Planning to pack panniers in custom trike

The custom solar-assisted tadpole trike project continues, now planning to outfit the trike for a first tour. The previous blog post:

• Install auxiliary solar panel in custom trike — January 02, 2025

Awhile back, purchased four panniers, Rockbros AS-002. Rockbros has a website in Australia, selling these:

https://www.rockbros.com.au/products/rock-bros-rockbros-waterproof-bicycle-rear-seat-trunk-bag-multifunctional-road-mountain-bike-package-pack-pannier

They can also be purchased off eBay, Amazon and Aliexpress. Example of the latter:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005007887951403.html

Want to learn a lesson from previous experience camping in my car; everything got thrown into the back of the car, ad hoc. Then while camping, would want one particular item, and not know where it is, so would hunt through all the gear. This time, want to be highly organised, everything neatly packed in separate containers and logically stored in the panniers.

So, went shopping for clear plastic containers that would fit inside the panniers and could be stacked. At first, the plastic containers that I found were too large to fit inside the panniers. But found one in Bunnings that is a nice fit, then later discovered some in BigW. Bought this from BigW:

https://www.bigw.com.au/product/brilliant-basics-clip-lock-food-container-4-5l/p/248435

...also a couple of others from BigW, but not quite sure which ones from looking at the website. The main requirement was lid dimensions about 18x25 cm so as to fit into the pannier.

Started to pack the containers and allocate to which pannier, in a hopefully very logical fashion:

On the left, throw-over tent, tent to sleep in, sleeping bag, mattress, ground sheet. They will mostly go into the basket that I am building to sit on top of the luggage-rack. That is not very big, so some of those items are going to have to into the panniers.

Leftmost pannier; two 4-litre water bottles, container on top for food. If need to carry more water, bought these:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005007175786335.html

...great, they store very flat, and when filled hold 5 litres each and can be hung anywhere. That gives a total water capacity of 23 litres.

Second-left pannier has tools. These are general tools, as well as trike maintenance parts. Also various tent parts, such as pegs and rope. Those two left-most panniers are the heaviest and will be mounted on opposite sides, low-down.

Moving right, the next pannier has toiletries in lowest container, others are food and cooking gear. The pannier on the right is set aside for electrical and electronic stuff. Quite a collection, including mains battery charger, AC inverter, MPPT controller. Hoping ultimately to be able to slide a small laptop into the pannier also.

It is going to be a tight squeeze, might have to compromise.     

Tags: light