Originally Posted by
user2
Appreciate this, thanks. My panniers are kind of tapered towards the bottom so I will have to watch closely if I try this to make sure the strap doesn't slip down and get caught in the wheel.
I like this idea, especially for trips involving rough gravel roads I'm sure it makes everything more secure and the panniers will last longer too.
Good morning and wish you a good first day, looking out the window at the Ottawa morning imagining you probably out there.
there's a guy occasionally on here who used arkels and biked all across the 'Stans, Uzbekistan etc and as far as I remember, had no problems and praised arkel stuff and the mount system. Don't recall if he used straps but I'm sure he rode over more rough surfaces there than I did in my Mexico and central America trips.
Larger, more voluminous tires at lower pressures do help though, to an extent, but panniers are still going to get shaken about. This is why I made the steps to eliminate any free play, fattening up the rails with tubing and tape, and it works well overall.
I used 2inch wide tires, they don't look it because my frame can take larger ones, so these look small.
I also left a lot of space between tires and fenders in case of mud, or if I needed to put on some knobby tires.
