prepared to have an instantly sweaty back. I can’t walk up a flight of stairs with a backpack on and not start to feel damp 🙂 Getting the bag off of my back and on to the rack on my bike is a huge win for comfort and convenience.
These Thule bags were a steal at $120 for the pair. Most decent panniers cost this much just for one! They were a deal because Thule discontinued this model. The replacement bag is a “unidirectional” one that can go on either the left or right side of the bike rack, whereas the ones I got are specifically made for left and right sides – they are slightly narrower towards the front of the bike.
The Thule bags have a pretty rad feature where you can “flip” and hide the rack attachment hardware and carry it as a normal-looking handbag, or add the included strap and wear it as a shoulder bag or backpack.
With my new job, I use one everyday to carry my laptop to work. The other bag, sadly sits idle most of the time as I only need one for what I’m carrying. They came as a pair and at the time of purchase I was thinking about all of the epic bike adventures I’d be going on, with both bags packed to the hilt. Carry all the things!
I will use both for something like another bike camping trip, but for day-to-day commuting, just one is great.
I have racks on both my road bike and my mountain bike (which is really more of a kid-hauler than a mountain bike). I like my Topeakracks because they have a secure mounting system and Topeak offers severalattachments. The Thule panniers fit nicely on both of my racks despite their differing thickness of tubing. You cannot, however, attach a top mounted Topeak trunk bag and the panniers on the side at the same time – they interfere with each other. I plan on devising something that can go on the top while both panniers are on with some spare parts, but that will have to wait for later.
Carrying Laptops
100 years ago, when spinning hard drives in laptops were the norm, there were several creative ways to carry your laptop in a pannier. Solutions from suspension to excess padding were employed to ensure you didn’t jar the hard drive beyond its shock tolerance. I’ve gone the other way and simply purchased a laptop with a solid-state drive instead of a spinning disk. I lined the bottom of my panniers with a bit of bubble-wrap left over from a mailer, just to prevent any dents when I’m doing sweet jumps.
While the bags aren’t waterproof they come with a waterproof cover. I’ve only used the cover once (in a total downpour). Normally I can just ride home quickly in a sprinkle, because it’s only one mile to work 😎 The covers stow inside each bag and are easily added:
I like to tell the joke on bike to work day, “I’d ride my bike to work, but my wife doesn’t like it when I ride in the house.” I have worked remotely (at home) for several companies for the better part of 7 years. I consider myself an adept remote worker. When a friend of mine offered me to work with him, you’d think I’d think twice about the set-up.
Go into the office? Why?!? Well, first of all, going into the office is optional, I can still work from home. But I can also get away from any home distractions, which are surprisingly few as I’ve managed them over the years. However, I like the in-person conversations I’ve missed over the last 7 years.
The monitor on my desk at the office is 27″, so I’ve got that goin for me. But I think the primary consideration for me was the location. The office is exactly 1 mile from my house. It is also entirely downhill 😎 I now have the opportunity to become a full-time bike commuter as there are literally zero excuses. Some people think I’m crazy because I have a perfectly good car. But riding to work really hasn’t been bad even on the shortest and coldest Minnesota days.
I specifically recall riding home on December 21st, the shortest day of the year. I left at 5PM and while the sun was already down, the twilight of dusk was nice enough to provide me with a pleasant ride home. I did have to ride with lights, it just didn’t seem like the middle of the night .
My first ride in 2016
To clarify, I don’t ride into work every day. I enjoy biking and I’m an evangelist but not a hard-liner. If I’ve got to go somewhere far right after work, I’m going to drive in.
I procrastinated riding in during my first full week at work in 2016. We finally got some big snowfalls over the holidays. I was driving in because I hadn’t yet switched over to studded tires on my bike. I finally mounted the tires so I could ride in by Friday. I got up early to make sure I had enough air in the freshly swapped tires, fastened on my pannier and rode off. The ride in was great, a little snowy but the cloud cover meant it was comparatively warm.
At work a couple of coworkers admired my bike and were astonished I’d ridden in on a snowy day. It took one co-worker over an hour to drive in to the office – bleh!
Later that morning, there was a loud bang that came from near the front door that sounded like a gunshot. A woman from the neighboring company that sits closest to our entrance door screamed. I (and several co-workers) wondered aloud what it was. One of the concerns was that there was a shooter in the building. My friend Tom, who’s dad owned a gun range, remarked that it sounded like “AD” – accidental discharge. One of our coworkers apparently conceals and carries, and while he was on vacation Tom wondered if he had come back a day early.
I certainly did not rush to the entrance since there was a possibility of firearms involved. I was actually concerned about those who were getting up to investigate. Then someone reported back that it was my bike tire that exploded!
You can just patch that up
We all had theories about the expansion of gases since my bike was pumped up outside and was now being stored inside, but I don’t think that is entirely to blame since it wasn’t really that cold – ≈24°F. Luckily I came prepared with an extra tube and a C02 cartridge. I installed the new tube at lunch and filled it up so I could ride home alive and not shot dead. But when I left that afternoon my spare had gone flat as well. I hitched a ride with a coworker who was also still alive and not shot dead.
My suspicion is that it was a combination of things that caused the explosion. First there was obviously something sharp touching the tube (because of the 2nd flat). Over the weekend I checked the pressure of the rear tire with a gauge separate from the one on the bike pump, it was over-inflated. I think the 2nd factor was that the bike pump gauge was somewhat frozen, not fully reading however much I actually pumped into the tire. I purchased two new tubes and some new rim tape since the 2nd (patch-able) puncture on my spare tube was near the valve stem.
Live and learn. I’m just glad I’m still around to tell about it.
I have a single speed bike. I chose a single speed for it’s simplicity. I just get on it and pedal. It has suited me well for about 6 years. The only thing that has changed is kids.
These darn kids, they start at 6 or 7 pounds and eat and grow, and grow and eat and never seem to stop! I used to carry Jules on the back of my bike in a babyseat that attaches to the rear rack. Then Marlo came along and I had the opportunity to buy a Chariot trailer from my friend whose two kids were now riding on their own.
With the added drag of the trailer, and the additional weight of two kids, I found myself doing the walk of shame up steep hills more often than not. I needed another gear, but I’m fond of my good ol’ Redline 29er.
There were a couple of options:
Nuvinci N360 (which I still might get if I save my duckets)
I chose the SRAM Automatix because it’s inexpensive, and it’s hackable. There are a few articles out there outlining how to change the shift point on the SRAM Automatix, so I won’t go into the mechanical detail on how to do it. You can read thosearticles for instructions.
Regular Gear + High Gear
Most people are “unwinding” the shift spring to give the Automatix a shift point at a greater speed. This allows them to have a “normal” gear and then a “high gear” for puttin’ the spurs to it.
I actually wanted to do the opposite.
Low Gear + Regular Gear
I wanted the shift point to be lower, so that I can use the low gear under 10mph for climbing and the high (regular) gear for “normal” cruising.
Trying to get a comfortable shift-point on the Automatix can be tricky because there are a number of factors that determine which speed it shifts at. First is wheel size – the shift point is based on rotation speed, so it will shift at a much faster moving speed on a small-wheeled folding bike than on a 29er. The larger wheel will take you farther per rotation.
You also want it to jive with your cadence. On my 29er with the stock 34t crankset, it shifted at about 14mph. My cadence was ridiculously high at that point.
To get the low-speed gearing right, I switched from the stock 19 tooth to a 20 tooth gear. This gave me the stock mountain bike, low-gear ratio that my Redline came with. Great for going up hills.
I needed to “wind” the shift spring just a tiny bit to bring the shift point down. It doesn’t take much when winding, as winding the spring actually loosens the pressure it puts on the shifting mechanism. Less than 45° did it for me
That change was enough to put the shift point at about 10.5MPH on by bike, which is a good balance for slogging up hills, and just cruisin’. Now I only have to do the walk of shame on the steepest inclines.
It’s not technically winter yet, but let’s face it. By the time this is published, most of Minneapolis/St. Paul and the surrounding area will be covered in a blanket of snow. Judging by the single digit temperatures in the forecast, I think that winter has officially arrived and will be here to stay.
It was nice to see several people out yesterday (Sunday) on what was possibly the last nice day to ride. For those that want to forge ahead through ice and snow, I suggest studded tires.
This photo was taken in April of this year. If you’ve ever wondered why Minnesotans are so jazzed about summer, it’s because we only get 7 snow-free months. Relish every minute!
I must admit that I have sort of a thing for wheels and tires. Maybe it’s the smell of fresh rubber. For my car, road bike and mountain bike I have at least two sets of wheels and tires: summer and winter. In some cases I have 3 🙁 I like to have both wheels and tires because it makes it less of a hassle to switch them out. It’s a ritual I perform with the changing seasons: off with the summer tires, on with the winter tires. And winter is here…
Riding your bike in snow can be fun. It is at least fun until the first time you take a digger. It was likely due to ice, and the ice that made you fall is probably hard as concrete. At least that’s what happened to me. That’s when I seriously considered getting studded tires.
Non-studded setup
Before I had studded tires, I used some simple Bontrager mud tires.
They are no-frills knobby tires. I really like them because the tread is simple and non-directional – it can be mounted in either direction. I have a flip-flop hub on my back wheel, so if I want to turn it around, I can do so without having to re-mount the tire in the “correct” direction.
These work great in snow, especially with the tire pressure lowered. If you have a set of knobby tires and want to try riding in snow, I suggest you just lower the pressure (go with the low number listed on the tire) and try it out.
If you want to experiment with even lower pressures to get more contact area (grip), tread lightly and maybe use slime or something to prevent pinch-flats if your tires use tubes.
Studly Studded Studs
Let me start with a disclaimer that studded tires often are not cheap. I am a fan of Schwalbe Tires – I run Big Apples on my bike in the summer. Their studded tires are highly regarded and some have non-directional treads so I can use it easily on my flip-flop hub. But they are not cheap. Per tire, they cost me more than the snow tires currently on my Subaru.
I would expect to pay at least $50 per tire. If you’ve found something cheaper that looks legit and will fit your bike, you’re in luck.
If you can’t afford studded tires, there are tons of creative ways to make your own with a regular tire, a drill and some screws. This is a particularly over-the-top example:
If you have seen a particularly awesome DIY studded tires, I’d love to see them!
You can run just one studded tire, but I’d recommend two. Where studded tires really shine above regular knobbies is on hard-pack snow and ice. You really don’t want to run the studs on pavement as they’ll wear faster that way, and the studs actually provide much worse grip than rubber when it’s on concrete or asphalt. Some studded tires get around this conundrum by only putting studs out towards the edge. Talk to your local bike shop and they can help you decide on a brand/type that suits your riding.
Riding in snow can be sort of nerve wracking at times, especially when the snow becomes hard and rutted. I’m still wrestling with this myself. I tend to white-knuckle the handlebar when loosening my grip and going with the flow would be a much more pleasant experience. If I were a better mountain biker, I probably wouldn’t have this problem 😎
So here’s to winter. Hopefully it’s just the beginning of a different type of riding season.
What the heck is an S24O? It’s an acronym invented by famed Rivendell Bicycle builder Grant Peterson. It stands for Sub-24 Hour Overnight and he writes about it in his book “Just Ride”. Put simply, it’s a bike overnight where you’re gone for less than 24 hours. Since it’s short and you travel by bike, it limits the amount of “crap” you can bring.
I (possibly foolishly) convinced my family to embark on a 16 mile bike ride to the nearest campground, at Rice Creek Chain of Lakes Park Preserve. It wasn’t foolish because we lacked the muscle or equipment to undertake this endeavor, it was foolish for other reasons… Continue reading →
Getting There
A month before we embarked, I scoped out the route. This was good because the trails in Anoka County are extremely poorly marked. I got lost no less than 5 times. Plus I found two shortcuts that weren’t offered by Google Maps which would shorten the distance.
I made a time-lapse of my scouting trip using my GoPro:
We chose to actually go from Friday to Saturday – so we could have a full day of recovery before work on Monday. One thing about leaving early afternoon Friday that I didn’t anticipate was rush hour traffic – I work from home so I’ve purposely forgotten most of the drudgery of “regular” daily life. Traffic wasn’t especially bad, but it felt like everyone behind the wheel had some pent up angst.
An old bike-commuting coworker once told me that morning traffic is much more agreeable than afternoon traffic. People can use you as an excuse to be late to work. They’ll drive politely, and then can twist the blame if their boss asks. “I was late because of bicyclists.” But in the afternoon they need to get home, or else.
So we got buzzed by a couple of jerks that needed to get on the freeway ASAP, only to crawl along the interstate at the beginning of rush hour. Meanwhile, crossing the interstate meant we were onto the trail, so long suckers!
What to Bring
With the route set, I knew to allot around 2 hours for riding (plus breaks) so we could schedule accordingly. But what to bring? Some things were obvious, but what do you omit and what are must-haves? Here is what our packing list looked like:
Shelter, clothes & bedding
1 Tent
3 Sleeping bags
3 Small pillows
Toothbrushes & toothpaste
Minimal clothes for the next day
Fire & food
Lighter & newspaper
Firewood purchased at campground
Grill grate at campsite
Picnic table at campsite
1 Cooking pot
1 Skewer for hot dogs and marshmallows
4-person tableware set
Hot dogs & s’mores for dinner
Bacon & eggs, with instant coffee for breakfast
Other
Flashlight (bike light)
Multi-tool (knife/scissors)
Paper towels and/or baby wipes
Bug spray
We identified a couple of things that we need to better the trip next time. One was a lantern for hanging out at the picnic table. My bike light is bright, almost too bright. It was sort of like being in the interrogation room with it shining right at you.
Also, a camp-dedicated cooking pot would be nice. Our normal kitchen one went home looking like it had endured the worst, now scorched and soot-covered.
But that’s the best part of the S24O – if you forgot something, you’ll live. You can remember it for next time and not worry because you’re there for less than a day.
Our S24O looks a lot like car camping, minus the car:
The Romper Room
My wife warned me about camping with a 16 month old. We had just come off a month-long stint of Jessi’s mom staying with us and helping out with the kids. Grandma had been sharing a room with our 16 month old Marlo, and they had gotten into a good nighttime routine with minimal interruptions.
I assumed her sleeping habit had gotten to a point where Marlo would go to sleep when tired, and she’d respect everyone else in the tent, just like she did when she was in her crib and grandma was in her bed in the same room.
Boy was I wrong.
Jessi went to bed with the baby around 8PM. But Marlo had no intentions of sleeping. The sheer thought of everyone in this nylon fabric box sent her into a frenzy. She scooted and climbed all over everyone with laughter and cheers. At several points no one could contain their own laughter because she was laughing and clapping joyously. This lasted for 3 HOURS. 11PM was the magic hour when laughter turned to tears, and a few minutes being held by mom turned into everyone finally getting some rest.
But the sleep was not good, because I have a 2-man tent and we were 4 – two adults and two of the wildest, tossing-est, turning-est children ever. Then once we did fall asleep we were awoken by the sounds of a meddling raccoon. That bastard stole the last of the s’mores! Judging by his heft, he didn’t need any more s’mores 🙂
Turns out both my parents and Jessi’s parents have similar horror stories of going camping with children of a similar age. Some of those children may have been me. But we didn’t hear these stories until we returned and told how our own trip unraveled. I guess the next generation is doomed to repeat the same mistakes.
Even though some parts weren’t “fun,” we’ll surely remember it forever, and always tell the tale. As Grant Peterson put it:
If they hate it, it’s only a night, and they’ll still be proud as they brag to their friends how much they hated it, and they’ll be secretly glad they did it.
