Those panniers are a late 2000s model. Molded plastic hooks with simple plastic spring retention tabs molded as a single piece with the hooks themselves. Old style bungie cord hook at the bottom. There's a picture on this webpage. It's not the exact same model but the back is identical to mine.
https://thelazyrando.wordpress.com/2...tour-panniers/
Zero problems in nearly 20,000km, including some serious off road stuff. I rode Elk Pass in Banff with them this summer. They've faired significantly better than the mounting hardware on those red original generation Ortliebs. The plastic rails on the old Ortliebs are just a deformed mess, albeit apparently still structurally sound.
Just buy from REI and drive across the border to pick up. Plenty of parcel holding businesses along the border. Here's an example at Niagara Falls. Walking distance to the border crossing, only charges $2.50 to hold a package on your behalf.
https://www.americanmailbox.net/
Ya, I remember the plastic hardware on them, I seem to recall an orange plastic doohickey also , probably to stop the hooks from hopping off rails with a bump--it was those orange things that to me looked chintzy--but your experience with them shows they are tough, so there you go....
I also remember that vik guy, have recollections of him with a surly cargo bike or something like that, dummy somethingorother.
My most heavily used Ortliebs also have deformed/curved rails that the upper hooks are on--it used to bug me, but they too just keep on working. I wondered if it was from riding in a lot of heat for weeks on end, plus the weight in the bags (although they usually werent really heavily loaded).
Ya, we have , or used to have a vermont parcel holding business, Ive used it in the past, but I'm not sure if its still open, and anyway, its a far enough of a drive from here that its not something I'd do on a whim, just too much driving time involved.