Laptop in pannier on daily usage - Possible damages due to micro vibrations

R

RMSDivine

Active Member
Hello everyone,
I am thinking about upgrading my good old laptop to a newer high end model, however I am bit worried about carrying the laptop everyday (16km on road with 800m offroad) in my rear pannier, as I am afraid that micro shocks and vibrations might damage mainboard soldering in the long term.
At the moment I am using a Ortlieb pannier with an insert, that will partially reduce side effects on the run.
commuter_insert_f3906_front[1].jpg

My bike has front and rear shock absorbers, and the rear rack is not connected to the rear wheel swingarm, minimising shocks, anyhow, I am sure that microvibrations and shocks will constantly "hit" the laptop.
Your thoughts?
 
The Commuter Insert is very good. In case you store the laptop in the tall section of the Insert, nothing wrong should happen.

You mentioned the 800 m off-road segment. Please ride carefully over that segment. It is not about the micro-vibration. It is about the high vertical forces exerted on the pannier on off-road bumps. If you have a bad luck, a big bump can just shoot your Ortlieb pannier vertically up - the pannier can detach from the rack as if you were removing it by hand yourself.

I damaged my expensive camera that way (it required a costly repair afterwards).

Try to secure the pannier with some expander cord or straps so the pannier cannot detach from the rack. And ride slowly!
 
An afterthought.
@RMSDivine: If I were you with my experience of today, I would use a backpack for the laptop. What I carry in my panniers nowadays is the battery (wrapped in a neoprene cover); and nothing else that could break.
 
Your laptop cannot be too heavy for a backpack? The human body is the best suspension! What I actually do now, I have put the Ortlieb Ultimate Camera Insert into my Ortlieb Vario backpack and carry my camera in it. On the latest off-road ride I had, the Ortlieb pannier detached again but there was nothing breakable inside. On the same ride, I fell with my e-bike, the camera intact in the backpack :)
 
Yes, the new laptop will be very light and could be easily carried in a backpack. I am sure this would be the best shock absorbing solution, but the pannier was purchased as a solution to avoid backpacks!
As a side note, my pannier had never detached from the back rack in almost two months riding, with a much heavier PC than the new one
 
A laptop travel sleeve or simple foam rubber wrap should protect it from most harmful vibration. I don't think there is really any cause for concern.

Since you ride an off road path, be careful when you ride between vehicle barrier stanchions or gates. There is often little clearance for a bike to pass through and a pannier can easily strike one of these obstacles causing damage to what you are carrying. Ride slowly or walk your bike through these barriers.
 
Fair question by the OP, but to be realistic about it, there are many, many folks who have bicycle toured with their laptops up to this point and I just don't recall any forum threads on this topic over on Bike Forums or Crazy Guy On A Bike that would indicate a fundamental issue with riding a bike with a laptop. Not saying there aren't any threads on this topic, rather, if there are issues, they are so minute as to not really be an issue to worry about.

If they were an issue, we would have been made aware of them decades ago starting with the handlebar mounted electronics most every semi-serious bicyclist has employed since the first Cat Eye computers....
 
I’ve read that laptops with spinning HDs and fans may be more susceptible to damage as opposed to laptops equipped with SSDs and passive cooling. I don’t transport my laptop in my panniers very often but when I do, I just put it in this inexpensive insert and go. I’ve no issues but it also has no moving parts.
 
I've toured many thousands of miles carrying a laptop, all without any trouble at all.

What I recommend is:
  1. Put your laptop in a nice neoprene sleeve.
  2. Possibly wrap it with a trash bag and/or bubble wrap if you are paranoid.
  3. Pack your laptop on the drive side pannier.
  4. Place your laptop closest to the bike and pad the outer parts with clothing or other soft-ish items.
If you live in a left-hand country you might consider putting the laptop on the opposite side, but I'd still certainly pack it inboard.
 
Stefan Mikes said:
:) Why?
Click to expand...

A couple of reasons:
  1. The non-drive side pannier is exposed to traffic and will inevitably get sprayed with more dirty water. You also have a small risk it will get clipped with catastrophic results.
  2. If I lay the bike down without using the kickstand I always lay the bike drive side up like a civilized cyclist would.
  3. On journey I organize my gear so that the drive side pannier has things I absolutely want to keep dry and also things I am not likely to need during the days ride. So the laptop, the down sleeping bag, and clean dry clothes go on the drive side. The possibly soggy tarp and bivy and clothes and gear I will need during the day (e.g. a warm outer layer, rain jacket, &c) go on the non-drive side. This is because no matter how waterproof your pannier is, it isn't very waterproof if you put soggy stuff in it and isn't waterproof at all if you have to open it up during a downpour. Soaking-wet and dirty stuff goes in a mesh laundry bag and doesn't even get in a pannier.
 
Stefan Mikes said:
The Commuter Insert is very good. In case you store the laptop in the tall section of the Insert, nothing wrong should happen.

You mentioned the 800 m off-road segment. Please ride carefully over that segment. It is not about the micro-vibration. It is about the high vertical forces exerted on the pannier on off-road bumps. If you have a bad luck, a big bump can just shoot your Ortlieb pannier vertically up - the pannier can detach from the rack as if you were removing it by hand yourself.

I damaged my expensive camera that way (it required a costly repair afterwards).

Try to secure the pannier with some expander cord or straps so the pannier cannot detach from the rack. And ride slowly!
Click to expand...
No one has brought up the key technical question... does your laptop have a hard drive or an SSD for storage.

The HD is very susceptible to shock and vibration while the SSD is very stable in harsh conditions.
 
FlatSix911 said:
No one has brought up the key technical question... does your laptop have a hard drive or an SSD for storage.

The HD is very susceptible to shock and vibration while the SSD is very stable in harsh conditions.
Click to expand...

This is the key.

@RMSDivine ,

I used to commute 20 miles each way on my R-M Delite GX Rohloff HS for about 6 months.
This is what I did. I would put my laptop in the backpack and I would put that whole backpack in the rear pannier (Ortlieb). Because the bike had a suspended rack and there was enough padding in my backpack compartment, I never had any issues.

My laptop has SSD and if you had a spinning hard drive, I would use more padding. If your laptop also has SSD, then you could go ahead with that Ortlieb pannier+insert setup.
 
FlatSix911 said:
The HD is very susceptible to shock and vibration while the SSD is very stable in harsh conditions.
Click to expand...
The last laptop I owned with an HDD was purchased during the second Bush administration. Then I bought an Asus eee pc and my whole world improved. And no MacBook has shipped with an HDD since about 2012.
 
FlatSix911 said:
No one has brought up the key technical question... does your laptop have a hard drive or an SSD for storage.

The HD is very susceptible to shock and vibration while the SSD is very stable in harsh conditions.
Click to expand...
Was reading this thread, hoping someone would point this out.

I was not disappointed. As someone who is still the "IT guy" for friends and family, HDD is just ahead of "dead graphics chip" and "busted charging port" for number one laptop failure outside of catastrophic drops (and HDDs can be ruined by non-catastrophic drops).

I still vaguely recall when it was best practices to "park" the drive head on desktop machines.
 
I commuted with my MacBook Pro in a laptop bag, strapped to my rear rack or in a side rear basket, for two years with no problems with the computer. Before starting this, I asked my IT department person what she thought, and she said with modern laptops there should be no problem. I don't know anything about your particular laptop, though, so perhaps contact the manufacturer or your IT department (if it is a company-owned computer?)
 
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