Thursday, April 26, 2007

Yeah, that's right: Kitty litter bucket panniers.

Thanks to Mr. G for this web link for kitty litter bucket panniers.

2 comments:

edward parish said...

Just think how many beers you could carry in each bucket.

MrG said...

Ed, I made a set of these about ten days ago and immediately tried your idea out.
Cyclist/writer Joe Ward and friend David Runge came over from Louisville last Sunday and we started out from the Memphis truck plaza headed west.
We zig-zagged up Biggs and Speth Rds. before turning left on 160 to climb Pixley Knob and take a left at Blue River Road.
The ride to Pekin were wonderful country miles under a clear blue sky. The pastures were green and the new baby calves stayed close to their mamas in the shade of trees along the fence rows.
In Pekin, we grabbed some hearty sandwiches from "Heather's Cafe", crossed the tracks to a loading dock in the shade and settled in. When I popped the top off the panniers and pulled out some iced Beck's dark, the reaction was positive.
We retraced our way out of town on Blue River Rd to Honey Run Rd and then onto Pixley Knob Rd, which has a more civilized climb in stages up the knob through Clark State Forest.
Alot of horse riders were out with their trailers parked in camps. They waved and one even asked where I was headed since I was fully-loaded with front and back panniers doing a shakedown ride. Nice people out doing the same thing we were.
The return down Pixley Knob Rd. was excitingly steep at first. I almost reached 40 mph despite all the gear. A nice pedal past Fuzzy Zoeller’s new mega-development Champion’s Pointe, got us back into Memphis to finish what was a delightful 42-mile Sunday ride.

A company called Cobbworks sells similar panniers on the web, but the homemades work fine. About $4 each bucket for stainless hardware and reflector strips. The buckets are free after you buy 28 lbs. of kitty litter at Meijer's (the only place I found that uses the plastic labels you can just slip off).
Another advantage is when you get to camp, or stop with a flat, you can sit on them as a stool while you work or relax And a whole lot cheaper than a set of Ortliebs!