Ortlieb Plastic U Inserts

Do you use those fiddly little plastic inserts to adapt your Ortlieb panniers to fit your rack? We used to, but not anymore.

Why? Well after a bit of use they work loose. You lift your panniers off the rack with the handle that lifts the locking mechanism, making it possible for the insert to drop off; and drop off they do. This usually happens when you are under pressure, like getting on a ferry , or a bus. We have lost more of these inserts than I care to mention. Cost of replacement? Typically £4 (6 Euros or 6 dollars) each! Absurdly Ortlieb sell replacements as a pack of four, two large and two small. Now I don't know about your set up, but in our case our front rack tubing are the same diameter as our rear ones so we only need one size of insert. So two of the set are discarded. In other words, they work out at £2 each for a piece of plastic that probably costs less than 10 pence to produce. A pretty good mark up eh?

There is a much slicker and cheaper solution. Go online to one of the companies that sell rubber tubing or hose, such as Hoseworld. You need a tube with an outer diameter of 15mm to fit snugly inside the Ortlieb securing mechanism. Select a tube with this outside diameter and an inner diameter slightly bigger than the diameter of your rack tubing. You can order it by the meter. A rubber is better than plastic as it doesn't rattle.

With a sharp craft knife (careful of those little pinkies now), cut lengths long enough to fit onto your rack where your pannier fits. Then (even more carefully) stand the length on chopping board and with the kraft knife slice all the way down one side. Next simply slide the tube over your rack. To make double sure that it doesn't come off you can apply a cable tie around each end of the tube.

I would also recomend buying another length of tubing, most likely of a lesser wall thickness to apply to the down sections of tube on your rack. This is where the rear Ortlieb Lower Anchor hooks over the rack. In our case we chose a tubing with 10mm internal diameter and a 1.5mm wall thickness. You need to select the tube sizing to suite your rack. Again use cable ties to secure these lengths in place.

Apart from giving a much more secure solution than those silly inserts, the rubber tube helps to reduce any rattling of your panniers on the rack.