SUNLITE Rear Wire Folding Basket

I live on my boat in Los Angeles. I am within a 10 minute bike ride to several grocery stores and wanted to use my bike for as much shopping as possible. The trip by bike is shorter (timewise) that using my car, parking is much easier, and closer to the stores and faster. Sometimes searching for a parking place takes longer than driving to the store.I mention my location because weather did not factor into my decision grid when selecting cargo carriers on my bike. If I still lived in Seattle I probably would have gone for a rainproof option.So when I bought my bike I immediately bought a Wald folding basket to attach to my rear rack. The design has several shortcomings but I was able to get it installed using wire ties, rather than the metal clips Wald provided, and it has served my purposes. The mounting hardware Wald provided did not fit the rack on my bike and was not the same color as the basket and my bike. .When I decided to add a second basket to the other side of the rear rack on my bike I decided to try the Sunlite model because it had a few features I now knew would be valuable (experience with the Wald basket taught me a lot and made me appreciate the reviewer's comments on both products).Here are the main reasons that I find the Sunlite product to be superior to the wald basket. I have uploaded three photographs that address my reasons for preferring the Sunlite product. The Sunlite basket is on the left on my bike and the Wald one is on the right.1. The sunlite model is larger when open which benefits cargo capacity.2. Sunlite thought out the attachment options better and even provided some beefy wire ties as an attachment option. I did not use the provided hose clamps because I thought they would scratch my bike and the black wire ties matched my bike. Sunlite provided a couple of really beefy wire ties but I had to use some of my own to finish the job. More wire ties would be nice.3. The latch that keeps the sunlite basket closed is much more effective that the one on the Wald. One of the photos I uploaded shows the bungee cord work around I use to keep my wald basket closed when its not in use. In the photo you can see the damage to the finish on the wald basket that was a result of the latch scratching the paint. In the long run the Sunlite latch might not be any better but its starting out as way more effective that the one on the Wald Basket. One of the problems with the Wald latch is that it seems to have been designed for an unpainted basket and the layers of paint on the latch and basked wire makes the latch very difficult to rotate.4. The mesh bottom on the Sunlite basket keeps my mail from falling through the bottom of the basket. That is a problem with the wald basket when I stop by our mailbox on the same trip to the grocery store.5, The finish on the Sunlite basket is better than the one on the wald basket.Both of these baskets handle quite a bit of weight with no problem. I have put three 12 packs of soda in my Wald basket and it has held them secure.Reviewers for both products have mentioned the fact that you need to bend the outer wall of the basket outward to get the support for the bottom in place. This is mentioned as a disadvantage but I look at that as a feature that assures me that the bottom wont fall out of my basket when Im using it.The Wald basket is slightly cheaper than the Sunlite but, in my opinion, it is not enough cheaper to justify the Wald over the Sunlite. On the other hand the Wald basket is serviceable enough that I'm not going to replace it with a second Sunlite.

I ride often and can accurately describe the usefulness of this basket. It's light weight, durable, useful as heck, and can fold out of the way!My riding style: 100 miles/week along with multiple day touring. I am very hard on my bicycling things and buy products that are generally very strong.I've had this on my commuter/touring bicycle for about 6 months now with approximately 2,500 miles on them. I set my bicycle up to have this basket on the left and an Ortleib sack on the right. I typically carry clothes and food in this basket while my Ortleib carries stuff for work or school.As far as sturdiness goes, I recently completed a 350ish mile tour from Pacific City, OR to and back from Coos Bay, OR. I loaded this bad boy down will all kinds of stuff and it held just fine. I even smacked it on a bridge pillar while crossing a river pretty hard and it didn't seem to have minded at all.I would recommend this product to any bicyclist that wants an utilitarian rack.I see some people writing reviews refer to this rack as heavy? I believe this thing weighs next to nothing for what it does and how strong it is. Anyone complaining about the weight of this should probably look more closely at their waist line first. Maybe dump half of your water bottle out and you'll be as light as before.

This is one of the few purchased objects in my life that gives me delight every time I use it. These baskets are perfect for me.They fit a grocery bag perfectly. I haven't tried a paper bag, I mean the bags that are made of crinkly plastic but have sewn seams and wide handles. High-quality, reusable grocery bags. What I love about that is that it's like having panniers with comfortable shoulder straps. These things are very flexible in how you can use them - I can use a nice bag, I can throw in my purse or backpack, I can strap something large across the top.When I first installed the baskets, they made my bike wobbly. So I installed a new rear rack that has a horizontal bar below the top of the wheel (it's also a very sturdy rack, and my bike mechanic said I was carrying too much weight on the old one). Voila, the wobbliness is gone. It's important to lower that center of gravity - it's the height that can cause wobble.They clip closed just fine, no problems. I don't have to remember to put them on because they're always there, unlike removable panniers. I bought a little netted bungee to clip over any load. So, yeah, I am glad for them every time I ride my bike.

Compared to the Waal version, this is a bit wider and not quite as stiff. More attractive (black coated rather than bare galvanized). The clearance when swinging down the floor panel is tight: you will have to really bend the second-from-bottom bar out (by bending the whole outside) to get the locking tooth into its hole for locking down, but it's worth the effort and the mesh floor is a real advantage. I don't mind carrying cased DVDs in it (for example) that I worried about falling through the Waal. Attaches the same way; supplied cable ties were effective as long as you have a parcel rack on your bike to which the inner top can be pivoted.

This thing is a champ. I recommend using strong zipties (maybe 7-8) to place the basket on your rack. The metal hardware included could damage your bags or other items from ever so gentle bumps that are associated with bike riding. Other than this small issue, which can be easily fixed, these are great baskets that are very strong. They do have a small slightly annoying squeak every so often, but I found that using a bunch of zip ties to secure the box better to the rack, helps a lot with that.

Just as advertised. It works Great!