Alternative Homemade Pannier Bungees

If you are riding your bike on a route that is bumpy, or if you are like me and will lose the bungee if it is not attached to the bag, you will want some permanently installed bungy straps to hold down your home made panniers.

My instructable shows some minor additions that I used to keep the panniers attached firmly to the bike.

First of all start out with this fantastic instructable posted by Frenzy:

http://www.instructables.com/id/How_To_Make_Panniers_Out_Of_Recycled_Materials_for/

Then before moving to step 5 follow these steps:

(at least that is what I did and the bag/other hardware you see will was created by following that instructable )

Step 1: Assemble Materials

(Remember these are items you will need IN ADDITION to the materials posted by Frenzy in his pannier instructions http://www.instructables.com/id/SOC3NSFFRBPY11F/ )

UPDATED NOTE: I would also recommend going to a local privately owned hardware store rather than a big box. The people will know better where to find what you are looking for and are usually better at problem solving with you than at the big box stores. I also found that the small local hardware store was cheaper overall for the things I needed.

- Length of Bungee (Aproximately 1 foot, but may vary depending on your bike) ( find a bungee lying by the road on your bike ride, or find a simple bungee and cut it. You might be able to find bungee stock lengths at hardware or boating stores. )

- Metal Ring (75 cents each)
OR
Hook ( NOTE: If you are using a hook, Just use an existing hooked bungee and leave the hook on the bungy )
( this depends on what hardware your rack/bike have on them. My wifes bike has hooks at the bottom, so we used rings that slip over the hooks. Mine doesn't have those so I'll probably use hooks on mine to hook over something down there near the axle)

- 2 Coated Retainer Clamps (50 cents each) (sized appropriately for your bungee. I used 1/4" )

(Optional)

- 4 Washers ( 7 cents each)

NOTE: If you use the washers you may need a longer bolt/screw than you originally planned for.

Comments

[Yard Sale Dale]

I found a mom-and-pop shop with tons of dead computers they are recycling. They had some nice laptop bags and sold me one for $2 ! I plan to make it a rack bag with some kind of hardware store hooks like these.

[futpoo]

I use these same metal hooks for my panniers, but I slid clear vinyl tubing over them so they do not damage the rack. They are quieter and the tubing seems very durable.

[sladek]

This is a worthy addon to the design you got the inspiration from.

Here's my version:

Homemade Bike Pannier from sladekious on Vimeo.

[krickerd]

Thanks for the single bungee + hook at the bottom idea. I implemented something very similar which I think will work nicely. I had two similar clamps already and an old beat up bungee which was worn out in the middle.