Pannier Dreams

In the ongoing effort to transport my stuff in comfort and style, I have been thinking about low center-of-gravity rear containment systems. Usually called panniers. "Pannier" evolved from the French word for "bread bag", as in something with which to transport your baguettes. In modern usage, it refers to any sort of open or covered bag that mounts on the side of the bicycle next to the wheel (front or rear). By being on the side, it is lower to the ground. For heavy loads, this makes it more stable than a basket over the wheel. I also refer to baskets mounted in this location as panniers, although that may be incorrect. (PS this is just my accumulated information - feel free to fact check!)

Wikipedia image of a touring bicycle with front and rear panniers Creative Commons license

I have seen many types of panniers and they have never seemed quite right to me. They look floppy, bulky, snaggy, vulnerable to theft, awkward to use, and simply not compatible with my style. Obviously, if I were to take a bicycle camping trip, they would be ideal. But, for the same reason that I don't walk around town with my backpacking pack, I felt that the typical pannier was not particularly suited to city cycling. In the city, I need to be on and off the bike frequently, and to lock down or carry all belongings. I will carry many different items - file folders, groceries, books, spare clothing, maybe a bag of cat food or a laptop - sometimes unexpectedly. And of course, I will be in professional and social situations where I need to make a good impression.

Key pannier criteria for me:

• Either totally waterproof or totally porous. No damp and moldy situations please.
• Rigid to prevent flopping, but also...
  
• Collapsible to save space
  
• Secure: either easily removed and carried, or totally locking (onto bicycle and to secure contents), or able to be equipped with separate bags that can easily be placed into the pannier or carried with me.
• Simple to use. I am impatient, and easily frustrated by clips and zippers and such.
  
• Matches my personal style
• Appropriate size and shape - I haven't decided if a six-pack should determine the width....

As I have started to pay more attention to them as a practical, perhaps necessary, item, I have identified certain things that I do like. For instance, Brooks makes a very appealing bag for only 280€ (about $400) each. Sure, I'll take two! Allegedly one local guy got a pair and had them promptly stolen. What I like about the Brooks is the tidiness, the outer pockets, the rigidity, the size, the alleged water-resistance and the thoughtful shape which will keep it out of the way of my pedaling feet. I don't like the side zipper, lack of water-proofness, and how awkward they would be off the bike if I needed to take them with me. Of course, Brooks's reputation for quality is very good. Their roll-up bag is kind of cool too.

Another item I like are the Clarijs panniers. This Dutch product is waterproof, semi-rigid and semi-collapsible, available in lots of cute colors and patterns,  and comes in different sizes. It has a wide mouth that would be easy to toss a shopping bag into, and appears to have a simple closure system (if any). They even sell a shopping bag designed to fit perfectly into the pannier.

Trial solution: wire baskets

Well anyway, I found something I like. Folding baskets - $7 on Craigslist. They are chrome Wald baskets which match my front basket and rack perfectly. They rattle a little, but not as bad as I feared. They fit my bag just right - maybe could be a little deeper, but fine. Not sure what I will do about rain, but I'll figure something out. The weight distribution is great. Even my big tote bags fit perfectly. Then they fold up for tight parking situations. I love it!

Hey, I'm doing something totally normal, notice me!

I argue passionately for the "normalization" of bicycling. I lament aggression from motorists or snarky comments from co-workers. But honestly, I don't have much to complain about.

Sure, there aren't a ton of other cyclists on the road with me. But there are some. It's not an unusual or exciting event to spot a few every day. And motorists have been great. I wanted them to treat me like another vehicle, and they do. I encounter identical behavior whether I'm driving or bicycling. It's great. And it's kind of a letdown!

To some extent, I do want to be noticed. Envied. Asked questions. I want to make people think about bicycles and the people who ride them.

And who knows - maybe they are. Maybe I'm catching peoples' attention and they just aren't expressing it. Maybe they think I'm nuts and try to stay away from me. I don't know. But it's kind of weird.

Happy Heels Heatwave!

It finally got above freezing here, and it feels like summer! For me, it was cause to leave my insulated boots at home. Instead, I went for the faux-suede boots in black, with brown stockings and skirt and an off-white sweater. I feel so feminine again! And the boots have grippy "Aerosole" bottoms which will help with the few lingering patches of ice.

In bicycle news, I strapped my bag of tools (a tire pump, spare tube, and Clinique case containing a couple of wrenches and such) onto the back rack with a bungee cord. Removing this weight from the front basket really improved the handling. I have not been comfortable with more than a few pounds in the front. Plus I'm still trying to relocate my headlight from the handlebars, to avoid blockage due to stuff in the basket. For this trip I just had my lunch bag in the basket and the elastic in the back.

What I really need is a "trioband". These were utterly ubiquitous in Amsterdam and they seem super convenient. They secure the front, back, and middle of your load which keeps if from scooting around or squirting off the back. And, they actually mount on to your axle. This is very important. It prevents one of the major sources of bungee failure - slippage of the attachment hook - and reduces the chance of theft from a parked bicycle - I've had regular bungee cords stolen.  I like the red one in the link, but there are plenty of others. The problem is, I cannot find them for sale on any American website. Seriously, do a web search. They only come up in the UK and The Netherlands. I will pay international shipping if I have to, but why haven't US distributers figured out how useful these things are??

Signs of Life

The ice has stuck around in Atlanta, which is unusual. It's a real cold snap. And more flurries are predicted tomorrow. Due to the water in my rear brake line (which freezes the brake), I have been limiting my bicycle trips on the Takara. I need to test the Raleigh in the freezing temps; hopefully it has no problems. I've even ridden the Beast (a.k.a. the mountain bike) a few times, since it is handling the cold well.

Today, I took the Takara on the train in the morning. This limited my riding to about 5 minutes, which is too short for the brake to freeze completely. It should be above freezing on the way home. Hooray!

There haven't been many other cyclists on the road, but I know they're out there. I see them parked everywhere I go.

In Tech Square.

At the library.

 

And at the grocery store. I love this. It reminds me of a family of ducklings or something.

Now and Then

The title of this post is actually a movie which happened to be on late-night TV the other day. The movie opens by panning across dozens of classic bicycles, which presumably belong to the group of kids playing 'red rover'. The film focuses on four 12-year-old girls in a small town, in 1970. The girls ride their bicycles everywhere together, even to the next town. The image of childhood is freedom. Even if it is fictional, and set in the past, it still makes me wish that children today could have that degree of freedom. Here's a still from the trailer.

Here's the trailer itself, chock full of bicycling kids. On the downside, all of the grownups drive cars, except for some "crazy" old man who is not in the trailer.

What have other movies taught us about bicycles, cars, and community? What kind of images are today's movies sending?

I have noticed, by the way, that TV commercials almost always feature walkable, bicycle-friendly streetscapes, unless they are advertising a car or car-related product (insurance, drive-through service). Pay attention to this some time - apparently livable communities sell!

Snow Day in the South

It snowed a little last evening, almost enough to cover the tips of the grass. This is rare and exciting in Atlanta. Our office was closed until noon, but there was still plenty of ice and snow on the way in.

Snow in the park

The first flurries started around 2 p.m. Thursday evening. By the time I left work at 5:30, the streets were wet and their was a fine accumulation on the coldest patches of ground. However, I had to pick up my old - and ugly - mountain bike from someone who had borrowed it. It felt very awkward to ride, so I took it on the train to the station closest to my house. It handled fine in the inclement weather, but was very hard to mount, even with a somewhat dropped top tube!

 

The beast. With snowfall.

This morning dawned cold and icy. If the Takara's rear brake weren't freezing up, I might have ridden in. But in slippery conditions, you really need to have that control over your rear end... So it was another day on the train.

Jealousy

In the past few days I have enjoyed viewing Bike by the Sea and the ubiquitous "Waltz of the Bicycles". Bike by the Sea is based in the Santa Monica area, and mostly features photos of stylish cyclists. I am astounded to see that an American city has so many people riding bicycles as part of their everyday life! And they do it with grace and style (and a few celebrities) in a stunning location. Yes, I am jealous. And Waltz of the Bicycles...that speaks for itself.

The Waltz of the Bikes from mike rubbo on Vimeo.

One thing you notice in the video is how smoothly the bicycle transitions from pure vehicle, traveling in lanes according to traffic rules, to the human scale, where riders chat with each other and mix in chaotic settings guided by subtle signals and body language.

So, after enjoying these gems, I headed out into the cold Atlanta evening. Colder than Alaska, according to the local paper! The weather is keeping most cyclists off the roads; I saw a few utility bikes parked at the library and that was it. I was warm and comfy in the rugged winter boots that I swore I would never wear in the South.

Motorists have been especially awful lately. Not to me in particular, just generally. I'm not sure why...is it the cold weather fogging up their windows? The threat of snow which terrifies people from these parts? Their angst at returning from holiday?

Or maybe it is me - maybe seeing all these happy places is making Atlanta look worse in comparison. Maybe my new front basket is blocking my headlight too much, or making me look slow or wobbly, and inviting aggressive behavior from others - if so, I may have a solution - you'll see. Maybe I look less fetching when I'm all bundled up. Or maybe the cold is keeping other cyclists and pedestrians indoors, so the streets look vacant and good for speeding. I walked to the train today in anticipation of the inclement weather.

In other news, it appears that car ownership dropped in 2009. Teenagers in particular appear to be driving less, and even postponing getting their driver's license. The article suggests that cars may seem more like an inconvenience than a necessity as cities densify. It sounds to me like teens should be a target market for transportation cycling! This could also help prevent the large proportion of car crashes caused by young drivers.