Kirkland Bucket Panniers

Kirkland Bucket Panniers

World's Best Home Made Bucket Panniers

"Wow, It's Kirkland"
(My niece received a set of Kirkland pots and pans from Costco
as a wedding shower gift. Her reaction was "wow, it's Kirkland")

Last Update: 30 August 2009


Bucket panniers installed on my beater shopper bicycle. Ready to go shopping and get snide comments about my buckets!		These buckets have a cool lid that can be removed completely or tilted up on a hinge mechanism.

I made these from two Kirkland Signature 28# Institutional Laundry Detergent Buckets. Most of the hardware bits and pieces come from Daiso, a Japanese $1.50 store that has a good hardware and bicycle accessory section. Since it's Japanese, all of their nuts and bolts and tools are metric, and they don't charge a fortune for metric stuff like Home Depot. Alas, Daiso only has U.S. stores in the San Francisco Bay Area and the Seattle area.

It only took a couple of hours to make these.

Hardware List

Hooks, Hook Back Plate, Fasteners

Hook Assembly

Drill holes in hook using two hole flat bracket as a template (use 13/64" or #9 (wire gauge) bit for holes for 5mm bolts).
Holes on flat plate of hook should be as low as possible to avoid the upper bolt from interfering with the rack.

Stainless Steel Hooks. $1.50 x 4. Source: Daiso

These hooks are ideal, much better than zinc rope cleats because a) they're stainless, b) they have a wide surface area for mounting which distributes the load over a greater area, and c) the hook part is flexible enough to accommodate different diameter rack tubing. They are much better than mirror hooks because the hook part is longer length. They are undrilled, so you need to drill holes in them. "Flexible" is relative. These hooks still probably require pliers to bend the hook section. They also come with adhesive, which I did not use. If you use rope cleat hooks, consider covering them with a couple of layers of heat-shrinkable tubing. Here is a source for rope cleat hooks, http://www.homeandbeyond.com/prod-0103959.html but a good hardware store will also sell them (in Northern California Orchard Supply Hardware has them for 99 cents each).

Alternate Hook

Hook already has two holes in it. Use a back plate as the holes are too close together for two fender washers.

Stainless Steel flat bracket with two holes. $1.50 x 2 sets of 2. Source: Daiso

Rather than using 8 fender washers, which would need to be cut on one side to fit, these brackets match the size of the hooks. It's important to use fender washers or some sort of backing plate on the inside of the bucket. Look at Simpson Strap Ties at Home Depot for an alternate product.

Stainless Steel 5mm x 12mm nuts, bolts, & lockwashers. $1.50 x 2 packages. Source: Daiso

Shock Cord Bar

I decided that I would make these bucket panniers adjustable for different racks. One issue with panniers is that you want them to be positioned as far back on the rack as possible (for adequate heel clearance) but you want the shock cord or strap to come straight down, centered, from the pannier, and hook onto the rack. Unfortunately, the center of the pannier is rarely the center of the rack. A few racks have a long flat dogleg strut and this isn't a problem, but most rear racks are not well designed for panniers (unless the panniers have adjustable hooks and cords). If the shock cord comes down at an angle then the panniers are more likely to bounce off. By using the 250cm flat bracket, the lower shock cord can be slid to any position. I also enlarged a hole at the end of the 250mm flat bracket to use for a thin cable lock. Look at Simpson Strap Ties at Home Depot for alternate brackets.

250cm flat bracket with holes. $1.50 x 2. Source: Daiso

Stainless Steel 5mm x 15mm nuts, bolts, & lockwashers. $1.50. Source: Daiso

Stainless Steel 5mm nuts, $1.50. Source: Daiso

Shock cord: $1.50 x 1. Source: Daiso

S hooks: $1.50 for four. Source Daiso

8 3/16" fender washers: $1.04. Source: Home Depot

Lower Shock Cord Bar Assembly

Use fender washers to avoid cracking the plastic of the bucket
Use one nut as a spacer

Shock Cord

Use coated S Hooks
Tie a double fisherman knot at each end
Leave sufficient extra cord for adjustment
Melt the ends with match to prevent fraying
Keep the shock cord short enough to hold the buckets very firmly onto the rack. Panniers of all kinds have a tendency to bounce off, unless they use hooks that clamp around the rail of the rack (like the Arkel hooks).

Tools

Drill
Drill bits: 13/64" or #9 (wire gauge) bit, 1/2"
Two adjustable crescent wrenches
Pliers
Matches or lighter
Ruler or tape measure
Scrap wood

Assembly

Drill holes in the stainless steel hooks to match the small, two hole, flat brackets. Use 13/64" or #9 (wire gauge) bit for holes for 5mm bolts. Drill the first hole in the hook, then bolt the bracket onto hook, and drill the second hole right through the bracket. This ensures perfect alignment. The lower bolt should be as low as possible because you don't want the head of the upper bolt to interfere with rack rail.
Position the hooks as far apart on the rear of the bucket as possible, but not beyond the flat area of the bucket (the corners of the bucket are rounded). Position the hooks as high as possible under the bottom most ridge. When the bucket is on the rack, the side rail of the rack will support the weight of the bucket, not the hooks. Some designs of bucket panniers cut notches in the ridges and position the hooks in a way that the top of the bucket is level with the rear rack platform. The problem with this approach is a) it reduces heal clearance, and b) all the weight is supported by the hooks and the bolts through the holes in plastic sides of the buckets.
Drill holes in the bucket to match the holes in each hook. Most likely each set of holes in the hooks will be slightly different so use each hook as a template (don't use one hook as a template for all four sets of holes). Drill one hole, bolt the hook on through that hole, then drill the other hole through the hook. This ensures perfect alignment.
Attach the hooks with a 12mm bolt, through the plastic, through the flat bracket, and use a lock washer and a nut (or use a lock nut with a nylon insert).
Enlarge one end hole of each 250mm bracket as large as possible. I used a 1/2" drill bit.
Position the 250 mm flat bracket and drill holes through the bucket at the end hole, and the third hole in from the other end. I drilled holes for the bracket 5 inches up from the bottom of the bucket. Don't go lower than that or your shock cord will be too short.
Make the shock cord by tying each end with a double fisherman knot. Be sure to leave extra shock cord for adjustment (and the double fisherman knot takes a lot of cord as well).
Slide an S hook over the shock cord and close one end of the S with pliers.
Use a match to melt the end of the shock cord so it doesn't unravel.
Slide the shock cord over the 250mm flat bracket.
Attach the 250 mm flat bracket with a nut for a spacer, then a fender washer, then a fender washer inside the bucket, then a lock washer and a nut (or use a lock nut). Don't use small flat washers, as you're likely to have the plastic crack.

Stainless Steel Hook Positioning

Hooks should be as far apart as possible from each other, but not on the rounded corner of the bucket.
Bottom bolt should be as low as possible to keep the top bolt from being too high.

Inside of Bucket, looking down toward the bottom

To avoid cracking the plastic, be certain to use fender washers and back plates, don't use small washers.

Completed Pannier

1/2" hole on right is to thread a thin cable through for locking.
Note how the shock cord can be slid to any position along the flat bar so the hook will come straight down to the attachment point on the rack. This is much better than shock cords that are limited to fixed positions. Rarely is the center of a pannier right above the mounting place for the hook, unless you have a really well designed rack with a level dogleg strut.

Arkel Kit

You can buy an Arkel hook and shock cord kit for $24 per pannier. It includes everything you'll need except the nuts, bolts, and washers you'll need to attach the hardware to the bucket. The hooks slide along the aluminum top piece so you can position the pannier anywhere on the rack, and a cam locks the pannier onto the rack, preventing it from bouncing up. The shock cord comes straight down (on Arkel panniers you can route the hook through three different places to adjust the angle).

http://www.arkel-od.com/panniers/accessories/hookkit.asp

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