Carbon Trace

The following is a review of products I received from Organic Bikes (see my review policy).

A big part of utility bicycling is carrying stuff — the more the better.

When I go to the grocery these days, I use a front basket, panniers, and a trailer. Add a daypack, and I can carry a week’s worth of food for my family of three.

So that’s a bit of a production — attaching all that stuff to carry all  that stuff. Sometimes you just need panniers. One of the keys to a good pannier, in addition to being stout and roomy, is that it is easy to attach and detach from the rack. I dislike wrestling with my equipment in a grocery parking lot. It also helps to be waterproof. Secure closures and rack attachments are also important.

I’d never thought, however, about a pannier being green.

The story of Organic Bikes’ various bags — I tested the saddle bag, which I prefer to call a pannier — is that they are made of re-claimed materials. From the Organic Bikes’ website:

Organic Bikes ReClaimed Cycling Bags are made from un-used agricultural bags from Vietnam. These came from the printer as over-runs/misprints/ and end of run pieces and have been hand crafted into the finest quality cycling bags! This material would have been thrown away or burned, but now it has received another life. We use 3M reflective tape and YKK zippers, and the bags are waterproof. No two bags are the same, and proceeds from these bags go right back into the communities that hand craft them.

If they meet fair-trade standards, Global Fayre downtown may be carrying them soon.

I’ve been using the pannier for a couple of weeks now — mostly for grocery trips. It’s light, strong, roomy, and well suited for carrying bulky and heavy items. It’s easy to attach and detach. The material is a rip-stop fabric. The loops and attachments are made of nylon with plastic and hook-and-loop (Velcro) closures.

The funky look is also kind of charming.

If you’re looking for a strong fuctional pannier with green credentials, I’d say check this one out.

I also tested the bottle cage.

I’m not much of a bottle cage user. I have two on my mountain bike for obvious reasons. And when I first attached this one it looked a little silly. It looked better on my Redline. Looks aside, the bamboo cage functions well. It’s flexible, so it accepts a wide variety of bottles. It was nice having a cage that flexed rather than crunching my bottle. I found it to be strong, too. I stretched it out a few times with various bottles. Nothing cracked or broke.

This thing will look snazzy on a cruiser or town bike.

Technorati Tags: bicycle equipment, cycling