So, on the road in Turkey, 2 weeks into a 6-month trip, I forget to lock the panniers just one time and ride for about half an hour before I notice that one pannier cover is missing. By the time I backtrack and find it, a couple of trucks seem to have driven over it, and it's as flat as a pizza base.
Apparently what happened is that
vibration made the locking mechanisms that keep the cover on the pannier come loose, so the hinges opened and the cover flew off while the bike was going at 100km/h on a tarmac road.
I'm very glad
(a) nobody was hurt when this thing flew off the bike (I imagine getting hit by a piece of aluminium at 100km/h will not be pleasant)
(b) no bike/car had an accident as a result of a chunk of metal being on the tarmac for about 10'
(c) none of the stuff that I had in the pannier flew out (in fact it was very lightly loaded)
(d) I didn't have the Ortlieb drybag on the cover when it flew off, because it would have gone with it
I am not glad at all that this even happened and am wondering what my alternatives are.
Does anyone know who the Touratech representative/reseller/distributor in Turkey is? I believe the top cover is beyond repair (see
http://www.flickr.com/photos/3996729...57622584499466 )
You can see from the first pics that the cover did not seem to fit perfectly - it looks loose when the drybag was on the pannier, which is a defect per se, but having the damn thing come loose on its own and fly off is simply unacceptable.
I've had the panniers for more than 2 years but they've been falling apart like this only recently, because I've been doing more travelling recently.
Chances for a replacement from Touratech? If so, how? Anyone got contacts I could try with the German HQ, since I know for sure the Greek reseller I bought this from (MAKAN) will be unable to deal with this case in a timely fashion and I am on the road with 33% of my luggage capacity wiped out for now...
Thanks
Alexandros