Sackville Toursacks For Commuting

[WETH]

I am hoping the collective wisdom of this group will be able to help me. 
I have been interested in the Sackville Toursacks for a long time to replace my 10 year-old set of Nashbar panniers.  I would use them mostly for carrying clothes and work related items.  I need to remove the panniers and take them with me into work, so I would be removing and reattaching them at least once a day. 
On the Rivendell website they write, "The mounting system is a bit odd, but it works great as long as you don’t need to mount and demount your bags at every destination."  My question to those who have a set of Toursacks, just how difficult is it removing these?  What is involved?  I can tell from the photos at the Riv site how they attach at the bottom of the rack, but I am unclear how they attach at the top.  My current panniers attach to my rack with clips at the top and a hook at the end of a bungee for securing to the bottom of the rack.
I love the look of the olive Toursacks, but I value convenience and ease of use just as much.  Would I find securing a pair of panniers from Lone Peaks or Carradice more straightforward for my purposes? (Remembering I am attaching and removing them each time I commute.)
I appreciate any assistance.
Many thanks,
Erl
Washington, DC

[René Sterental]

I attach the top using the bungee balls that are provided with the panniers and while it's quite simple, it's not simpler than standard pannier hooks/clips. Since I don't remove them all the time when I use them, I use zip ties on the bottoms for extra security but they are a hassle if you have to remove them for any reason, including fixing a rear flat for convenience. I'm thinking of using the bungee balls as intended by RBW (couldn't figure out how to do so at first) or better yet, trimmed Irish straps or similar, or leather straps. I was able to get a pair of Carradice leather straps (replacements) that are great to tie my Large SaddleSack instead of the zip ties so I can easily remove it when I want to. I ordered leather straps from Acorn but those are too thick.

 

None of these systems will be as easy/quick as standard pannier hooks/clips like Arkel's, Ortlieb's and similar. But you could still do it. Perhaps neutralizing their advantage is the style of the Toursacks plus the fact that they are a single unit and have a handle.

 

For clothes and similar stuff they are fine. Overall, I think I prefer my Large SaddleSack over any other option, but between the Toursacks and the medium SaddleSack, I'd say it's a wash from my perspective.

 

Hope this helps,

 

René

[Thomas Lynn Skean]

If your commute is a relatively "mild" one (i.e. not too heavy or unbalanced a load in the panniers, terrain is not too rough, distance of say 10 miles or less), I'd expect you'd be able to live without ever attaching the panniers at the bottom. You can use two bungee ball cords (mine came with four, I believe) to attach them through the eyelets on the top to the front and back of the rack's top. That took me a minute the first time; 5-15 seconds after a few times. Detaching them was similar at first and is now <5 seconds.

 

Attaching them at the bottom will require reaching under them (probably bending down to do it) and took me a couple minutes per side the first few times I did it. Now I do it in less than a minute total.

 

I don't do any of this stuff every day. I've done it maybe a dozen times total. I don't commute with my panniers right now. (I may start when I need more clothes in winter; but currently I use a SaddleSack Medium and sometimes a BarSack along with it.)

 

The panniers aren't "click-in" or "plug-n-play". But it isn't really all that tedious either. Of course, *anything* is *extremely* tedious when it is the thing you have to do before crossing the tracks to catch an inbound train that's almost at the platform! (I'm a multi-modal commuter.)

 

I have arranged mine thusly for use on my Hillborne with its Nitto R-15 (look at the bottom of the thread for the best set of photos):

 

https://groups.google.com/d/topic/rbw-owners-bunch/OnoYpFJB90I/discussion

 

Yours,

Thomas Lynn Skean

[jinxed]

Mine is permanently mounted with heavy zip ties.

[WETH]

Thomas and Rene,
Thank you both for your thoughtful responses.  You both provided the information I was hoping to learn.
My commute is a little over 8 miles on paved roads.  My load is balanced in terms of weight between my two panniers, but my clothing causes one pannier to bulge more than the one that contains papers and other work supplies.
In summary, it appears that while the attachment system is a bit less simple than "plug and play" it is not cumbersome.  I really like the style of the toursacks and the fact that they are one unit with a handle.
Thomas, thanks for the link to the photos; they were worth a 1,000 words.  It appears the bungee ball cords attached to the top of the rack would secure the toursacks quite well for my purposes.
Again my thanks to both of you for your assistance.
Best regards and safe cycling,
Erl
Washington, DC

[PATRICK MOORE]

Hey, that's no bicycle! Triumph?

Patrick "permanently considering a motorized two wheeler but never
deciding" Moore

On Thu, Oct 20, 2011 at 7:20 AM, jinxed <hbc...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Mine is permanently mounted with heavy zip ties.
>

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[jinxed]

;) Yea...Triumph Scrambler.

I have to say, the Sackville might as well have been designed for the bike. I got lucky in my search for a single left side bag (the exhaust is high mounted on the right) when I visited Rivendell last summer. They just happened to have an unfinished left side prototype Sackville in the bargain bin. It was exactly what I had been searching for. I added some grommets to the top unfinished "flap", then zip tied it to the frame rails. The bottom is secured with a leather strap to the passenger foot peg mount. Everything lined up like it was designed to do so.

That pic was taken on a trip this past summer. 600 miles, lots of mountain passes, dirt roads, and accidentally we covered 3 of the routes of the USA Pro Cycling Challenge the week before the race. Rode over a bunch of names painted on the switchbacks!

[jimD]

zipties?

You actually use zipties on a fine Rivendell bicycle?

...Me too. It took a while but I've come to love'em.

However I only use stainless steel fasteners. 

Anything else wouldn't be prudent, wouldn't be wise...and certainly wouldn't be appropriate.

-JimD

On Oct 20, 2011, at 6:20 AM, jinxed wrote:

Mine is permanently mounted with heavy zip ties.