Using a bike pannier as a shopping trolley: the B&W International B3 Bike Bag.

Normal pannier bags are great on a bike or trike, but they do have one major disadvantage.  Once they leave the bike you will need to carry up to two panniers using a thin strap that cuts off the circulation in your fingers. Cyclists' rooms in the five star hotel de luxe or youth hostel are always a long way away from the entrance up two or three flights of stairs in another time zone and by the time you get to the room you have numb hands and claw-like fingers. I realise that one can attach a carrying strap and sling them over the shoulder, but the panniers get mucky and wet. Carrying them then can lead to domestic strife. We once went by bicycle to the Mannheimer Maimarkt (a regional Ideal Home/travel/DIY/agricultural show). I carried a pannier bag over my shoulder in the halls to transport  pamphlets and anything else we could scrounge. When we returned to the bikes I realised that the inner, wheel-side of the bag was very dirty. The panniers were used several times a week and had picked up greasy road dirt. This had transferred to my shirt. I was not a happy camper. I was not popular with her indoors either. 
I am impressed with the B&W International B3 Bag. This is a pannier bag equipped with two wheels and a telescopic handle. It would solve the hotel/hostel baggage problem when touring. We would probably use it primarily as a shopping trolley. It can be filled in the supermarket and then attached directly to the bike/trike.  It weighs about 4lb for a closed volume of 35L. This is about 1lb heavier than two Ortlieb Backroller Bags (40L volume). However this extra weight will not make much difference to the total weight of you, your bike/trike and the contents of the bag.

A disclaimer I have not used this bag. I have just read a description and looked at specifications.  The company has not paid me in any shape or form to publish this note. The photographs are reproduced by permission of B&W International.

ALDI

Like many people who live in Germany, we regularly shop at ALDI, one of the leading discount stores in the country and in Europe. We are generally very satisfied with the goods the company sells, but… ALDI sells not only its core grocery goods, but also has a series of special offers that are on sale over a number of weeks. It appears to be habit for some customers to break open sealed packets to examine what is inside them and then leave the opened packets behind. It is definitely weird. Not all the goods are handled in this way. ALDI-Süd is selling a filled pepper mill at the moment and various of the packets in our local branch had been opened today. For goodness sake, it's a pepper mill with a clear plastic cylinder and you can see the contents, What more do people want? Maybe there is a PhD or at least a Master's degree in retail sociology to be written here and maybe even a cure for the problem.

Hangload baggage system now on sale in shops in Berlin

We wrote about Hangload at the end of March. This is a baggage rack that lets cyclists carry rucksacks, boxes or shopping bags safely at the rear of the bike. One of these coupled with a normal pannier would be a good way to carry baggage gear when cycle touring if you were going to do some walking as well. 

The company has now started to manufacture these. They can be ordered online from the company or picked up from various shops in Berlin:

• Bagjack handmade in berlin (Ten Twenty Berlin): Torstraße 39, 10119 Berlin, Germany -Opening times: 2:00 – 20:00 
• Radmutter: Petersburger Straße 93 10247 Berlin, Germany - Opening times: Mo: 11:00 - 17:00, Tu: 10:00 - 20:00, We: 10:00 - 20:00, Th: 11:00 - 17:00, Fr: 10:00 - 19:00, und Sa: 11:00 - 15:00.
• Radhaus Kreuzberg: Yorckstraße 77 10965 Berlin, Germany - Opening times: Mo.-Fr.: 10:00-13:00 und 14:00-19:00 & Sa.: 10:00-16:00. 
• fahrradstation:
• Charlottenburg: Goethestraße 46, 10625 Berlin, Germany - Opening times: 10:00 – 19:30.
• Kreuzberg: Bergmannstraße 9, 10961 Berlin, Germany - Opening times: 10:00 – 19:00.
• Prenzlauer Berg: Kollwitzstraße 77, 10435 Berlin, Germany - Opening times: 10:00 - 19:30.
• Mitte: Auguststraße 29a, 10119 Berlin, Germany - Opening times: 10.00 - 19.30.

An easy way to carry shopping and loads on a bicycle

Two of the many things that cause my blood pressure to rise are seeing people riding a bike with a heavy rucksack or trying to steer while clutching one or two heavily laden shopping bags. To be fair it is not always possible or convenient to use panniers while shopping or you may not want to buy shopper pannier bags or a trailer. We were both pleased to find a sensible device at the VELOBerlin bike show last weekend that modifies a normal baggage rack to carry shopping bags, rucksacks, IKEA blue carrier bags and almost anything else safely.

Copyright: Darius M. Hajiani

It's simple to build yourself either in cardboard, in metal or in metal/plastic sheet. There are plans to manufacture and sell the product or offer licences to manufacturers. Check www.hangload.com. It would be quite useful for touring especially when camping too. It is a good, simple, cheap idea that brings flexibility to load carrying.