Axiom Monsoon LX Pannier Set

I use these panniers everyday for my 40 mile round trip cycling commute to work. They hold all of my work gear, my cycling gear (pump, spare tube, patch kit), lunchextra water bottles, and still have room to spare. They are well secured to the bike rack with the RK system yet easy to remove or install for manual transport. At 4 lbs. per pair they are a little heavier than I care for but they are well built, durable and worth the extra weight.

I've had a set of these for a couple of years now. They look nice and appear sturdy. The parts to mount the bag to the rack are metal (other than a thick bungee cord) and replaceable. I believe it comes with some spare parts. The logos on the bag are reflective and do help with visibility. I've only used them for commuting (wet or dry) or carrying groceries.

The outside zipperpocket is not totally waterproof - moisture will get in. The main compartment will be waterproof if you close it correctly (which is easy to do - it rolls up like a dry bag). There is an inner mesh zippered storage area on the inside of the closure flap which is not protected from water and isn't in the best location since everything in there will shift around as soon as you close the top. But it does provide a convenient place to put stuff that doesn't need to be protected.

The downsides to these panniers are mainly related to how they mount to the rack and how they stay closed.

For the bag to keep it's shape well, the top flap needs to be pulled down tightly. This is needed to keep it from flapping in the wind and so on. The long nylon strap you can see in the picture allows you to do this - however, it won't maintain a lot of tension since it isn't under tension. So the top closure will flap around in the wind quite a bit.

When it's tightened down, there will be extra slack at the end of the nylon strap, which will hang off the side of your bike. I don't like having stuff dangling off of my bike or flapping in the wind, so I use a velcro loop fastener to try and roll up the end of the strap.

I also use a bungee cord to bungee the bottom of the plastic snap fastener (piece that pulls the top flap down) to the rack. This keeps the top flap closed tightly under tension, keeps the flapbag from flapping in the wind, and helps somewhat to keep the bag from bouncing against your rack when you go over a bump. (A bouncing pannier can take paint off of your rack andor bike.)

After using a bungee cord like this for a while, it eventually failed and wrapped itself around my disc brakes while I was riding. That experience made me decide that I don't want any tiny bungee cords hanging out on my rack where they could be pulled into my brakes or my wheel.

I also use a bungee cord to secure the top 'handle' (visible in the picture of the red pannier) down to the bottom of the rack, but that's probably not strictly needed.

The ends of the bag opening have plastic snap fasteners that appear to be to allow you to use a shoulder strap or something with the bag, but no strap is included. You can use the fasteners to attach the two panniers together and carry them with one hand, though.