In the summer in Europe swap my partner, @Immaculata, listed items for picnics or days out by bike in her wishlist.
I went through my fabric stash and found a fabric that matched her preferences.
Initially I wanted to make a basket liner with lots of pockets to double a picnic bag.
Then I learned that she doesn’t have a basket on her bike and I started browsing the internet for new ideas. I stumbled across those plastic hooks to attach bags to a bike rack and I knew what to make. A bike bag that you can use as a backpack.
I ordered some waterproof outdoor fabric and went through my stash again to find a matching accent fabric. Now I had three fabric options and I sent @Immaculata pictures of all three combinations to let her choose. Funnily enough, she picked the fabric that I originally wanted to use.
There’s so much thought put into every detail! It’s a wonderful design and execution. I love how versatile it is and the colors are bright and cheerful. What a wonderful way to spoil your partner!
@zubrickk the buckle is a bit larger than what I originally wanted to use but I found it in my stash and liked how it looked with the fabric. I also made the buckle strap rather long, because it’s always good to have some extra room to fasten things on your bike
I still can’t believe how awesome it is! What @Silky_Bee didn’t know is that I’ve actually been looking for pannier bags recently and couldn’t find one I liked! And this one is perfect. Such a coincidence that we even preferred the same colours.
Also, I can’t believe you didn’t just make it but also designed the whole pattern yourself, and included a these details like the button for the straps and the reflective piping.
Most pannier bags available here are designed to stay on your bike semi-permanently. Which is fine but it means you’ve got to unload the pannier bag every time you leave the bike, or risk theft. It’s a real thing here for thiefs to walk through bike parking areas and open bags one by one. This one can easily be taken with me.
In other countries people drive around for fun, but in the Netherlands people go cycling. In summer, we like to leave early, before it’s warm, 7 - 8am, and pack a picknick blanket and a cooler bag with breakfast and lunch. We’ll cycle around, maybe stop at a farm shop, an old church or castle, a local museum. Previously we used a backpack but now I can use the pannier bag.
Because it’s portable it can be used on other bikes, which is a plus as well as I’m going to try to rent or borrow an electric bike this summer. Manual biking is very healthy but my health isn’t great and I can’t cycle long distances anymore, which limits the places we can visit. Due to that same health issue driving isn’t an option either so my bike is my only transportation.
Brilliant design!! Bike panniers are great for carrying lots of stuff on a bike - how else can you carry a cantaloupe?!? But a pain to lug around off the bike. A shoulder strap that converts to a backpack with a snap to keep it from getting tangled in the spokes is what I need!
The problem with store bought panniers is that if they have a strap to carry around you have to remove it before cycling. Backpack options are becoming more and more popular in online stores. But most of them have the backpack straps on the same side as the bike rack hooks and that side gets real dirty on a rainy day. So I thought I take the options I like and make them better.
Today I finally took the bag out for it’s intended purpose, a longer bike trip, rather than just groceries. And I have to see, it’s really as practical as it looks, or even more practical than I thought!
My little cooler fits perfectly and I put that on the bottom There’s more than enough space left for a picnic blanket, sun cream, etc. The elastic straps on the bike rack are also still usable while the bag is on the side of the rack, in case you are bringing some more luggage. The bag itself is great for carrying larger items, but I put my wallet / keys / sunglasses case in the side pockets for easy access, so I didn’t have to dig around. The hooks are very easy to open and close, that and the straps make it very easy to remove the bag when you make a stop at a farm shop or a museum or something. It’s very dry here now so the back didn’t get dirty at all today, but it’s still nice to have the rack hooks on the other side because the hooks don’t touch your back that way. They are cleverly hidden by the flap so they are invisible when you are carrying the bag.
I also found out why we only do trips like this a few times a year because I’m soooo tired lol. I ride a bike almost every day and I exercise a lot, but I’m physically not totally healthy and a few hours of cycling is difficult for me. But it’s absolutely worth it. There are so many cycling trails in this area, through beautiful landscapes, it’s very healthy and it’s so much fun.
I’m so happy you’re using the bag I made! And I’m glad that it fits your needs.
It’s been a long time since I took a trip to the Netherlands but I remember the bike infrastructure being simply amazing! It’s pretty good where I live but cycling in the Netherlands is just a completely different level!
I’ve only been to the north and to Amsterdam, checking out other regions feels like a nice trip for spring or early fall. Where would you recommend to go?
I’m from the south-east myself, and I think this is a very beautiful area! But some people feel the landscape can be a bit desolate. Originally, this whole area was covered by a heath- and marshlands, all connected to each other. It’s not longer a connected area, and in some bits they planted forests (very nice to cycle through but not natural) but the bits that remain are heavily protected now. Yesterday we went to the Strabrechtse heide.
A completely different landscape but not too far from here is where the Rhine enters the NL and from there on all the way to the west. This area is called Betuwe and they grow a lot of fruit there. It’s most beautiful in spring when all the fruit trees are in bloom. It looks so much nicer than all those tulip fields tourists usually come to see. Some of the villages in the Betuwe area are still very religious and have Sunday rest. Sunday rest is not a thing in the south at all, that area is historically Catholic and cycling on Sundays has always been a big tradition. Every few kilometers there’s an inn where you can get a drink and go to the bathroom. Early Sunday mornings can be a bit challenging in some areas, because large groups of middle-aged men play Tour the France and expect you to make space for them. By 11 they’re somewhere on a terrace drinking beer and normal speed cyclists are safe again.
Further to the south, around Maastricht (across the border near Aachen) the landscape is very hilly. It’s very beautiful, but very different from the rest of the country. It’s close to the Eifel and you can see it in the landscape.
You can basically ride a bike everywhere except for the highway here and it’s normal and accepted for cyclists to be everywhere. On top of that there are a lot of cycling paths. Because Mr. Imma is not a fan of off-road cycling or “just cycling around” with no particular route in mind, we like the Knooppunten (Knotenpunkt) system bij the ANWB (the Dutch ADAC). They have a planner here: Maak je eigen fietsroute met de fietsknooppuntenplanner | ANWB and all their routes are paved, well maintained and have signs. You don’t have to bring a map, you can just write down the numbers you want to follow, or make up the route as you go. It’s fun with kids too - you can give them the numbers and they can look for the signs (for example, part of our route yesterday was 55-50-61-62-63). At every Knooppunt there’s a map on a wooden plaquette too, so you can really never get lost. The Knooppunten routes can be busy, there are also plenty of existing routes that are less busy, off-road or through more remote areas if you prefer that.
