Delite with ortlieb paniers

[LSantana954]

Anyone using ortlieb paniers with their delite or super delite?
I noticed yesterday both my paniers are developing a wear mark from the delite rack(see pictures). Today I adjusted the bottom hookspacer to its thickest orientation and rotated the bottom rail so it resemble a frown. I also put some anti chaffing strips on the rack and the bags where they come in contact
If anyone's running these panniers would you mind posting some pictures of your orientation

 

[MD99]

Difficult to see what wear you are talking about in the photos. I guess it's black marks on black fabric - always difficult in a photo.

I don't have a Delite, but considering one, I can only talk about my experience with other bikes and my current Supercharger.

Panniers will always wear, it's just the nature of the beast, but at least the Ortliebs have a waterproof coating on the inside as well as the outside. The question is what does wear, and how that can be reduced.

Hard pannier plastic against the frame/carrier. This I try and avoid at all cost as it is the aluminum frame that will suffer and quite quickly wear through. I protect the framework by using insulation tape or preferably something like thin wall irrigation hose to the frame. You can see a piece of hose that I split and taped in place in the carrier photo. It might look ugly, but hey, I'm long past worrying about that sort of thing. [Edit: added second photo showing one pannier in place.]

Pannier fabric against the frame/carrier. No real protection against this, the fabric will eventually wear though from the continual movement - I've had panniers held together with sticking plaster in the past! If possible I try and adjust the pannier so that the fabric sits against the frame/carrier. In the photo of the fairly new pannier, you can see the carrier wear marks on the fabric, the pannier deliberately set up so the hard plastic was not against the carrier.

Hope that is of some use.

Can I ask if you have any heal strike on your panniers with the Delite? The carrier seems to place them much further forward than most bikes.

 

[Aushiker]

Hard pannier plastic against the frame/carrier. This I try and avoid at all cost as it is the aluminum frame that will suffer and quite quickly wear through. I protect the framework by using insulation tape or preferably something like thin wall irrigation hose to the frame.

I have used helicopter tape with limited success. I like your idea of using an irrigation hose so I will give that a go.

To the OP: I have Ortlieb Back-Roller Plus panniers ( four rear to allow for use with the Extrawheel) and two front and have used them for ~15 years and thousands of kilometres without any wear issues. That is not something I have ever considered, to be honest.


Which way? That way. by Andrew Priest, on Flickr

 

[LSantana954]

here are the images with the area where the bag and frame are touching circled in red. one of the pictures also shows the wear mark on the bag which is similar to the bag shown in the 2nd post.

 

[MD99]

Santana, it's still not clear. If the wear is at the pointy bit of the rack V, it may be that a bit of reshaping or fitting of an additional guard is in order. I don't have a Delite, so can't offer much more help. It does make me wonder though, as a Delite is on my short list for a new bike, and I use Ortlieb panniers. That said, the rack on the Delite always struck me as form over function, it's good point is that it is sprung weight.

@Aushiker . That irrigation tube is ID13 mm, wall thickness 1 mm. The rack is 14 mm diam Al tube, so the fit is not to bad (has a bit of a gap at the split), and the panniers are a snug fit with no spacer - which means that they do not rattle. Yeah!

 

[dblhelix]

R&M makes TuffCoat foil available (free) via your dealer to protect the rack. Comes in sheets and actually works well. Don't know if they've continued the practice -- I was given some in 2022.

 

[peterh_nz]

That irrigation tube is ID13 mm, wall thickness 1 mm. The rack is 14 mm diam Al tube

That's a good idea.

 

[Jean-Paul B.]

@MD99,
Hard pannier plastic against the frame/carrier
I have added this on my Delite 4, with the extra advantage that I can use a Basil AND Ortlieb side panniers at the same time.
Works perfectly.

https://www.bikeparts-jantos.de/product-page/taschenhalterungen

 

[Cawaminga]

Difficult to see what wear you are talking about in the photos. I guess it's black marks on black fabric - always difficult in a photo.

I don't have a Delite, but considering one, I can only talk about my experience with other bikes and my current Supercharger.

Panniers will always wear, it's just the nature of the beast, but at least the Ortliebs have a waterproof coating on the inside as well as the outside. The question is what does wear, and how that can be reduced.

Hard pannier plastic against the frame/carrier. This I try and avoid at all cost as it is the aluminum frame that will suffer and quite quickly wear through. I protect the framework by using insulation tape or preferably something like thin wall irrigation hose to the frame. You can see a piece of hose that I split and taped in place in the carrier photo. It might look ugly, but hey, I'm long past worrying about that sort of thing. [Edit: added second photo showing one pannier in place.]
View attachment 181403View attachment 181405

Pannier fabric against the frame/carrier. No real protection against this, the fabric will eventually wear though from the continual movement - I've had panniers held together with sticking plaster in the past! If possible I try and adjust the pannier so that the fabric sits against the frame/carrier. In the photo of the fairly new pannier, you can see the carrier wear marks on the fabric, the pannier deliberately set up so the hard plastic was not against the carrier.
View attachment 181404

Hope that is of some use.

Can I ask if you have any heal strike on your panniers with the Delite? The carrier seems to place them much further forward than most bikes.


I’ve had similar issues and ended up experimenting with different protective layers—sometimes even cutting old inner tubes to size. On a side note, if you’re into tweaking gear setups and like precision work, you might enjoy exploring creative side hustles too. I got into photo editing this way, and this guide how to start a photo retouching business gave me a super clear starting point. It’s all about finding the little details that make a difference—just like with panniers!

Totally agree that wear is inevitable with panniers, especially when hard plastic rubs directly on the frame.