KeatonR

Anyone choose one over the other of these two grocery panniers (the Performance vs. the REI ones)? Which did you go with and why?

Thanks,

KeatonR

Here are links to each:

https://www.performancebike.com/shop/...slisearch=true

https://www.rei.com/online/store/Prod...cat=REI_SEARCH

wahoonc

KeatonR,
I got the Performance ones, no real reason other than I had a store credit and a coupon and they were on sale. I have seen the Novara (REI) ones and I would be willing to bet they are made in the same plant in China The Performance ones do the job I bought them for.

Aaron

chephy

The Performance ones are on sale now! I'd grab 'em and run.

squeakywheel

The Performance ones look kind of shallow. The REI ones look like standard depth grocery paniers. I bought a Trek Interchange grocery panier. It's quick release mechanism makes it easier to place the panier very rearward on the rack to avoid heal strike. I mount this panier on a MTB and heal strike is a potential issue.

The shallow performance paniers would avoid heal strike by not hanging down by your heals.

wahoonc

Uhh Squeaky there is only a 1/4" difference in the sizes on them, with the Novara being the slightly larger one.

Aaron

DavidLee

I bought the Novara Panniers a few months ago & I am very happy with them. See this thread for more information.

squeakywheel

Ooops. Must be an optical allusion. The picture of the performance one on a bike doesn't look like the panier is as deep as my Trek. I could fit the whole brown paper bag in mine. Anyway, shallow might be good if you can't mount them way back on the rack. You can get some serious heal strike with a grocery panier on a compact frame bike.

farrellcollie

I have had the rei ones for a few years - they have worked fine for me. I use them for groceries, books,clothes, to change into for work, chinese food, etc

madscot13

Do you guys prefer the open top panniers or ones that you can close the top off, I'm worried stuff will go flying out. Also I noticed that you can't really use the panniers for bags in the store ( and save some paperbags) because there are no straps. I'm interested in panniers but I think ones that are more versatile would be nice- like I can use them to get my books off of my back!

DavidLee

I use Earth Tote bags with my Novara panniers. It's an excellent companion for them, they also have straps.

See my link above for pics using them, I believe they are on the second page of that thread.

Allen

Bike Shopper, quite pricey, completely waterproof, they can hold books, have handles, and will clip onto the side of a shopping cart if you want to take them into the grocery.
DavidLee's way to go is much less expensive.

cuffydog

I just bought a single Sunlite grocery pannier from Niagara Cycle Works for $23. It has a carrying strap and handles, an outside zippered pocket for a wallet, folds up and has 1129 cu in of space (I think). I bought it through Amazon and it hasn't come yet, so I can't say how it's working. But I liked the features and thought the price was competitive.

farrellcollie

I just looked at the performance ones - I like the reflective strip - I wish mine had one (I often bike after dark on my commute home) and I have nto had much luck with reflective tape sticking on rei ones.

sbhikes

Grocery paniers rock. I love being able to just toss stuff in, no zippers to fuss with. The only real issue I have found with them isn't that stuff flies out but that you can get heel strike. And they can sometimes be hard to fit on the bike or the rack. Too long, or too square.

squeakywheel

I got a grocery panier because I wanted to cary my tennis gear on my bike. The open top allows a tennis racquet to stick out the top. Other motivating factors were large capacity (for all my tennis stuff and work stuff combined) and the relatively low cost compared to other paniers.

Never had stuff bounce or blow out. Heal strike is the only real concern. If you just order some model at random off the internet and mount them on a short wheel base bike with a small rack, be prepared for plan B. I bought mine locally so I could try it on before buying it. I can sometimes get a little occasional heal strike depending on how I load the panier. Not too often, though. I'm glad I have it. Now, I can haul my tennis stuff to work on my bike on days I will play afterwards. I used to drive on those days.

KeatonR

Thanks for all the advice. I guess I'm lucky because I have both an REI and a Performance store here in town, so I'm gonna go look at them both tomorrow after work. If the Performance ones are on sale at that discount in the store, I'll probably have to get them.

Squeakywheel -- funny, I'm hoping to use them for tennis gear as well as groceries. So from your post I gather they carry requets pretty easily?

Heel strike won't be a problem for me, I don't think, b/c I'm riding a touring frame designed with this in mind (Surly Long Haul Trucker).

KeatonR

David Lee -- Those earthtote bags look great, thanks for the tip.

KR

squeakywheel

Yes, my Trek Interchange grocery panier easily carries two tennis racquets, extra clothes, water jug, and work stuff too. It's the size and shape of a brown paper grocery bag. From the pictures, I'm a little worried that the Performance ones are a little shorter. I think tha just means your racquets would be hanging out the back more. Mine are pretty much pointed straight up. I wrap a bungee cord around the handles to hold them over against the rack.

I only have one grocery panier. I've never carried enough stuff to need two.

Katzenjammer

To those who bought the Sunlite ones: how are they holding up for heavy grocery shopping? How heavy are they themselves (nobody who sells them indicates how much weight they add)?

I've been trying to get a better solution than the useful-and-elegant-looking-but-both-heavy-and-top-heavy Topeak rear basket or the also-heavy Wald folding wire ones. I carry things like gallons of cooking oil and lots of canned goods including every 24 days another case of special dietetic food for my elderly feline friend. Heavy things. So whatever I get needs to be very sturdy indeed.

Treespeed

Way more expensive than the performance, but I always thought that these were pretty cool.

https://www.cobbworks.com/

thdave

I love mine--use it all the time on weekends for shopping.

Mine's more like the Performance one, in that it has a shoulder strap, which I use a lot.

chocula

I went the ultra cheap route and bought the Nashbar Townie Panniers. They are currently on sale for $16.99!

I've heard people complain about them being flimsy, but mine have held up well over 18 months of use. One feature, that's not even mentioned on the Nashbar site, is the high-vis yellow rain cover that stuffs into a zippered pouch on the bottom of each pannier when not in use.

caloso

I have the REI ones. They're fine, but if I'd realized at the time how handy a shoulder strap would be, I would have bought one with.

Katzenjammer

Chocula wrote: "I went the ultra cheap route and bought the Nashbar Townie Panniers. They are currently on sale for $16.99!"

That on-sale + your experience convinced me! I was to have received them yesterday, but Fedex as usual effed up the delivery. Did they deliver today to make up for it? Of course not! Maybe Monday if I'm lucky.

Caloso wrote: "I have the REI ones. They're fine, but if I'd realized at the time how handy a shoulder strap would be, I would have bought one with."

Can't you get some tote-bag handle material and retrofit them? That's what I'm planning to do since I'm pretty sure the Townies don't have them as supplied.