Hi,

I think I have a problem with a new set of aluminium Trax Panniers. Before making a bit of noise I wanted to pass it by the ever knowledgeable and experience HUBB'ers as these are my first set of panniers.

I took them on a first trip and my girlfriend noticed some moisture inside one of the panniers after the first night of the trip. We rode up for around 5hrs with some Scottish rain showers. The panniers were taken inside for the night. I must admit I kindof ignored this as it wasn't too bad.

On a week long trip we noticed it again, but in particular after a wetter day. On this occassion I had taken one pannier inside for the night, and left one outside and it was raining quite heavily. When I took it in the following day my camera bag was damp and there was moisture inside both of the panniers, the one that had been outside had enough moisture in it to dampen a padded camera bag, and had water droplets inside it.

My query to you is - is this unacceptable, or do the majority of panniers have a bit of this problem? Excuse my ignorance - I'm still getting used to the biking, never mind the travelling.

If this is unusual I do have a bit of a problem for one of the panniers. On the first trip away I had my first off and one of the panniers came off it's rack and has some marks along the bottom from the road from a 20mph drop so if I complain this may be the first thing that's mentioned.

For info - I have noticed that if I try to pack the panniers a bit tight the rubber seal around the top loosens but I'm sure I always notice this as I always have a good check around the seals (hey, I'm in Scotland!) and resit it if necessary.

Pics attached for info - sorry for the really long explanation!

Any advice appreciated as I'm a bit worried SW Motech may have rushed these out a bit because of the demand.

Also - for others I have pics of them on my DL1000 - sorry I've not uploaded these yet!

Attached Images

    

are they sold as waterproof? I think that will be your problem with the company.

dust the inside with flour and spray them with water to find the leak. You may just need some silicon gel on the mounting points. But the top rubber seals sound like the problem. Forget the marks on the bottom due to the crash, that's why you bought metal boxes! And as long as they don't interfere with the seals they are not important in any warranty claim.

by the way, I'd call that 'water' not moisture. even up here!

Rivets , lap joints , plastic corners !
All are places where water can seep in by capillary action .
Time to get out the silicon sealant !

__________________
Blessed are the cracked, for they let in the light. - Spike Milligan
"When you come to a fork in the road ,take it ! When you come to a spoon in the road ,take that also ."

Cheers for the response - yes, that was the water after my camera bag had soaked it up!

"waterproof sealing profile" is the word used on the SW-Motech site.

I know the seals were coming loose quite easily when the panniers were pretty full but I always checked they were sealed properly (that's how I noticed how easily they came off and went back on).

Time to make that call I think as it could be several weeks before I get the chance to go away on an overnighter in the rain again....but I may leave them out the back!

"I know the seals were coming loose quite easily"

no need to say any more than that.... unless the company read this forum (which is possible) it makes no difference if they are full or not full.

That's ok if they read this, otherwise I wouldn't have queried it here - it wasn't just the one pannier that was letting in moisture or water - and the 2nd one was totally untouched on the slow speed off.

I have just done 3000 miles through Norway with the same panniers without problem, if it is just a small amount of dampness are you sure it is not just condensation !