OYB Pannier on the Raleigh Twenty: First Impressions

Christmas has come and gone, and I got all that I could hope for!  For the most part, it was a great day with the kids and my wife, enjoying each others time on this planet together.  We spent the afternoon/evening over at my in-laws house, feasting on Who-pudding and rare roast beast.  Before we left for the folks house though, I had a chance to quickly mount up the new OYB Pannier I received on one of my Twenties and snap a few photos.  It turned out better than I expected!

I had been looking for a set of small panniers for the Raleigh Twenty for quite a while.  I generally use a rack mounted trunk when I commute, but it doesn't hold all that much and looks kind of goofy and "new."  Most of the panniers I was finding looked too modern and were just too big.  When I saw the OYB Panniers reviewed on Lovely Bicycle a while back, I put in my order for one.

 The overall effect, in my opinion, is spectacular.  In terms of size, they are perfectly proportional to the size of the bike.  The vintage look goes well with the time period of the Twenty too.  And in the case of the brown colored frame, the leather trim matches perfectly.  I tried it on the olive colored frame and it also blends well with the green canvas of the bag.

 Here is a closer look.  There is no internal reinforcement to keep the bag looking square when it is empty.  Doesn't bother me.  Once some stuff is in there, it should be fine.

 My number one worry when ordering this bag was whether the mounting hardware would fit a Pletscher rack.  As you can see, it is perfect.  The rack mounts seem pretty rugged, but might be a little short.  My only concern is that the bungee strap that connects to the frame below is strong enough to keep it mounted if you hit a significant road bump.  We'll just have to see.  My first couple times out, I'm only going to put clothing in it.

 Here is the bag open.  It has two side flaps to keep the water out.  By no means would I expect this bag to be waterproof, but it looks like it could handle a bit of the northwest's liquid sunshine...

You can see the shoulder strap in the bottom of the bag.

The pannier lifts off the rack frame very easily using the handle on the top - just lift up, lower down to let the s-clip release and off you go...

So how big is it?  Here is a picture of the pannier with my iPad in it.  It fits PERFECTLY.  This bag seems like it was made for the iPad.  My iPad is 8" x 10" and I could probably slip 5 or 6 side by side in the bag.















So there you have it.  Based on what I saw, I immediately jumped on the OYB website and ordered up a second one.  I like the more symettrical look of having a pannier on both sides.  Besides, I can fit rain gear in one side and my "essentials" (iPad, journal, phone, etc..) in the other one.

Overall, very happy with this bag!

~charles

UPDATE 1/10/2011:
Response to Aarons question about the relative coloring of this bag to the Carradice Barley bag...  Here is a photo of the two side-by-side.  The OYB pannier is a bit lighter, and, to my eye, a bit bluer.

Three Twenties

Here are a few pictures of my Twenties, all nestled snug and warm in the garage for the winter. These are the three that I have built out as close to original as I could get them.







They actually snuggle together quite nice and take surprisingly little room when stacked together like this.







They all are dressed up for the holidays, wearing their headlights and air pumps. The blue and green ones sport white plastic pumps, the brown one has a polished aluminum one, quite fetching actually. Bluebell has a silver stainless bell, the other two have brass bells. I've replaced the grips on Brown and Green with shellacked cork grips from Rivendell Bike







Hiding behind me during the shoot is my stripped down R-20 in metallic black. I'll pull out some photos of him later.

These bikes represent a lot of work over the last year, and a lot of fun. They are great little bikes to tinker with and have kept me out of trouble during the afternoons and evenings. I have parts on some of these that have been sourced from all over the world.

Not really sure where I'm going with all these... I really only ride the brown one and the wife rides the green one- grudgingly. I've thought it might be fun to build up a fleet of these for a small beach rental bike business that I think would be fun to have someday. We'll see. That's a future that seems a long ways off...

~charles

Biking Christmas

OK, it's been way too long since I posted to this blog. I need to change that. The last month has been absolutely insane at work. The company I founded so many years back has been undergoing some major transitions and I've been all wrapped up in it. Suffice it to say, I couldn't ride in at all. I've been missing it greatly.

But that has not stopped me from thinking about bikes! And buying some goodies. Here is what is in Santa's bag for this holiday...

Carradice Barley Saddle Bag








I really like this bag. It will be the second one I have. I find them rather difficult to move from saddle to saddle with the rubber fittings I put through the seat loops to keep them from cutting into the leather. I want to get away from the rack trunks that I have used in the past.  It is on order from the motherland (UK) and I'm hoping it arrives before Christmas. It was sent out a couple weeks ago and should be arriving soon.

OYB Pannier










I spotted this pannier on Lovely Bicycle blog. I loved the vintage look of it and hope to match it with the Barley on a rack. If it looks nice and works, I'm going to try and get another to have a matching set.  They look pretty small.  It is here, in my bedroom upstairs but I have to wait till Christmas to open it. Bah Humbug! ;-)

Brooks Glenbrook Saddle Bag

This is a bag that I think I finally just reconciled the fact that I have REALLY wanted a bag like this one for a long time. I just couldn't bring myself to put down the money.  I just ordered it for myself... Sometimes the best presents are like that. It was so easy to put the order into eBay, minimal shipping cost and no tax from Nevada... Here is hoping the delivery elves are able to get it here in time...

I have a number of other things to write about, so despite NOT being able to ride all that much in the rain, I will have a few posts coming up

~charles