Tom Keats wrote:
In article BmiDc.100294$Hg2.30504@attbi_s04,
"Peter Cole" writes:


4. You can stick a backpack in a milk crate more easily than in panniers,
which is an advantage for students.

I like this feature the most. When I ride my bike downtown for shopping or Dr.
visit, etc., I can throw my backpack into the crate, then grab it & put
helmet, etc. away for errands. The pannier easily detaches though, and has
handles, looks like a square, black, fabric shopping bag, not too bad either.


With my pack in the crate, I can stuff a water bottle or
two in the near right corner -- easily accessible, and
the bottles stay upright against the pack.

Milk crates are also better than panniers, I think, for
transporting certain delicate things, like foot-high
potted zinnias.

I've found small pizza boxes fit quite nicely right
inside the crate; large one fits over the top and
can be bungee'd on. But medium-sized pizza boxes
want to go in at an angle, causing a pie-valanche
inside the box. Take-out pizzas carried uninsulated
on a bike, and unprotected from the airflow, get cold
very fast.

The only 'stability' problem I've experienced has
been while transporting large sacks of flour. They
lean out over the back of the crate, and cause the
bike to tend to sponaneously wheelie. In fact there's
a bit of effort involved just in holding the front of
the bike down while mounting.


I've used both, and prefer panniers. The humble milk crate is not without
appeal, however.


I agree. Another drawback of the crate is that sitting directly on the rack as
it does, it subjects the contents to a harsher ride. I keep a bit of foam in
mine, helps when delivering things like a 12-pack of bottles.


I haven't yet broken an egg coming home from the supermarket.
But I'll pick the line that traverses the best pavement. That
can be a little slower and somewhat squirrely. And I'll
gingerly negotiate the unavoidable bumps. It's been good
practice for me, for riding light on the saddle. /Be/ the
suspension :-) Actually, I don't really know for sure if
unweighting the saddle lessens any jolts inflicted on things
in the milk crate. But it doesn't hurt.

I haven't had the courage to pack bottled beer beyond
one or two bottles at a time. Cans are easier to take
back for the deposit, anyway (we get a 10-cents-per-can-
or-bottle deposit back here.)


cheers,
Tom


Shopping bag type panniers excel for carrying bottles. Each holds two
sixpacks of bottles perfectly. I haven't bought cans for a while but you
should be able to stack them and carry twice as many. Sixpacks should be
the universal standard of carrying capacity.

Lorenzo L. Love
http://home.thegrid.net/~lllove

"Americans are broad-minded people. They'll accept the fact that a
person can be an alcoholic, a dope fiend, a wife beater, and even a
newspaperman, but if a man doesn't drive there's something wrong with him."
Art Buchwald