Ortlieb Rear Roller Reviews - Product Reviews

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Posted: 15/11/03

'EXCELLENT. VERY DURABLE, HIGHEST QUALITY - RECOMMENDED.'

Strengths:
Extremely durable - made from a seriously tough material and takes a lot of scrapes without a problem.

Very waterproof (very very) - can well imagine these floating in water - when you close the bag with the 'roller' they're almost vacuum sealed (you have to make sure you get the air out first otherwise compacting the contents is hard!). Recently went away on a camping trip in v rainy weather and the contents stayed dry without a problem.

The rack clips are very durable as well, made from a toughened plastic. Couldn't be easier to mount the panniers on the rack due to the excellent design of the rack clips. To mount them you just lift a strap which opens the rack clip jaws and drop them onto the rack - takes about 2 seconds to do - literally. :)

The size of these panniers is 50L so there's plenty of room for a weekend's camping trip - easily fit a 2 man tent, sleeping bag and cooking gear in one bag and clothes etc in the other.

The overall build quality of these bags is awesome and don't imagine having to replace them for a long long time.

Weaknesses:
The main weakness of this bag is the 'roller' system. Getting anything out of the bags in a hurry is a real hassle due to the way the bags are closed.

There are also no outer pockets which could be handy and eliminate the above problem.

The panniers aren't the cheapest around either, but given the quality they're worth every penny IMO.

Overall:
Overall these bags are great and I'd recommend them to anyone. Whilst they're not the cheapest panniers around, the quality more than makes up for this.

Very very durable and waterproof - don't expect to buy another set of panniers for at least 5 years after you buy a set of these :)

Contents could be more accessible but personally this doesn't bother me too much.

Highly recommended. Don't often give out full marks but to be honest these panniers do get full marks in each of the categories :)

Performance		100%
Reliability		100%
Value		100%

Overall Rating

100%

Sandy Noble

Posted: 18/07/04

'VERY SIMPLE DESIGN, EXECUTED TO A VERY HIGH STANDARD.'

Strengths:
Outstandingly durable.
Simple - versatile.
Totally waterproof with welded seams and roller top.
Easily removable but secure on the rack.
Capacious.

Weaknesses:
Totally waterproof with roller top.
Simple - demanding.
Single large bag - no dividers or organisers.
Plastic fittings (I'm being picky).
No outer pockets or easy access.
"Sweaty" for damp gear.

Overall:
It seems that all of the features of these bags are strengths as well as weaknesses: Durability is facilitated by simplicity of design (no frills/pockets/quick openings to break), bomb-proof, impermeable materials (heavy, and keeps spills & moisture from damp gear _in_ the bag as well as rain and spray out). Simplicity: With only one compartment per bag, there is no place for little things, every thing you have needs to be organised already into bags (or you'll just end up with a disorganised sack of stuff). The roller closure is utterly watertight, but makes it hard to just "dip into" the bags for a mars bar or a pair of sunglasses. The material really is fabulous, thick and flexible, and laughs off abrasions, even from a handful of sharp rusty bolts I'd let get jammed in the bottom of the bag behind the back plate.
These are beautiful bags from an industrial design point of view, and utterly, utterly functional. The inconvenience of the [roller] style is a problem, but not insurmountable, and gives peace of mind. When combined with a smaller amount of less-secured storage for quickly-accessed things (bar bag for snacks, glasses, electronics, map & rack + bungees for shell/waterproofs/sleeping mat), these are the money. Ok, quite a lot of the money, but worth it. I'm going to try and fasten a cargo net of shock-cord over mine so I can transfer stuff to an outer "pocket" if I need to dry it in the wind. If this was already attached, or available as an accessory, then that'd be grand.

Performance		100%
Reliability		100%
Value		100%

Overall Rating

100%

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