Finally managed to get the pannier racks onto both of the bikes a couple of weeks ago, over several weekends in the freezing cold… Well, actually Seven also needed to be put back together (remember the brake issue?) for her MOT. So we also did the brake pads on Seven and the brake fluid on both Seven and Suki. (Most manuals and many people will tell you that changing brake fluid and bleeding the brakes best be done by an experienced professional…… but its not that difficult if you take your time and do it carefully and methodically π )
The pannier racks were a bit of a bitch though. On Aidan’s BMW the different parts of the bike, held together by one bolt, which now also had to hold the rack (down near the foot peg) shifted seemingly irreversibly, so getting the bolt back in was a nightmare. ButΒ we got there in the end (one whole afternoon later…!) We chose ARD Cases panniers. They were affordable for us and had pretty much all the specs we wanted: watertight, slanted lower edge in case they fall on top of us (at lease sort of), welded, not riveted, lockable with a single key and locked to the racks and hooks on top of the lids for attaching things. Basically the best bet for that sort of price we thought….. only time will tell π (Update – we put them through hell on a three week trip round Europe and they stood up to every test). Oh, and Roger responded immediately and the panniers arrived pretty quick and as promised. So good, reliable service too π
Seven wouldn’t give up the bolt in the first place, despite our soaking it in WD40 (as usual) for several days. We ended up rounding the torx head off, or almost anyways. We had some idea that maybe the different frame parts are putting so much pressure on the bolt, that it was stuck. So we (CAREFULLY – despite appearances π ) lay her on her side to take the weight off the bolt…. That didn’t help either so we put her back upright and resorted to eating chocolate bunnies.

Just checking whether this really is a bike you can fix with a hammer and a spanner as we had wanted π