Vaude Aqua Back Panniers Review - BikeRadar

User review of Vaude Aqua Back Plus Panniers

These panniers are excellent and the best on the market. They are expensive but worth the outlay and hunt to find them. I have looked at all makes over about 6 months.

I have them in red with an outside pocket which is absolutely essential IMHO. Can't stand all the faffing around opening the whole bag just to slip in some change or grab your wallet. They have solid plastic backs as well which makes them really robust and durable and still light. The fabric appears hard wearing although have only had them 4 months so far. The fabric rolls easily and the side securing toggles are quick and easy to locate even in a hurry. Torrential and sustained downpours don't even penetrate the fabric and your stuff remains dry. They have a handy pocket arrangement inside which sits against the hard plastic back but I have not found the need to use this yet. I guess it is best used for documents and say a map(s). The bags also have Scotchlite reflective type material on the side, front and back and it works as I left them about 100m up the road in the middle of nowhere in pitch darkness and shone my light on them, wow!

However before I bought them out of desperation not being able to find a cycling shop who actually stocked Vaude and even had these in stock I bought a pair of Ortliebs instead from Evans. I checked out Ortlieb and Altura as these seem to be the only panniers available in Cambrdidge and London. Quite by luck I met this American guy coming out of a bike shop in Cambridge who had these red panniers that looked like Ortliebs only they weren't, they were Vaude, bingo! He'd had them about 6 years, heavy usage and they still looked pretty good with no probs what so ever. So now to find some. Eventually I came across Two Wheels Good in London on Crouch Hill. They appear to be the only place you can buy Vaude panniers in London. BTW Two Wheels Good are an excellent independent bike shop.

In the meantime the Ortliebs i had purchased had become a bit of a chore as once you have rolled the top you can't secure the toggles on the side as you logically want to. Ortlieb have a convoluted strap which doubles as the carrying strap to secure to the outside lower edge of the pannier. I quickly found this wasn't viable and it was easier to secure the rolled tops together through the rack which was pretty ingenious I thought but again a pain when you wanted to remove the panniers.

Ideally I would have been happy in finding some more old style Altura Orkneys circa 1996 which had excellent durable black fabric still as new on mine after 13 years with heavy use but they are not fully waterproof and a zip and strap buckle that have now broken (my fault) plus loads of pockets to store odds and sods without having to open the main bag. The new Altura Orkneys look good but have one major major drawback. The covering lid is supposed to cover the main bag plus outer side pocket; only it doesn't not if the main pannier bag is slightly too full. I hear several cyclists who have found important stuff in the outer pocket has become soaked as rain water has drained straight into it as the main cover has not covered it. What a breathtakingly poor design by Altura who are normally on the ball. Apart from that I was well taken with the new Orkneys as they are well padded, appear well made and the colour scheme is good, but they just can't match the Vaude Back Plus panniers for simple solid well though out design. They are the bees' knees. They can carry a huge amount if that is your thing or only a feather if you don't feel like struggling to turn the pedals. They hardly seem to scratch although if you really tried I'm sure you could do some damage but why would you want to? The polyester fabric doesn't seem to crease as easily as the Ortlieb fabric either. The Vaude panniers have a handy release strap with rubber sleeve to make carrying easier when heavily laden. Because they have the hard plastic back they do not flex like the Ortliebs when you are carrying them or bend when you are packing them off the bike. They literally click on and off the rack without any delay and the hooks are sprung loaded to they cannot come off. Even cycling down one side of a pothole and up the other at 22mph at night they have not come off.

One tip is to place new carpet inside each pannier, which goes for the Ortliebs as well, to give further protection to the pannier fabric on the base and side panels especially when carrying hard irregular shaped objects such as tins. Place the carpet with soft side (non underlay side) against the pannier fabric so the underlay side is upper most. I got a huge off cut of luxury carpet for £2.00!!! You then have the ultimate touring panniers tough enough to withstand anything.

I'm still looking for some front panniers, but Vaude don't seem to offer Front Aqua Plus with a side pocket........yet. I emailed them to aks if they can, but no response. Pity. As I say I have some Ortliebs Front Roller Classics in yellow but would prefer a small front waterproof pannier with an external pocket(s) and also roller top that can be secures using side toggle buckles.

Safe and happy cycling,

Alex.