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TECH NEWS
bike binsBike Bins launch on Kickstarter, offering lockable, weather-resistant containers to replace pannier bags
If you want something a bit stronger and secure than standard pannier bags to carry your gear, Bike Bins claim to have the answers in the form of a hard shell, locking construction that is fully weather-resistant. They're made in Britain, and crowdfunding on Kickstarter now.
Review: Tailfin T1 + SL Super Light Package
Your guide to racks and panniers
Fed up with the fragility of pannier bags during a bike tour across Russia some 14 years ago, creator Sam Lowings wanted something sturdier and more secure to keep his luggage safe. When he returned home a prototype Bike Bin was made. In fact back in 2009 we reviewed the original Bike Bins you can find out what we thought here.
Now the company want to raise funds that will allow them to relocate the injection tooling to a local manufacturer and make modifications, update the product and prepare for full production.
The Bike Bin is made from recyclable materials in Britain, and has a storage capacity of 17.5 litres. They weigh 1.3kg each, and the fittings that lock them are provided by Rixen and Kaul which are readily available worldwide if you eventually need replacement parts.
The 2.5mm plastic construction is said to provide better protection for your gear, and increased weather protection compared to standard panniers.
Bike Bins have just launched a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter, and have so far raised £436 of their £27,440 goal with 28 days remaining. A £45 backing gets you one bike bin, £80 gets you a pair and for £3,000, bizarrely you can get two Bike Bins covered in Swarovski crystals. Click here to find out more.
Jack has been writing about cycling and multisport for over a decade, arriving at road.cc via 220 Triathlon Magazine in 2017. He worked across all areas of the website including tech, news and video, and also contributed to eBikeTips before being named Editor of road.cc in 2021 (much to his surprise). Jack has been hooked on cycling since his student days, and currently has a Trek 1.2 for winter riding, a beloved Bickerton folding bike for getting around town and an extra beloved custom Ridley Helium SLX for fantasising about going fast in his stable. Jack has never won a bike race, but does have a master's degree in print journalism and two Guinness World Records for pogo sticking (it's a long story).
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11 comments
The rattle in these is going to be horrendous - it looks like strapping essentially a large plastic bucket to the side of your bike.
i like the fact that my panniers are flexible, and I don’t have an issue with durability, weight, or waterproof ness, so I’m not entirely sure that this is a problem that needs solving.
unless you want to fill them up with beer, take a (fully recycleable) paper straw, and go to a festival!
better at keeping liquids in than a pannier I’ll give them that.
How do these compare weight-wise to the flightcase-style hard panniers you often see on touring motorcycles?
Mine weigh just over 5kg a side, so you'd double the weight of your bike if you added a pair, but I would have thought that they are engineered for robustness rather than ultimate lightness, and could be made lighter for use on a bicycle.
Bikebins.com has been going since 2004: https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/05285011/filing-history?page=2
Why are they on kickstarter? I'm pretty confident you've been able to buy these for years. If its a new model surely the profit from previous models should fund these new ones. It's irritating when companies do this.
Hey Boopop, Thats very true..... Sam is the original owner and started the project back in 2015. Fast forward to today and i will be taking relaunching the business. You can read all about the story directly on the kickstarter page.
Great, more plastic
...because no one on a cycling forum ever said, "Great, more carbon fibre".
Too true, i agree..... However at least its useful and reusable plastic unlike alot of the daily waste we create in the world. We will be investigating material options for recycled plastics after we launch, i imagine this is somthing you will be interested in? Let me know
no, I don't use panniers. I used Carradice and Berthoud saddle bags and front bags. Recycled plastic is still plastic and it's still going to end up 'out there' for the next ten thousand years.
Well, other than Carradice using cotton canvas, every other pannier is made of plastic too. However all these ostensibly ecological claims about using "recyclable" plastic do get my goat. Plastic, for the most part, is recyclable, but just stating the fact is not actually benefitting the environment. For that you have to make the recycling bit happen, by using recycled plastic. It's no good using virgin plastic and sticking a "100% recyclable" badge on it hoping for environmental kudos.
True words spoken here, and i agree that it is hard to heavily influence others to recycle. I hope that the bike bin will be in the users hands long enough that more options are available to take advantage of recycling through government projects. As mentioned before, we will be look at using a recycled plastic material...... however choices are still unfortunately expensive and limited colour options. I will continue to try and find a solution to this!