ROCKBROS Bike Pannier Bag Bike Trunk Bag Bicycle Pannier

I bought this so that I didn’t have to carry anything particularily weighty in a backpack due to buying a 5kg lock to keep my prize possesion E-Bike as safe as possible, along with having the ability to transport a bit more if I ever needed to so the extendable side pockets were a bonus. I’ve used this for almost two months at this point at least 3 times a week with most weeks being 5 times a week. I leave my bike outside of a gym for a few hours at a time multiple times a week and I work 12 hour night shifts in a hospital where it’s locked up out the front under cameras.

The bag itself is solid, the zips are quite rigid but they don’t make me think anything will break or split and they open smoothly with no issues. It looks nice and its good that its not overly colourful to not attract attention. The downside to the zips is that you cannot lock them shut nor is there an ability to add locks to them as the zip tabs are rubber tabs.

The interior of the bag is ok in size, it could do with being a bit longer, wider and taller though, not much but a little more. Perhaps the extendable roof should open higher as while it adds a little extra space it almost seems unnessary, I don’t see why you’d ever have it zipped closed and it seems like the bag could just be a bit more modular than it actually is given that the bag is quite set in its shape it could have just been made out of a lightweight metal for a little more security as it’s more like a box in terms of a storage item than a bag that has some play in it.

It comes with foam inserts that are solid for compartment seperation, I use both of them next to each other to partition off my chain and a drawstring bag and everything stays well within place with no issues, as they’re soft they add a bit of protection from the chain to anything on the other side which helps as the drawstring bag I keep in there for unlocking and transporting my bike battery but while I’m using the bike the bag has a few tools, lights ect that I want to keep with the bike but don’t want to leave unattended when I stop so I grab and go. The bottom foam insert really isn’t needed as it doesn’t add any structural integrity to the bottom but a minor bit of protection from the pannier below. If I stuff the top of the bag I can fit a bike cover on the top however I wouldn’t put it in there while it was wet so I usually use a side pocket for anything weather related.

The side pockets when zipped up hold a few things, I have a small first aid kit in one side and a pump in the other side at all times. You can but you won’t want to get much else in there and you certainly won’t want lots of items in either side as when you access the side pocket, things will just fall at your feet so having one or two items is best. When you un-roll the side bags however you get quite a fair bit of extra space. I’ll usually take a change of clothes and shoes with me during the wet weather for my job on one side and a full set of water-proofs and a bike cover in the other side, I’ll still have all my other stuff in there along with it. In terms of weight capacity, with everyday objects I don’t think you could put enough stuff in either side that the bags couldn’t handle, for example you could fill either side with bottles of drink and they would hold tight, the material is very much like a heavy duty tent. It comes with a cover for the bag which I didn’t think I’d ever use but it’s great for keeping the bag clean while riding in the rain and it’s flourescent yellow for visibility.

The bag has velcro straps to attach to the pannier which are great on paper to make it removable easily but honestly, if you use your bike daily it’s not worth the hassle to fiddle with threading the straps around and making sure you’re happy it’s entirely secure each time if you wanted to take the bag with you, especially during the wet weather where the underside won’t be dry or clean. I thought I would for my night shifts but it’s not worth it even for a 12 hour night shift.

This lead me to making the decision to just leave the bag on the bike the entire time and as a detterant I added a flimsy luggage cable with a small lock on it so someone would need a tool to be able to remove it, it comes with 4-6 loops around the bag (including using the shoulder sling loops and handles) that you can thread a luggage security cable through, my thinking behind using this is that it would take just as long to cut these loops and unthread as it would to cut the cable. You can remove the bag with no damage if you cut the cable (or lock) though but if you don’t have anything to cut the cable then cutting the loops and handles with scissors would be possible then you’d just un-velcro the straps and take away a damaged bag that you couldn’t re-attach as well as before.

On the note of security, nothing is theft proof but a detterant is often enough. I wouldn’t leave anything valuable in it as a knife could open it up but having the ability to leave my lunch in my bag on my bike while at work and not having to worry about one of the ‘lads’ tampering with it or being able to quickly run into a shop and leaving my bag in there would be a bonus and if someone cut it open you’d know to be cautious if anything was still left. My biggest gripe really is not being able to lock the main compartment or have a built in way to secure it without tool removal, I think if the price was below 35 I wouldn’t mind so much but this bag is probably one of the more expensive ones and I’d like to be able to secure it with the approriate level of cost in locks. I came to the conclusion that if it lasts long enough without being stolen or damaged then I’ve had my use out of it, so really I’m gambling here.

A few other parts to bag to talk about are are the bottle holder at the back, you don’t use the string to tighten the container part, you put the elastic string around the bottle itself which seemed a little odd, unless you have a bottle that fits snugly anyway. The netting on the top doesn’t get much tighter than how it is at its usual existence so anything you put in there needs to push against it and be of a decent size to begin with and the inside pocket really could have done with being velcro closable as again anything you put in there needs to use its own size to prevent itself from moving around, which means you can’t really store things in that pocket without using the space below it which seems to defeat the object, even something like a few bike levers and a wallet struggle to maintain their place.

Some features I’d love to have seen on it would have been:
– Security cable running/integrated into the bag to attach to the bike frame.
– The straps you use to attach it to the pannier should be lockable in some way and they’re not built for hassle free removing and attaching, especially in wet weathers as this bag doesn’t really work if you use the bike and the bag often.
– The zips should be lockable, if only the main compartment though preferbly all of them.
– As the bag is quite rigid I think it should have some kind of cut resistent material throughout, even if its some metal netting that would stop a basic knife, though pointless without locks on the zips.
– A bit more space or modular space without having to roll the bags out. It is lacking in width I think.

I wasn’t entirely sure what I wanted out of a pannier bag as this is the first time I’ve ever had one and I know what things I’d look for in my next one but overall it’s a good bag, it adds a good bit of extra storage carrying capacity and even if you only use it to carry the weighty stuff you’d have in your backpack it really makes riding much more enjoyable, it looks good and it functions well but it could be a bit more secure.