Looking for the right cycling saddle bags for a bike tour. Bike touring can be pretty demanding on you, your bike and your gear. Therefore choosing the right cycling saddle bags is important and it includes getting the right bike rack, the right cycling saddle bags and more. This short video from a guy at Expert Village and YouTube do a really nice job of giving you a lot of information packed into a short video.
He goes into nice detail about the racks and the types of features you want form the rack and also from your bike. For example, he rightly talks about the low rider front rack for stability. This is for sure hitting on the cycling saddle bags and needs for touring. This goes along well with my short article on Cycling Saddle Bags also.
The Ortlieb bicycle panniers line of products or just the bicycle saddle bags are one of the best known for long distance bicycle touring especially if you plan on getting wet or dealing with any rain or bad weather. These are most known for being complete water tight and bombproof panniers. This is a nice video where he explains the bags in great detail. Again this is for the serious touring freak and not the commuters out there.
And Now The Ortlieb Bicycle Panniers Video
So What Do You Think Ortlieb Bicycle Panniers Or Something Cheaper?
What did you think. I know the video was a little cut short and I thought to myself I would like to see more. Honestly I use Avenir saddle bags and not the ultra cool ortlieb bicycle panniers. However, I am not a hardcore bicycle touring kind of guy I am more a commute to work and use a smaller set of bicycle panniers or saddle bags and that is why the Avenir work well for me they were pretty inexpensive and I did not need the waterproofing of the ortlieb bicycle panniers that was kind of over kill. Especially since I am a wimp and when it rains I just take the care. I am embarassed to admit but it is the truth.
The thing that you can learn from all of this is buy your saddle bags be they aviner panniers of the ultra cool waterproof Ortlieb bicycle panniers buy what fits your needs and budget. Don’t go for broke and then never use them. Instead go with what you are doing now and use them all the time. You can always buy more if you decide in the future that you need it. So if you are going to use them go for the Ortlieb bicycle panniers.
Well, let me first start by explaining that there are bicycle saddlebags and then there are bicycle saddle bags. Kind of sounds like I am repeating myself. What I mean to say is there are the under the saddle or bicycle seat saddlebags that are great for carrying small essentials. They are like your emergency kit. Then there are the large sized saddle bags. These actually can go on the front and most frequently on a framed rack on the back of the bike. The confusion here is in the use of the term saddle. Saddle can mean the bicycle seat. It probably came from a horses saddle. Thus the saddle bags referring to either one came from the bags that cowboys and ranchers would use when going long distances on a horse. So the term saddle bag originally meant a large sized bag used to carry stuff for overnight and longer trips. However, over time street cyclists and even mountain bikers just started caller their smaller emergency kit or bag that goes under their seat a saddlebag also. It is also unclear on the spacing is it saddle bags or saddlebag? I find that most often when people are referring to the under the seat bag it is written as bicycle saddlebag. Then the ones you carry for a long distance bike touring trip is a saddle bag.
Now on with the video.
How To Pack Your Bicycle Saddlebags
How To Pack A Bicycle Saddlebags
Just to recap and make sure everyone is on the same page. Obviously Steve Madden of Bicycling Magazine here was talking about how to pack the bicycle saddlebag that goes under the seat. This would be used for short rides or day trips but nothing longer then one day. He covers the essentials for an emergency kit since typically the under the saddle bicycle saddlebags are very small and only for a few key essentials. if you missed anything here is what he says you should carry.
Bike tire
Tire Irons
Multi Tool
Bike pump or compressed air
Energy drink or gel
20 dollars
cell phone
This is a pretty good list. I noticed he left off any kind of bike locking device which is a great idea. This way you can go into a store and get a snack or whatever you need and know your bike is secure. He probably left it out as it does not typically fit in the bicycle saddlebags but then neither does the bike pump so who knows. However, this is a pretty good description and detailed list of essentials to pack in a bicycle saddlebags
