Kettler Bicycle Accessory: Detachable Rear Mounted Metal Wire Bike Basket with Carrying Handle

I bought this basket for my recumbent trike, mainly to carry bags of trash to the neighborhood dumpster, and maybe take my dog for a ride, now and then. It was too small for my dog, but big enough for a full kitchen-size trash bag. I never actually used it, so don't worry that you'll get the one I returned and have it smell like a junkyard dog. The basket mesh is easily deformed; it's sort of a heavyweight window screen. That didn't bother me, as it is strong enough, and not too heavy. I sent it back because I wasn't happy with the mounting system. It could have been ideal, as it attaches and detaches from a rack easily and quickly. What I didn't like was the plastic pieces that grab the rack rails. They are designed to fit either thick rails or thin rails well, but I thought that the grip on my medium rails was somewhat insecure. I'm sorry I didn't measure the clamps, so I could report the optimum rail sizes. Mine are about 3/8 inch thick. I would recommend this basket if it happens to fit your bike correctly.

I'm a student, and I'm currently living in Los Angeles without a car. For those of you not familiar with LA's car culture and sorely lacking pubic transportation system, you'll have to just take my word for the fact that many think I'm crazy. My bike is the only thing that makes living this way at all reasonable, and this bike basket makes my experience shopping by bike a breeze.The basket pops on and off the bike rack easily, but stays firmly on for all of my 6 mile ride home from campus, even when it's full of heavy groceries. It also doubles as a shopping basket, which I love for two reasons: 1) I rarely remember to carry re-usable shopping bags, but lots of places give points/discounts for not using their bags, and with this basket I usually don't have to. 2) It keeps me aware while I'm in the store of how much space I have. Yes, I can pack the basket on the bike much tighter than is reasonable to do in the store while shopping, but it's a good reminder.I have had one problem with the basket: it attaches to your rack with a spring-loaded mechanism on bottom, and contacts the basket with 4 screw-on rubber stoppers. I had a minor accident on my bike (swerved suddenly to avoid being hit by a car, hit the sidewalk). The basket popped off partially, but I hurriedly put it back on and headed home. I later noticed that one of the stoppers was missing, along with the corresponding spring. In the past, I had noticed that with abuse the stoppers occasionally twisted out of the right orientation, and apparently the fall was just enough to pop off one that had been loosened.Notably, I was still able to use the basket in this condition, but it was less stable. I was bummed and considered replacing it, but first I gave emailing the company a shot. Within a few days, I had two spare stoppers and springs at my apartment, FREE OF CHARGE.In summary, I would definitely recommend this product. That said, remember that between popping the basket on and off, and dealing with the weight, the stoppers take a lot of abuse. I would recommend checking them now and then to make sure they aren't coming off or twisting out of the proper position. Before I actually lost a stopper, I never looked closely enough to realize that the stoppers screw on, and can be tightened if they loosen/shift. Honestly, I don't find that to be much of an inconvenience to deal with in exchange for the convenience of removability.[Side note: I use this basket in combination with Sunlite Bicycle Bungie Cargo Net, Black. While I would never use it to strap something really heavy to my bike, as the cords are thinner than your average bungie, it is fantastic for keeping groceries firmly in the basket, and for strapping my backpack to the rack when I'm not using the basket. If you're someone who plans to shop by bike on a regular basis, I highly recommend this option. Panniers also have their advantages, but from what I've seen, the high quality ones are out of my price range, and you also really can't leave the nice ones on the bike and unattended--they WILL get stolen. This basket is removable, and so in theory has the same problem, but this isn't obvious without a bit of inspection. And honestly, at under $30, I'd rather lose this basket than a fancy set of panniers.]

I loved it. I reinforced the mount with velcro strap because of a tip left in another review, and it went on and off with relative ease. It was sturdy enough to handle a moderate load, and worked on multiple differently-sized racks.However, almost precisely 30 days after receiving it, a weld on the bottom bracket failed, rendering it useless. Can't return, didn't get a full month of use out of it.I would be tempted to think that maybe I just got a lemon, maybe the product is usually better, but upon examining the welds on the other brackets I realize they were similarly vulnerable.Regret purchase.As a consolation: the cheaper permanent mount basket I replaced it with is wonderful. I dont know why I thought I needed a removable basket.

This product looks great. I ordered it, and it arrived crushed. I returned it with this explanation, but the replacement item was similarly crushed. I have tried working with customer service and emailing the shipping people to explain that the problem is the box they are using for shipping is too shallow for the item. I'm most frustrated that they haven't communicated very well. One person told me the item would be removed from the website while the problem was being addressed and then it would reappear and that's how I would know that the issue had been resolved. That doesn't sound like adequeate customer service to me. I still want this item but I am going to shop elsewhere, and perhaps look for something different.