RE Himalayan Panniers, Practicality and aesthetics?

[SilverCycle]

Well, I reckon this will cause a little amusement, or revulsion!

On my last 2 sets of Givi panniers, I ended up on tour with groceries carried in the front half of the RHS pannier. They cooked a bit, from the sun more than the exhaust I think. Don't know if the black plastic boxes were worse than the silver ally.

So I lined them with thin (Tesco) carry mat. That worked surprisingly well, and tomorrow's breakfast milk didn't curdle. Admittedly this is in the UK and northern Europe.

For my Him, I was perhaps unwisely swayed by aesthetics and purchased the cool, or rather, hotter, black boxes. And there's no handle. Both now resolved.

Is there any chance of me being mistaken for a serious adventurer with this?

 

[grymsr]

You're not crazy. I think your inner lining job is a great idea, which I might borrow. Not so eager to wrap the outside though. I know the black soaks up more sunlight thus more heat, but rather that cover the outside of my black panniers, I would just use my standard bare aluminum ones. (I have both black and bare).

 

[SilverCycle]

Thanks. If you're a psychiatrist I'll have that in writing

Yes, I regret choosing black now.

Inside was self-adhesive bubble wrap sort of stuff, I think used for vans and RVs. The self adhesive made it a faster job than glueing carry mat. I'm going to try to attach the back only with velcro, as to fly with Condor, my cabin baggage max smallest dimension is 20cm, so I have to remove the mounting ironmongery for the flight (discussed in another thread).

Outside is sticky back plastic, as per Blue Peter (UK only reference, sorry). Paint might have looked nicer, perhaps.

 

[Turbofurball]

The sticky back plastic isn't going to last terribly long in the summer sun, it usually shrinks and the adhesive can separate; had it been me I would have painted them silver (my Himalayan came with silver ally panniers, I took them and the frame off the moment I got home).

Protip from someone who lives in a hot place: a bit of ally-backed foam liner would be an improvement over the bubblewrap but it's already going to be a huge improvement on nothing ... add cool packs out of the freezer to keep shopping fresh when it's summer there (or any time of year here, lol).

 

[SilverCycle]

You might have a point about the plastic in the sun. We'll see, and, of course, I can paint it later.

Yes, I used cheap carrymat before, it was about 5mm foam, actually a bit soft to sleep on I think, and foil lined. But it wasn't self adhesive and the job was a bit of a PITA. I think the glue cost more than the mat.

 

[Steve S]

I used vinyl wrap on my Givi panniers, although not all over. This is pretty durable, easy to apply and remove and replace and relatively cheap. The panniers are bigger than I would like but they are what I had from a previous bike so needs must. The picture does over exaggerate their size however!

 

[SilverCycle]

Oh how funny! You've changed yours from silver to black, opposite of mine.

I've got a set of those Givi Dolomitis, too. I wondered whether to get Givi racks for the Him, but decided that the mountings were potentially a bit delicate and harder to fix if failed, compared to the cruder Him panniers. Although I've never actually had a problem with Givis.

 

[Steve S]

Oh how funny! You've changed yours from silver to black, opposite of mine.

I've got a set of those Givi Dolomitis, too. I wondered whether to get Givi racks for the Him, but decided that the mountings were potentially a bit delicate and harder to fix if failed, compared to the cruder Him panniers. Although I've never actually had a problem with Givis.

True regarding the basic nature of RE original versus Giving, but like you having used the Givi's on various bikes they have never given me any trouble. The frames are very solid and fit well. To be honest they are a little bigger than I really need and the RE ones are a better size.

 

[SilverCycle]

Depends what you do, doesn't it? I can't get my tent poles in the RE. I can in the Givi. Last summers camping tour in N Europe, I was good with the two 36L Givis, and... Topbox had just waterproofs and lunch for two, mostly empty. Did have small tank bag, separate lock bag and toolbox, and only now am I realising how rare the CB500X's long, dry, space under the seat is. What I didn't need was a bag of clobber on the pillion seat.

Pretty much the whole LH pannier was camping kit. If we weren't camping, that's 36L gone, and these Him panniers would be generous.

Him panniers start 10L smaller each, so I guess for camping I need about a 20L bag on the seat, or fill the topbox, or bags (Lomo?) on the tank bars.

OTOH, Givis aftermarket racks and big boxes - the Honda was nearly a metre wide. The Him boxes are much slimmer. With still room for a toolbox and oil bag inside the racks.

Summer beckons, soon need a test pack!

 

[Steve S]

My Gigi’s previously lived on a 500X!

 

[BruceH]

Have the Givi 36L on mine, can carry 2 grocery brown paper bags in each which is a great excuse for a ride (yes dear, I'll be happy to food shop on the way home ).

The Hitchcock pannier frames required a little fussing about but eventually got them together and solid as a rock since then.

Personally I love "big storage", I can carry full rain clothes, and both warm and cool riding gear on even hundred mile rides. Leave them in the bags and just swap them out if the conditions change. The RE ones just wouldn't have done it for me.

 

[grymsr]

I like with the RE panniers that a gallon of milk fits with room to spare.

 

[Overdrive]

Fwiw, from an inexperienced Moto camping person, I use one RE pannier for food/utensils/cooking gear, one for clothing and toiletries, and use an 80Lroll pack on the rear saddle/rack (as far forwards as possible) for tent, sleeping mat/bag, fold away chair, and any other non specific stuff relating to getting the tent up and creating a dry space. I also use an expandable tank bag for water/snacks, and anything I buy en route, and have one LOMO front pannier for puncture stuff, one spare, and a plastic tool box inside the LH rear pannier frame for er, tools.
I’ve tweaked my gear over the last 2 years, and this system (such as it is) works well for me - especially in the UK when I’m often packing away in the wet, and I’m pretty much self sufficient for days, and have a comfortable time. It is heavy though, about 40kg the lot, loaded and ready to go for a few days - however within this weight is a 9kg tent/double groundsheet - don’t laugh, I do like my space ..
My argument is that it’s still only half the weight of a pillion….(and I know which I’d rather have )

 

[SilverCycle]

... and a plastic tool box inside the LH rear pannier frame for er, tools.
...

How did you mount said toolbox? I mounted my Givi toolbox inside the LH frame, but the RE racks have a lot of crossing ironmongery, and it was a lot harder to mount, with decent access, than it was on the Honda's Givi rack, which is also a bigger loop and has no pannier intrusion inside*.

I didn't use Givi's stupid mounting kit either time, it's a whacking great steel plate, weighing, IIRC, over 900g or 2lb. I used steel strip and p-clips, but on the Him they're pretty convoluted steel strips, and carefully placed spacers. On the Givi racks they were just 2 straight vertical strips, with two holes each in the middle part for the Givi mount holes (which exactly take M6 Tee nuts). Must have pics somewhere.

*On the other hand, Givi's protruding "mushrooms" are purpose designed to catch in the pleats of combat or work trousers as you try to walk past.

 

[Andyb]

Afraid to differ, but I just found the RE panniers made the bike too wide, due to how wide the racks are positioned. It was the one disappointing thing about the bike. The panniers themselves are great, but the total weight of frames and boxes is quite high - around 14kg if I remember right. I have other bikes with larger / lighter / closer mounting panniers so it can be done (Hepco Becker on a Guzzi and BMW Touring panniers). It will be interesting to see how the RE panniers fit the 450 Himmy.

 

[SilverCycle]

Not as fat as this fella was! The Honda's Givi racks IIRC were 5cm wider than RE's, and the boxes bigger. I think it was 95 or 99 cm wide. To be fair, it wasn't a problem on tour.

CB500X, middle of last summer, at Nordkapp. The bikes are about the only thing we could see!

Toolbox was on RHS on Honda, wife made a bag to fit inside the other side, for messy stuff like oil.

 

[SilverCycle]

A new practicality question: Any experience of using the Himalayan panniers as seats?

 

[grymsr]

A new practicality question: Any experience of using the Himalayan panniers as seats?

If your butt is that big you need a much larger bike

 

[Turbofurball]

A new practicality question: Any experience of using the Himalayan panniers as seats?

If you mean off the bike as a camping seat ... I think they'd be uncomfortable, but would probably take a the weight of a reasonably skinny person without problems - they can hold the bike up in the event of a fall after all

 

[SilverCycle]

If your butt is that big you need a much larger bike

Doh!