Frequently Asked Questions

Table of Contents

Payment and Shipping

During the checkout process, we only authenticate a credit card authorization, but the card itself is not charged. It’s similar to booking a hotel room. In fact, your credit card will only be charged on the day that your order is fulfilled and shipped.

When it comes to customers based in Europe and the United Kingdom, the price paid at checkout includes VAT, shipping and any other possible charge such as duty fees. There will be no additional charge upon receipt or whenever. For more information concerning our shipping policy, please visit our Shipping page.

Product Maintenance

All our bags can be cleaned with water, mild soap and a soft nylon brush. You can use dishwashing liquid to remove grease stains. Just hang the bag to dry. This can also be a good time to revitalize the water repellency of your panniers, learn more on this here.

Yes, but first you have to remove all the hardware (Cam-Lock, backplate, foam and aluminum frame). This is fairly easy to do, but it does require some manual skill. You will also have to put the bag back together. Once you have removed all of the hardware you can drop the bag in the washing machine (delicate cycle) and use mild soap, no detergents. Just hang the bag to dry. This can also be a good time to revitalize the water repellency of your panniers, learn more on this here.

Fading is part of any textile and has nothing to do with the fabric itself. From bathing suits to curtains, t-shirts or even cars, the color pigmentation of any color will be affected by U.V. rays after prolonged exposure. We employ a special U.V. inhibitor in our fabrics, but it is expected that the color will eventually lose its brightness. Regular treatments with DWR (Durable Water Repellent) will help prolong the original brightness since most of the DWR’s contain some assorted types of U.V. inhibitors as well. We use the best fabric, but many years of good use will eventually begin to show. Consider that as a tribute to your lifestyle!
First try mild soap – like hand soap – with water and try to brush off. If it doesn’t work, you can use a stain remover. Use only on the oil stain. Brush off and rinse.

Cam-Lock Attachment System®

The Cam-Lock attachment system is normally ready to be used out of the box. The handle strap should be wrapped around the cams, and the carry handle strap is normally inserted behind the retention strap. You can also view the proper operation of the Cam-Lock here.

Follow the steps seen in this video.

There are several solutions for this, the first one to consider is removing the lower hook completely and simply not use it. You can read more on using your panniers without the lower hook and bungee here.

Another solution is to use our Adaptor for Lower Hook Attachment to Rack to create an attachment point. You can sometimes create an anchor point with automobile hose clamps. We’ve used these on the Tubus Tara and Duo front racks to prevent the pannier’s lower hook from sliding along the tube.

Panniers

The Orca bags use heavier more durable material than the Dolphin panniers and the type of construction differs significantly. The Orca’s use welded construction and the Dolphin panniers are sewn and taped to seal the seams. Both are waterproof and are equipped with the Cam-Lock mounting system.

The advantage of the sewn & taped Dolphin panniers is that we can sew pockets to the outside and seal the seams once the sewing steps are completed. In the Orca construction, the welding process uses moulds that make outside pockets with any volume (3D) difficult but flat 2D pockets possible. Dolphin panniers are lighter than the Orca panniers so ultimately it comes down to what features and look you prefer.

For more information, read our blog article here.

Handlebar Bags

Our handlebar bags don’t leave much room for a front light. That said, there are numerous accessories that allow you to workout this space constraint. For example, click here to see a mount sold by Topeak.

Here’s the installation sequence for the best fit:

  1. Install the HBB mounts (those parts that bolt onto the handlebar); they need to be perfectly aligned both vertically and horizontally, and well tightened on the handlebar.
  2. Loosen the clip plates (those parts that are bolted to the bag itself) so that they move freely.
  3. Slide the clip plates onto the HBB mounts.
  4. With the clip plates loose, you wiggle the bag so that the clip plates find their best position relative to the HBB mounts.
  5. Tighten the clip plates bolts making sure that the clip plates stay in their exact position while you tighten them.

Once this is done, just put a small drop of grease at the contact point/slot between the clip plates and mounts.

We do leave some play between the handlebar clamps and the clip plates as the fit is sometimes tight. All you have to do is to slightly raise one clamp relative to the other. You do so until there is no rattle while still being able to slide the bag in and out easily. You should be able to fine tune the fit until perfect. A tiny drop of grease at the contact point between the clamps and the clip plates will help a lot for a smooth operation. You can also slightly angle one clip plate relative to the other.

Racks

No, because the Randonneur rack doesn’t have side supports to prevent the panniers from hitting the wheel.
There is an adjustment to extend the U channel that slides inside the main member of the platform. This allows a lot of angle adjustment to fit just about any seat configuration. If you have enough clearance between your tire and the rack, try to use the extenders to lower the platform. Finally, note that you can position the seat rails bracket on the vertical portion of the seat rails. Click here to watch a video on how to install the Randonneur Rack.