The Route Six Pannier from North St Bags

One of best things about living in the Bay Area is that I can bike to work almost every day. When I chose to move to Google from Samsung Research, the ability to keep biking was an important factor (in fact, my route is nearly the same: I head up the Stevens Creek trail and turn left instead of right). For the past few years I’ve been using a pannier instead of a backpack; particularly in the warm summer months, it’s nice not to have something trapping heat on your back. I initially chose the pannier I use, the Route Six from North St Bags, because I saw them at Renegade SF and their bags looked nice.

After several years of using them, I can definitively say that their bags not only look great, but they’re also great to use. They’re easy to load up, and you can customize what pockets the bag has when you order it. Plus the pockets velcro in, so you can change what’s in the bag based on your particular needs that day. You can also get a shoulder strap for the bag as well, which has been extremely useful now that I’m at Google. On days when it rains I take the Google Bus instead of driving, and it’s extremely convenient to just use the bag as a messenger bag on rainy days without needing to transfer everything to a different bag (and inevitably forget something). I was initially a little concerned about the bungee cord + hook on the back catching on my clothes, but I’ve had zero problems with it: when carried over your shoulder the hook falls (at least for me) away from my body. If you’re concerned about it, you can also get a pannier that converts to a backpack and features a removable cord + hook.

If you’re interested in switching to panniers or are looking for a pannier that’s also easy to carry off your bike, I strongly recommend the Route Route from North St.