|
|
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
#1
|
|||
|
|||
Carrying a laptop
Google shows me there has been discussion on this topic before, but I'm
interested in any new opinions, and also sharing my experience. I recently came off the bike while carrying a backpack with a laptop and some papers, maybe 6 Kg in total. Good news was that the laptop came off without a scratch and the bike came off pretty well too. Bad news is that I broke my kneecap hitting the asphalt hard. It will take 6-8 weeks before I am able to get about without a splint and a stick, let alone get on the bike or drive. My strong suspicion is that without the backpack my knee would not have broken: I have come off once before without much damage. So when I get back in the saddle I need another solution. Leaving the laptop at home is not an option. I am thinking of panniers, or some sort of rack-top solution. In either case, with good padding for the laptop. Any suggestions? Thanks, Chris PS for those Adelaide people who might be interested: I came off the bike cycling across Victoria Park, a trip I've done hundreds of timesbefore. At the Eastern end there is a little asphalt path leading on to Halifax Street, and instead of coming cleanly onto the end of it, I cut the corner slightly and my front wheel got in to soft soil next to the path. There was a piece of timber edging next to the path, probably left over from when it was built, which gave much the same effect as getting stuck in tram tracks. I've written to the Adelaide City Council about this, but have my doubts whether they will fix it. Chris |
Ads |
#2
|
|||
|
|||
Carrying a laptop
In aus.bicycle on Fri, 22 Jun 2007 19:13:46 +0930
Chris wrote: I am thinking of panniers, or some sort of rack-top solution. In either case, with good padding for the laptop. Any suggestions? I use an Arkel 'commuter' pannier, which has a lightly padded laptop sleeve. If the 'bent goes rubber side up, then the laptop will be cushioned by the clothes in the pannier if it lands on that side. I've discovered that I can fill the pannier to just about bursting with clothes and shoes and still slide the laptop in. Zebee |
#3
|
|||
|
|||
Carrying a laptop
Chris Wrote: I am thinking of panniers, or some sort of rack-top solution. In either case, with good padding for the laptop. Any suggestions? Plenty of opinions out there if you want to investigate, fer starters Ortlieb & Crumpler make stuff you maybe interested in. -- cfsmtb |
#4
|
|||
|
|||
Carrying a laptop
Chris wrote:
I am thinking of panniers, or some sort of rack-top solution. In either case, with good padding for the laptop. Any suggestions? I also had a prang, via tram tracks, in Melbourne last year while carrying a laptop in a backpack. My face did a damn good job of protecting both backpack and the laptop. I now use an Arkel pannier (model "The Bug") which converts to a backpack in case I need to walk with it. It is not advertised as laptop-capable, but there is an internal sleeve that holds the laptop nice and snug. I have no problem carrying laptop plus cables and mouse, plus the clothes I need. -- beerwolf |
#5
|
|||
|
|||
Carrying a laptop
On Fri, 22 Jun 2007 19:13:46 +0930, Chris wrote:
PS for those Adelaide people who might be interested: I came off the bike cycling across Victoria Park, a trip I've done hundreds of timesbefore. At the Eastern end there is a little asphalt path leading on to Halifax Street, and instead of coming cleanly onto the end of it, I cut the corner slightly and my front wheel got in to soft soil next to the path. There was a piece of timber edging next to the path, probably left over from when it was built, which gave much the same effect as getting stuck in tram tracks. I've written to the Adelaide City Council about this, but have my doubts whether they will fix it. One of my regular groups often crosses Victoria Park, although I think it's a bit silly on a road bike, esp at night, but we don't use that route. -- Home page: http://members.westnet.com.au/mvw |
#6
|
|||
|
|||
Carrying a laptop
In article ,
Michael Warner wrote: On Fri, 22 Jun 2007 19:13:46 +0930, Chris wrote: PS for those Adelaide people who might be interested: I came off the bike cycling across Victoria Park, a trip I've done hundreds of timesbefore. At the Eastern end there is a little asphalt path leading on to Halifax Street, and instead of coming cleanly onto the end of it, I cut the corner slightly and my front wheel got in to soft soil next to the path. There was a piece of timber edging next to the path, probably left over from when it was built, which gave much the same effect as getting stuck in tram tracks. I've written to the Adelaide City Council about this, but have my doubts whether they will fix it. One of my regular groups often crosses Victoria Park, although I think it's a bit silly on a road bike, esp at night, but we don't use that route. Thanks. It's an official bike route - BikeDirect map #9 - and is actually a great route into town from the Eastern suburbs, avoiding major roads, and is very popular. The lighting at night is lousy, but my prang was 8.00 in the morning. Regards, Chris -- Remove finger before replying |
#7
|
|||
|
|||
Carrying a laptop
I carry my laptops in a Carradice saddlebag which has a piece of sleeping
mat closed cell foam cut to fit the inside of the bag to provide some padding to the contents. I've been carrying them to and from work on a daily basis for almost ten years and have had zero problems. I even carried a small laptop in the saddlebag when we were touring Europe for eight weeks in 2004. http://www.users.on.net/~njpayne/bik...nd/altdorf.jpg. Nick "Chris" wrote in message ... Google shows me there has been discussion on this topic before, but I'm interested in any new opinions, and also sharing my experience. I recently came off the bike while carrying a backpack with a laptop and some papers, maybe 6 Kg in total. Good news was that the laptop came off without a scratch and the bike came off pretty well too. Bad news is that I broke my kneecap hitting the asphalt hard. It will take 6-8 weeks before I am able to get about without a splint and a stick, let alone get on the bike or drive. My strong suspicion is that without the backpack my knee would not have broken: I have come off once before without much damage. So when I get back in the saddle I need another solution. Leaving the laptop at home is not an option. I am thinking of panniers, or some sort of rack-top solution. In either case, with good padding for the laptop. Any suggestions? Thanks, Chris PS for those Adelaide people who might be interested: I came off the bike cycling across Victoria Park, a trip I've done hundreds of timesbefore. At the Eastern end there is a little asphalt path leading on to Halifax Street, and instead of coming cleanly onto the end of it, I cut the corner slightly and my front wheel got in to soft soil next to the path. There was a piece of timber edging next to the path, probably left over from when it was built, which gave much the same effect as getting stuck in tram tracks. I've written to the Adelaide City Council about this, but have my doubts whether they will fix it. Chris |
#8
|
|||
|
|||
Carrying a laptop
Chris Wrote: Google shows me there has been discussion on this topic before, but I'm interested in any new opinions, and also sharing my experience. I recently came off the bike while carrying a backpack with a laptop and some papers, maybe 6 Kg in total. Good news was that the laptop came off without a scratch and the bike came off pretty well too. Bad news is that I broke my kneecap hitting the asphalt hard. It will take 6-8 weeks before I am able to get about without a splint and a stick, let alone get on the bike or drive. My strong suspicion is that without the backpack my knee would not have broken: I have come off once before without much damage. So when I get back in the saddle I need another solution. Leaving the laptop at home is not an option. I am thinking of panniers, or some sort of rack-top solution. In either case, with good padding for the laptop. Any suggestions? Thanks, Chris PS for those Adelaide people who might be interested: I came off the bike cycling across Victoria Park, a trip I've done hundreds of timesbefore. At the Eastern end there is a little asphalt path leading on to Halifax Street, and instead of coming cleanly onto the end of it, I cut the corner slightly and my front wheel got in to soft soil next to the path. There was a piece of timber edging next to the path, probably left over from when it was built, which gave much the same effect as getting stuck in tram tracks. I've written to the Adelaide City Council about this, but have my doubts whether they will fix it. Chris I used to stick my laptop case inside my deuter pannier (one of the larger models). I figure the bag within a bag setup should give it some extra padding, and if I need to carry extra stuff I can just take the other pannier too. Now however I'm on a bike with no easy way to attach a pannier rack... damn. -- SomeGuy |
#9
|
|||
|
|||
Carrying a laptop
For what it's worth... Contributors to a recent discussion (http://treadly.thingoid.com/2007/02/...puter-on-bike/ "Carrying a notebook computer on your bike") I had on this topic mostly seemed to come down in favour of using panniers to haul computers. My latest thoughts are that, in the event of a crash, a computer is just as likely to be damaged regardless of whether it's on your back or in a saddle bag. And as your experience illustrates, maybe that kind of weight is not a good thing to have on your back while you're having a close encounter with the pavement. So I guess if I were lugging a computer these days, I'd go for the pannier also. But I find I'm OK transporting my data back and forth on a portable disk: it's a fraction of a the weight and size of even the smallest notebook computer, it fits in just about anywhere (backpack or pannier), and it's (arguably) less likely to get damaged in the event of a bingle. -- treadly&me |
#10
|
|||
|
|||
Carrying a laptop
On 2007-06-25, treadly& me (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea: For what it's worth... Contributors to a recent discussion (http://treadly.thingoid.com/2007/02/...puter-on-bike/ "Carrying a notebook computer on your bike") I had on this topic mostly seemed to come down in favour of using panniers to haul computers. My latest thoughts are that, in the event of a crash, a computer is just as likely to be damaged regardless of whether it's on your back or in a saddle bag. And as your experience illustrates, maybe that kind of weight is not a good thing to have on your back while you're having a close encounter with the pavement. So I guess if I were lugging a computer these days, I'd go for the pannier also. But I find I'm OK transporting my data back and forth on a portable disk: it's a fraction of a the weight and size of even the smallest notebook computer, it fits in just about anywhere (backpack or pannier), and it's (arguably) less likely to get damaged in the event of a bingle. But some consideration also needs to be made for daily wear and tear. Vibration is not good for laptop (says he whose laptop crashed one day simply because we went over a series of potholes while I was programming on a bus) harddrives, even when powered down. Make sure it is padded, but that if the laptop has gone straight into the bag since being powered on, there is still enough ventilation to allow it to cool down in a reasonable amount of time and not sit there festering in the heat. -- TimC Radioactive cats have 18 half-lives. |
|
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
Carrying a laptop | fred | UK | 45 | March 23rd 07 04:59 PM |
Getting carried away carrying a laptop to and from work. | Earl Bollinger | General | 29 | August 3rd 06 12:53 PM |
I Need a Laptop............... | [email protected] | Techniques | 4 | July 5th 06 02:48 PM |
[OT] Lance laptop | John Hearns | UK | 2 | June 6th 05 05:03 PM |
LA HP Laptop | RLBeldon | Racing | 1 | May 24th 05 09:18 PM |