DIY Bicycle Pannier!

Hey! This tutorial is about making any old bag into a bicycle pannier. I got the idea when my old Ortlieb Pannier wore out after 15 years of use(they are great!). The bag had holes and the buckles were broken but the hardware to attach it to the bike rack was still good. So I took the hardware off the old pannier and attached it to a new bag and voila: a new pannier! If you don’t have an old pannier to salvage parts from you can always order a kit off eBay or Amazon. Just search for “bicycle pannier kit”.

Why would you want to do this when high quality panniers are available? Well for me it was about not wasting my old Ortlieb bag’s parts and also not spending $200 for an equivalent new bag. And it’s fun making your own bag! You can literally use just about any old laptop bag, shoulder bag, courier bag ect! So many options! Another reason was that I was not satisfied with the top loader form factor of my Ortlieb bag. I wanted something a bit better suited for my short commute to work. Something with an external zip pocket. Something that was a bit easier to keep organized.

Read on to find out how!

-Pannier rack attachment hardware(either from a new kit or salvaged off an old pannier). These are the hooks that hold the bag to the bicycle rack.

-Bag to be turned into a pannier, I chose a sturdy medium sized shoulder bag(that's teal colored!).

-A sharpie to mark where your holes for the rack hardware will go.

-A sharp object like a heavy duty needle to pierce the new bag with.

-A pen or other similar object to widen the needle hole in the bag fabric for the rack hardware screws.

-For my rack hardware I needed a flat head screw driver and a wrench to tighten the bolts that hold it together.

-Optionally coffee!

I found my bag at a thrift store for $3 and recycled the old rack attachment hardware from my old Ortlieb bag. I chose a bag that is one of those convertible bags with tucked away back pack straps. I chose this one because it allows me to put the nuts for the rack hardware in the pocket that holds the back pack straps. This way the nuts are not in the main compartment at all which is really nice!

A cool thing about Ortlieb bags is that some of them can be disassembled using just a flat head screw driver and a wrench, such good design! And if I ever decide to fix my old Ortlieb bag I can just take the hardware off the teal bag and put it back on. Awesome!

To remove the hardware from the Ortlieb bag I held a wrench on the plastic nut on the inside of the bag while I used a screw driver on the bolt on the outside to loosen it. After I took the 11 bolts out of my old Ortlieb pannier the hardware was free.

When you are planing out how to attach the hardware to your new bag there are a couple things to think about: What orientation do you want the bag to be when it is attached to you rack? Another thing to think about is clearance for you foot when pedaling. You don’t want your foot to be hitting your new pannier! I used the handy backing plate from inside my old Ortlieb pannier to mark on my new bag where the holes needed to be.

You will have to make holes in your new bag in order to attach the rack hardware to it. For my bag I used a heavy duty needle to pierce the bag, then a pen shaped tool to widen the hole. I then test fit the bolt through the hole into a nut on the other side to make sure it worked ok.

After you have made all the holes you need you just have to put everything together. I reused the black backing plate on the inside of my new bag and attached all of the hardware and made sure it was tight. I used the same flat head screw driver and wrench to tighten the bolts.

Now the only thing left is to go for a ride! You might have to adjust where some of the hardware is so take an allen wrench with you. Another thing I do is tuck the shoulder strap through the handle on the bag a couple times to secure it. It would be a bummer if it got sucked into your wheel while riding. Another option is of course to remove the shoulder strap.

Enjoy your stylish new bag!