I am aware of the outer pockets for the Ortliebs, but would rather not go that route.
Spare spokes, yeah already packed. I use 36 spokes, not 32, thus a bit more strength. Rohloff wheel is undished which adds some additional strength too.
Arkel make a 54 liter pannier. Not sure if it fits your price range, but, keep in mind that it would ship free from their US warehouse, so no import fees required. I have a smaller set of their panniers and can vouch for their quality.
Arkel also have a fairly good US dealer network, so you may be able to have a look at them before purchase if you are fortunate enough to live near one.
Best of luck
g
Ron
Thanks. A friend has the Arkel GT-54, he took them on a 78 day trip. I went on a 6 day trip with him so I have seen his Arkels in use. Also, I went on a group trip (16 people) and one guy did not use front panniers, he had all his gear on the back rack of his Americano, he used the GT-54 panniers too. The Arkels look nice and have quite a following, plus local stores sell them. But they are about 3 to 4 times more costly than I want to pay.
On Crosso, I had found almost no information on them in my research so they fell off my list. Nobody mentioned the really big Jandd panniers, but they also fell off my list due to cost. I am also aware of the really big Axioms. In my research I got my list down to Carradice and Altura before I posted this question.
I used the Altura 56 litre on my 30 day around Scotland tour last June.
Plenty of very wet weather at times. No leaks.
Quite a basic design. One outside pocket and an inside flap kind of pouch.
All I can say it that it did exactly what was expected of it.
I'm not sure how it could have been better. Can these things be exciting?
For my next tour to Tajikistan I'll be taking them with front Ortlieb panniers.
Only Ortlieb because I picked them up cheap on eBay a few years ago.
Matt
Great. Thank you.
Additional thought: Carradice do their old man mountain rack system that accomodates full sus forks and disc brakes. http://www.carradice.co.uk/~carra/index.php?page_id=category&category_id=35.
Yes there are racks that fit onto the skewer, but a front suspension really works best if you don't have a lot of weight on that end of the fork. Motorcyclists talk about "unsprung weight" on this issue. Tubus used to make a rack, I think it was called the Swing, that would hold front panniers with a suspension fork that got around this problem. But I think that rack is no longer available. Last summer I saw one of those racks on a bike that had 100,000 km on it, the rack had been repaired a few times but was still in use.
But, for simplicity and compactness, I am trying to get my gear down to two panniers and handlebar bag. A bikepacker frame bag is also a possibility.
I use Super C bags for all my needs (saddlebag/handlebar bag/front/rear panniers). I love them, they wear well and I've never had a problem with them being waterproof enough.
Thank you. Yesterday I looked at some Thorn brochures and saw several photos of (I think it was Andy Blance?) cycling in far off places with a suspension fork, Super C rear panniers and no front panniers. I also take that as a strong recommendation. If it was Andy in the photo, I assume he is familiar with all of the various pannier options and took what he felt was best.
Silly question maybe, but have you considered downsizing your gear instead of increasing load in the back? Lightweight tent etc. can make a great difference in the load capacity you need...
Yup. My last tour, excluding food and alcohol, my Carradice Nelson Longflap only carried two inner tubes. Thus, I had gotten down to 65 liters, not counting handlebar bag and two inner tubes that could have gone into the handlebar bag. But with several days of food the Longflap was full. On that trip I even took an air mattress instead of my self inflating Thermarest, the air mattress weighed more but was more compact to fit in the pannier better.
I have seen people that carry very little gear but I am not the kind of person that would enjoy a trip if I had to eat all my food with a spork out of a single aluminum cup. I want a second pair of shoes for when the first pair gets soaked, I want enough warm clothing so that I am comfortable when I have to scrape the frost off my bike, etc.
I plan to get my gear down to two panniers (big ones), handlebar bag, possibly a frame bag like bikepackers use. Then my expendables like food and water would either go into the Longflap or a drybag on top of the panniers.
If I make a bikepacking frame bag, that would likely be about 9 liters of volume. I have sewed camping gear before, I am sure I could make a nice frame bag, that is on my list of "maybes", but I would like to get my gear down to the point where I do not have to make that bag - plus then I would not lose two water bottle cages.
Thank you everyone.