Sunlite Utili-T Waterproof Rear Pannier - 2010 Closeout

Comments about Sunlite Utili-T Waterproof Rear Pannier - 2010 Closeout:

I was sceptical of how waterproof these bags would be with shuch a great price but they turned out to be completely waterproof. Easy to open and close.
The major con is that they dopnt attach very well onto a pannier rack. The hooks at the top of the bag are shallow and only rest on the rack. Below there is an elastic bungee cord with a hook whoch you need to wrap around the rack and hook onto an D-ring on the bag. This is awkward, annoying and has come undone one me n umerous times. Once it came undone, the hook got caught in a spoke and broke off. Many more times I simply had my bag either fall off or rub the wheel.

Comments about Sunlite Utili-T Waterproof Rear Pannier - 2010 Closeout:

For a reasonable price you get a large, reportedly waterproof pannier that seems strong and well-made.

I'm carrying a kryptonite chain and lock, a U-lock, toolkit, pump, work shirt and shoes, a good 10 lbs total in mine, with no issues so far. It's spacious- there would be lots of room vertically for me to add more, the closing strap is at its tightest setting now.

Riders who do frequent curb or rock hopping might prefer something with fully closed mounting connections up top instead of hooks, but this bag is proving to be fine for normal paved, gravel and dirt path commuting and hasn't fallen off on me or even made me nervous yet despite plenty of bumping and jostling.

Heel strike could be an issue with certain setups as there's no cutaway. I hook mine as far back on the rack as I safely can and said rack is on the rearmost mounting point of my hybrid; my heels clear fully in this setup.

The attachment system consists of two broad rubber-coated hooks up top and a single metal hook on a bungee below. I wish this metal hook were coated with rubber to protect my rack a little better; the plastic tube that came pushed onto it was lost in a matter of days. The lower hook should be attached below the pannier somewhere to a cross-junction on your rack, like one of the protruding prongs many racks have near the lower mounting point, and if that is insufficient to put tension on the cord you can run it around that junction and back up to the lower D-ring. Downward-pulling tension is important in part to help prevent the top hooks from bouncing up and off the rack during a bump or pothole, and tension in general to keep it from swinging out during a turn and the hook from wandering out of whatever you ran it through.

If you've got one of those rear racks with only vertical side supports that converge at a single point on the bottom with no tree or fork or anything below your pannier for hooking something around, yeah this bag (and many others whose lower attachment relies on a bungee cord w/hook) probably won't work for you.

If your lower hook is coming loose of its own accord, but not because it snapped first, it's probably because you're failing to attach it in a way that places tension on the bungee cord. It is not meant to be loosely looped around the rack and just hooked back onto the d-ring.

Comments about Sunlite Utili-T Waterproof Rear Pannier - 2010 Closeout:

I was pretty excited to get this as the rainy season had just begun. It did prove waterproof and worked well in keeping my gear dry and protected.

However, the way it attaches is awful. It has two small hooks at the top and a bungee at the bottom. Several times during my usual daily commute ride I would hit a large bump, which would knock the top hooks out of place. This could either skew the bag so it was rubbing against the back wheel, or knock it off entirely. You can imagine the kind of problem a bag, attached by a bungee, being dragged behind you can cause. It's nearly wrecked me on several occasions. This has also torn a hole in the bottom of the bag.