So the last couple of days I have been out getting quotes to manufacture the panniers and prices have fallen about where I’d expected them to be…….Now I just have to decide which style to use and that is where the dilemma starts……..

Firstly There is 2 ways of building the panniers 1 is lots of pieces welded together OR Less pieces and many more folds…….

Now I know that a fold is less susceptible to stress fractures than a weld and from what I understand, if you sand of the hard skin from an alloy weld this weakens the joint further…..Now I’m sure it’s not if it’s weaker but more susceptible to stress cracks…..When I have seen welds fail it’s not the actual weld that’s failed but the join between the weld and parent material….

SO I am left with the following dilemma…….

• CON…..Have the pannier manufactured in a smaller shop in the piece by piece fashion with lots of welds and increases the possibility of one of the welds failing……
• CON…. And the panniers look very boxy!!!
• PRO…. The guys manufacturing the panniers are very flexible,
• PRO….They have PASSION for the product they are making…. And the panniers can be tacked together and checked for alignment and adjusted as required……
• PRO…. Cheaper
OR
• CON…. Once the panniers are bent up THAT’S it. shape and dimensions are fixed….
• CON…. Large manufactures don’t have a large care factor… they just want to get the job done in the quickest and easiest fashion as possible (The small guys were all over the bike looking at all the bits and asking questions….whereas the larger guys stood back, had a quick look inside and said that will be about £XXX to £XXX)
• CON... £200 to £300 more expensive
• PRO….Having the panniers manufactured in a large engineering firm capable of making the required bends…So less chance of bends fracturing due to vibration stress……
• PRO ……should look less boxy having softer corners…..

Now I’m aware that I won’t be stressing the panniers as much as the full off road guys, as I don’t plan on spending as much time time off road guys and when I will be off road, I’ll be going much slower….And I don’t plan on dropping the bike all the time….

So which would you choose????? Does the advantages of bent corners out weight the negatives of welded corners?????

Attached Thumbnails