Ortlieb Trunk Bag review

[mickeg]

...
George, I have three of the same rack trunks of the same kind shown on your yellow Nomad. I sure like mine and they have become a day-ride standard on my bikes. A Nashbar product from some time ago, as I recall. The wedge-expanding top has come in handy when buying produce at roadside fruit stands. I attach the waistband of my large safety triangle 'round the bag for better nighttime visibility.

Best,

Dan.

Mine is a Cannondale. 

It has those small side panniers that you can unzip to hang down on the sides.  The reflective side piece is held on with velcro, I do not recall exactly why but I think it is related to the pannier part.  Mine is so old that it says made in USA, I have no clue how long ago Cannondale offshored all seamstress work to asia, but it was a LONG time ago.  I probably bought it at Nashbar.

No wedge on mine, but I have a Louis Gaurneau bag with a wedge so I know what you mean.

Mine has had almost no use.  The straps under it to attach to a rack only work well if the rack is the full width of the bag, works poorly if the rack is narrower.  And for years I used narrower racks, so over a decade and a half ago that bag went on the shelf in storage.  I bought the Surly rack that is on my Nomad about a decade ago.  I stopped using it for touring after two tours, instead use a Tubus Logo.  But the Nomad Mk II is so heavy, that putting a heavy Surly rack on the bike does not make it much heavier.  And, about a year ago I looked at that Cannondale bag and thought to myself, that is probably exactly the width of the Surly rack.  So, the Cannondale bag is in use again.

[JohnR]

I have never measured Coroplast before, I have only seen one version of it.  My caliper says it is about 4mm.

But, I would suggest you first try paper cardboard to see how it works.  And once you get a cardboard piece that is exactly the right size, you have a pattern that you can use to cut and bend the expensive stuff.

Thank you.

[JohnR]

An update: I bought a piece of A3 size 4mm Correx https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00LFKM6GA and have just cut it to fit inside the saddlebag. There was a piece left over so there's a double layer on the bottom where it rests on the Bagman. It's impressive material as it weighs almost nothing, is strong in one direction (across the width of the bag) and bendable in the other direction. I'm wondering why I didn't come across this material previously. Only time will tell how durable it is as the saddlebag isn't currently on the bike but I bought black as it's less vulnerable to deterioration caused by ultraviolet radiation.

[in4]

Isn’t this the same stuff that Real Estate For Sale boards are made of?
I’ll wait ‘til after dark and ‘take the dog for a walk’ I might just find one. 😊

[steve216c]

Isn’t this the same stuff that Real Estate For Sale boards are made of?
I’ll wait ‘til after dark and ‘take the dog for a walk’ I might just find one. 😊

I like the idea of using such materials from JohnR- but the 'recycling' idea of real estate boards or similar really gets me excited! Must remember to wear a balaclava on my next evening walk...

I actually converted an old trailer I used to transport my kids in behind my bike into a shopping schlepper. The trailer didn't have a solid floor, but was a frame with nylon floor to keep the elements out and the kids feet in. After removing the nylon seats the kids would be strapped to, I used some cheap light roofing offcuts I had left over from a gardening cold frame project and velcro to hold them to the frame of the trailer. Now I have a large flat bet for loading heavy shopping that weighs almost nothing but that is strong enough for me to stand on!

[Clive.]

Interesting thread! My objective was to have one bag to switch between my Mercury (narrow and 'not-parallel' Vega rack) and my Sterling (Blackburn MTN rack). I tried a number of solutions, but panniers, or a single pannier, didn't work on the shortish chainstayed Sterling. Best solution I could manage was an Amazon basics toolbag with an R&K Uniklip fitting to turn it in to a rackbag. The Uniklip is very well made, very expensive, worked well on a 'non-parallel' rack like my Vega, but too much effort required to change sizing between two different racks.
In the end I bought a very affordable Topeak rack for the Sterling, a Topeak adapter for the Vega, and two different sized Topeak bags. This works well for me, in that I can switch bags between bikes in a moment.
Drawbacks are :
that the adapter on the Vega blocks panniers - but I only use panniers for touring once or twice a year, so no big deal to take the adapter off.
that the Topeak rack is aluminium (which seems to be a no-no) - but since the Sterling is only rated for 15kg not a problem to me.

[mickeg]

I am guessing that what we in USA call Corroplast is called Correx in the UK. 

... the Topeak rack is aluminium (which seems to be a no-no) - but since the Sterling is only rated for 15kg not a problem to me.

I would not worry too much about that.  Some cheap aluminum racks are bad in part to poor quality welding.

But there are some very good aluminum racks out there too.  I have several RackTime racks that are aluminum, that is part of the same company as Tubus, the Tubus racks are steel.

I usually tour with Tubus racks but my light touring bike uses a RackTime on the back.  My Nomad Mk II uses an Axiom (aluminum) up front, although I made significant modifications to the Axiom.

[Andre Jute]

An ali rack — or at least a properly designed ali rack like the Racktime George also mentioned — has an advantage on a steel bike that a heavy duty steel rack doesn’t have.

My German/Dutch Utopia Kranich came with a Racktime ali rack. At first I viewed it with a jaundiced eye, because it was obviously the weakest link in a three dimensional frame capable of withstanding as much torsional force between the head tube and the mountings for the rear axle locator (two slots per side in which the Rohloff OEM design of machined ali block axle hanger slides for chain adjustment, not an EBB) as a four ton Rolls-Royce. However, after the first time a Range Rover driven by a careless bimbo tangled with my bike, I changed my mind. The Racktime gave up its life — and my bike’s precious, irreplaceable historic paintwork didn’t have scratch on it. I bought another Racktime, which suffered the same fate, and again my steel bike suffered zero stress or even superficial damage though the Racktime was too badly bent to go back on the bike, same as it’s predecessor. They could be straightened, but had obviously been in the wars and I scrapped them as costmetically unsalvageable.

I studied the trashed Racktime carefully. I don’t know if it is careful design or the luck of the draughtsman, or even a desire to bump up profits by skimping on materials (Tubus, as I have explained on this forum before, is cheap about giving the customer fittings and extension mounts for their racks), but if the Racktime had been designed as a crumple zone, it couldn’t have been done better, and the mountings twisted or cracked without moving the admittedly hefty steel they were attached to.

After careful consideration and some correspondence, I replaced the second Racktime with a Tubus stainless steel Cosmo (I bet it is in the main sold to roadies who want to pose as tourers, because there are several plain steel Tubus racks much better suited to serious touring), which is so lightly built I believe it will deform or crack through in a fender bender just like the Racktime. But that hasn’t been put to the test yet. The Tubus Cosmo is a decent rack for utility duties and probably the best zero-maintenance rack available, which was my chief consideration.

Meanwhile, Racktime racks are definitely recommended within their load capacities.

[PH]

I am guessing that what we in USA call Corroplast is called Correx in the UK. 

... the Topeak rack is aluminium (which seems to be a no-no) - but since the Sterling is only rated for 15kg not a problem to me.

I would not worry too much about that.  Some cheap aluminum racks are bad in part to poor quality welding.

But there are some very good aluminum racks out there too.  I have several RackTime racks that are aluminum, that is part of the same company as Tubus, the Tubus racks are steel.

I didn't know RackTime were a Tubus company, are Tor Tec also the same company?  They have so many similarities I've long suspected they are.
I don't have any steel racks, four aluminium and two titanium    The only issue I've had with any of them was the one on my E-bike with the stupid modern design of doing away with the struts and replacing it with a piece of steel under the mudguard, it snapped after four months. ( I'll find a pic in case that description has you scratching your head)
I have had steel racks, it doesn't take much use for them to start rusting and although that's likely to be superficial, it's also too ugly for my bikes.  I'm not sure I can tell the difference in use between any of the materials.  If there was a structural disadvantage to using aluminium it could easily be engineered out by using larger diameter tubes.

Photo of a daft rack

[mickeg]

...
I didn't know RackTime were a Tubus company, are Tor Tec also the same company?  They have so many similarities I've long suspected they are.
I don't have any steel racks, four aluminium and two titanium    The only issue I've had with any of them was the one on my E-bike with the stupid modern design of doing away with the struts and replacing it with a piece of steel under the mudguard, it snapped after four months. ( I'll find a pic in case that description has you scratching your head)
I have had steel racks, it doesn't take much use for them to start rusting and although that's likely to be superficial, it's also too ugly for my bikes.  I'm not sure I can tell the difference in use between any of the materials.  If there was a structural disadvantage to using aluminium it could easily be engineered out by using larger diameter tubes.
...

I have no clue who Tor Tec is.

At the bottom of this page it says:
racktime is a brand of tubus carrier systems GmbH, the worldwide leading company for designing and producing high-quality carrier systems for transporting stuff on your bicycle.
https://www.racktime.com/en/company#c113

My Racktime racks are the Addit model.  Mine have stamped into them max of 30 kg, but their advertising now says 25kg.  At the bottom of this page it says Tubus.
https://www.racktime.com/fileadmin/user_upload/racktime/downloads/bemassungsskizzen/Addit_2.0_01.pdf

I doubt that I will ever have over 20 kg on my Addit racks, that is on my rando bike and on my titanium touring bike.  If I have much weight I instead use one of my Thorn bikes and use the Logo on them.

My Tubus Logo EVO rated for 40 kg.
https://www.tubus.com/fileadmin/user_upload/tubus/downloads/technische-zeichnungen/hinterradtraeger/Logo_Evo_TZ_2.0.pdf

I do not have any issues with steel racks and rust.  I only buy black ones, and I keep a bottle of black fingernail polish handy at home, if I get a wear spot down to bare metal I touch it up with the fingernail polish.

I put some plastic hose on the frequent wear spots on the rack so that the racks do not get worn from panniers.  See photo.

I only use the Logo for touring.  For around home use I use different racks that have a wider platform on top, but for heavy panniers I really like the Logo.

ADDENDUM:  I just found that the Tubus Logo has been reduced in max capacity too.  When I bought it, it was rated for 40 kg, but now is rated for 26 kg.  This makes me wonder if they reduced their capacities for some reason that has nothing to do with the racks themselves, or if they changed the materials or design of them in some way that made the newer ones weaker?

[B cereus]

ADDENDUM:  I just found that the Tubus Logo has been reduced in max capacity too.  When I bought it, it was rated for 40 kg, but now is rated for 26 kg.  This makes me wonder if they reduced their capacities for some reason that has nothing to do with the racks themselves, or if they changed the materials or design of them in some way that made the newer ones weaker?

Tubus do not support the fitting of child seats to their racks and I believe they deliberately downgraded the recommended maximum carrying capacity to 26Kg* to further discourage such practice. As I understand it the  construction  and materials of Tubus racks remained unchanged and they can safely carry conventional loads in excess of 26Kg..
 
* ISO 11243:2016 specifies the safety and performance requirements of bicycle racks and requires that racks with a carrying capacity in excess of 27 kg should by definition be approved for the attachment of child seats.

[mickeg]

ADDENDUM:  I just found that the Tubus Logo has been reduced in max capacity too.  When I bought it, it was rated for 40 kg, but now is rated for 26 kg.  This makes me wonder if they reduced their capacities for some reason that has nothing to do with the racks themselves, or if they changed the materials or design of them in some way that made the newer ones weaker?

Tubus do not support the fitting of child seats to their racks and I believe they deliberately downgraded the recommended maximum carrying capacity to 26Kg* to further discourage such practice. As I understand it the  construction  and materials of Tubus racks remained unchanged and they can safely carry conventional loads in excess of 26Kg..
 
* ISO 11243:2016 specifies the safety and performance requirements of bicycle racks and requires that racks with a carrying capacity in excess of 27 kg should by definition be approved for the attachment of child seats.

Thanks for posting, that adds some clarity to the situation.

I was seeing that lots of racks had lower ratings, but found that the Tara rating had not dropped, stayed at 15 kg.  So, there was no reason to lower the Tara where there was a reason for the others.

I suspect that the Logo at 26 and Racktime Addit at 25 is their way of saying if you want more capacity, buy that one instead of this one.

[Moronic]

Back on page 1 I offered this comment about the Ortlieb Trunk Bag under review:

"Second, on a single rail rack like the Vega, you can't use it in combination with Ortlieb panniers. That's because the clever mount dominates the rail. Traditional saddlebags don't display this incompatibility. (You can use it with panniers on a dual-rail rack such as the Tubus Logo.)"

Well I can tell you now that the remark in parentheses is inaccurate. I have purchased a Logo Evo, and it certainly will not mount the Trunk Bag with an early pair of Back Rollers. Yes the top rails are free. No, they are too close to the lower rails, and the Trunk Bag is too wide, to prevent interference. I'll edit p1 accordingly.

I had other reasons for getting the Logo rack, so that's not a major setback.

[PH]

Well I can tell you now that the remark in parentheses is inaccurate. I have purchased a Logo Evo, and it certainly will not mount the Trunk Bag with an early pair of Back Rollers. Yes the top rails are free. No, they are too close to the lower rails, and the Trunk Bag is too wide, to prevent interference. I'll edit p1 accordingly.

That's a shame, will they fit in sequence or not at all? 
I toured with someone with panniers and rack bag, though I don't recall the make and model, he had to fit the panniers before the rack bag and then couldn't access them.  For touring purposes that's no big deal, many people, including myself, pack in such a way that there's no need to open the panniers except to pack and unpack at the ends of the the day.

[mickeg]

Back on page 1 I offered this comment about the Ortlieb Trunk Bag under review:

"Second, on a single rail rack like the Vega, you can't use it in combination with Ortlieb panniers. That's because the clever mount dominates the rail. Traditional saddlebags don't display this incompatibility. (You can use it with panniers on a dual-rail rack such as the Tubus Logo.)"

Well I can tell you now that the remark in parentheses is inaccurate. I have purchased a Logo Evo, and it certainly will not mount the Trunk Bag with an early pair of Back Rollers. Yes the top rails are free. No, they are too close to the lower rails, and the Trunk Bag is too wide, to prevent interference. I'll edit p1 accordingly.

I had other reasons for getting the Logo rack, so that's not a major setback.

Photos are of a Logo EVO, Ortlieb Backrollers from about 2010 vintage, and the Ortlieb 31 liter Ortlieb RackPac of similar vintage.  The Rackpack is up above the rack, it sits on the Backrollers, not on the rack.

This is the USA website for Ortlieb Rack Pack
https://www.ortlieb.com/usa_en/rack-pack

The Rack Pack has a strap on each side that clips to hold the rolled part down to the rest of the bag.  And the Backrollers have a strap that goes over the top of the pannier.  You can use the Backroller strap to clip to the Ortlieb top clip on each side to hold the Rack Pack.

First photo from behind.  Sometimes I add one more strap around the rack and Rack Pack, did that in the first photo.  That helps keep the Rack Pack from sliding around and shifting position.

Third photo, the Rack Pack shifted to the left side away from the camera, it is in part a function of how tight you have the straps. 

The Rack Pack is basically a duffle with minimal stiffener.  There are stiffeners at the roll top to aid in rolling it, but that is all.  I have commented earlier in this thread that I have used initially paper based cardboard and later Coroplast as a stiffener in some of my bags.  I did that with the Rack Pack, thus the Rack Pack has a firm cylindrical shape (or maybe flattened cylindrical shape if not stuffed full) instead of a limp pillow case sort of shape.

Since the Rack Pack sits on the panniers and not on the rack, it will not work on a rack without panniers.  And it is best if the two panniers are the same height, or equally loaded.  And it is pretty obvious that the Rack Pack goes on last and comes off first.

If I did not want to carry that large a volume, I might leave the Rack Pack at home.  Ortliebs are expensive, instead of buying a smaller one, I use a non-cycling dry bag on some trips instead.  Fourth photo.  This obviously was not designed to work with the Ortlieb straps, so this is more complicated to attach and detach.  On this trip by the end of the trip when the food was all eaten, I all gear was in the panniers and handlebar bag, no bag on top of the rear rack.

It was not until I looked at the video in the Ortlieb website for writing this post:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtxsoOa2h48
that I realized that I was not using as many of the straps as I could, thus the Rack Pack might not shift side to side if you clip all four clips where I was only clipping two buckles.  I just learned something.