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.
