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.

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.

Rixen & Kaul Klickfix

We are fans of KLICKfix products. The company offers a range of devices to fix devices: bags, maps, water bottles, locks, etc. on bicycles. As we write guide books (available from us, Cicerone, Amazon and Smashwords) and therefore need to do a lot of exploratory cycling, we find the KLICKfix map holders, a simple perspex clip to be a very good way of attaching a paper map to a bike. If you pop the map in a sealable plastic sachet it is reasonably waterproof as well.  On our last trip down the Weser, the first tour of the year after the winter, I assembled the map, plastic cover and clip on the bike. A minute or two later the clip cracked open. I wrote to Rixen & Kaul the makers of the device to enquire whether because we'd stored the clip inside the plastic map cover, plasticiser from the bag had caused some form of stress corrosion cracking. The company replied the same day to tell me that this was unlikely, but that the odd Minimap can be highly stressed as a result of processing  and cracks in use. We received a new Minimap clip by Post a day or two later without needing to send in proof of purchase. Well done Rixen & Kaul!

I was also interested to noticed that Rixen & Kaul now do a handlebar bag (PadBag) for an iPad/tablet with a transparent plastic covered drawer to hold the iPad which can be pulled out for reading and navigation. This bag solves a problem that we had been debating about using an iPad/tablet with one of our e-guide books.

KLICKfix products are distributed in the UK by

Greyville Enterprises GB-WS 14 9TZ Lichfield, phone +44 (0)15 43 / 25 13 28 email: sales@greyville.com  website: www.greyville.com

and by 

Zyro Limited YO7 3BX Thirsk Business Park, phone +44 (0)1845 521700 email: customer.services@zyro.co.uk  website: www.zyro.co.uk and in the USA by  United States: VeloFred LLC New York, phone +1 (0)646 4359805  email: info@velofred.com  website: www.velofred.com.  We have no financial interest in Rixen & Kaul or any of their distributors. We just like the gear.

Wet legs?

We have written in the past about the inability of cyclists to agree jointly on any topic even for the greater good of the cycling community. For example one good way of causing a riot such that the Justices of the Peace need to called out, is to mention the topic of cycle helmets at any British or German cycle club meeting. One is thus loath to criticise any other group in the cycling community, but there are times when one needs to roll one's eyes in the direction of the heavens and stifle some mild oath. We recently received a copy of the "American Bicyclist" the League of American Bicyclists' bimonthly magazine and I was struck by number of bicycles pictured without mudguards or fenders as our US friends call them. We also read the literature put out by Ground Effect, a New Zealand manufacturer of clothes for the mountain biking community - excellent reasonably priced gear and a very amusing website/newsletter. (We have bought the odd item from Ground Effect.) It is seen in some circles as "dorky" to cycle with mudguards. Dorky, I gather, is a major insult. Just in case I may have given the wrong impression Ground Effect itself does not have any opinions one way or the other about dorky-ness of cycling accessoires. Some of their reviewers are given to these opinions. A lot of folks would rather have wet and muddy legs and the black stripe up the back than run the risk of looking sensible. Very odd! As my dear mother-in-law used to say of fashionable but uncomfortable garments "Pride is painful".
If you wish to go out and use the bike as an outdoor fitness machine on sunny days it is fine to cycle without any protection, however if you are going to commute and not just to the pub, then protective fittings are a big advantage. It is noticeable that in the two countries where people cycle extensively as a means of transport: The Netherlands and Denmark people cycle on bicycles with mudguards in normal clothing and with stands so that one can leave the bicycle standing up without having to find a convenient wall to prop the bike up. I know the lads in the Tour de France don't have mudguards or stands, but these guys are being paid to get wet through and have a team of mechanics to hold their bikes.
Rant over, just don't get me started on rucksack wearing on touring bicycles.