Blackburn btw are still going 41 years on and I see they're still making a rack that looks almost identical to the one I bought in the late 80s (and still have but no longer use cos the spacing is too narrow for modern bikes); it's called the EX1 now, I don't know what they called it back then.
I always knew it as the Expedition. Any other pannier rack was made from chromed steel and weighed a ton. The Expedition was what everyone bought for touring or commuting if you weren't a fan of saddlebags.
Touring could be seen to be the unfashionable yet dependable end of cycling, where quality equipment made with good materials and attention to detail is more important and desirable than on-trend colours and styling. That we still have steel (frames), cotton (bags) and leather (saddles) says something for longevity and accepted standards. I wondered whether Arkel (1988) has what it takes to go another 70 years. In 1989 you couldn't move in a bike shop for Specialized Shoulder Holders and Cannondale Whistlestop handlebar bags, yet where are they now?
The original roll-top Ortlieb bag might have been a bike pannier, or maybe a dry bag for motorcyclists, or mountaineers, I don't know, but it's undoubtedly a classic, possibly even not the first of its kind but surely the one that ticked all the right boxes at the right time in the right market.
Bikepacking seems to have come of age, when before, frame-fit bags just weren't a thing, except in the dusty back pages of Encycleopedia. Ah hae ma doots that Apidura will last, because they haven't really invented anything new, or pioneered anything in particular. I like to think that Endura clothing might go the distance, though; the MT500 shorts were a super product that set a baseline for quality fit and material that lasted – in my case, is lasting! – a long time.
The Moulton double pylon bike is probably a future classic, for all its clever refinement and lofty price , and the company itself no doubt a household name that I think will carry on making posh bikes for as long as there are rich people around.