Bike Bag

stfc1

Hi, I'm Flying to France later in the year and looking for something to take the bike in. I'd be grateful for any tips or any experience anyone has had (good or bad) with a bike bag that cost under £100. I see Wiggle has a DHB one with wheel bags included, are these worth having over a bag with just pockets? It's for a 56cm frame road bike and I definitely can't afford a box!

Thanks.

STEFANOS4784

Not sure i'd trust just a bag with the baggage handlers :?
No experience though so :arrow:

Monty Dog

The Wiggle one is the same as the Neal Pryde bag sold by many others including Planet-X, Chain Reaction and so forth. The key to using a bag is packing your bike properly to prevent it getting damaged. IME a well-packed, light bag is likely to be handled more carefully that a heavyweight hardshell case - baggage handlers have a tendency to drop heavy things and heavy things hit the ground hard!

APIII

I tend to line my bag with a layer of corrugated cardboard. Just cut up a cardboard box (the heavier duty the better) and insert the sheets between bike and bag. It not only gives a bit more protection from 'puncture' wounds, but helps fill any space you may have in the bag, which will stop the bike moving around in transit.

dave milne

just used the dhb one for the first time. so far so good

cougie

I have the Neil Pryde version = from CRC - the bag itself isnt that important - its how you pack the bike.

Pipe lagging over all of your frame. Tape it on if necessary.

Take the rear mech off and secure inside the rear triangle.

Chain on the big ring so the teeth dont cut in.

Make sure to bung spacers in between your dropouts.

As much padding as you can is the trick.

The bag will be lobbed around - so it needs to be packed well - but do it properly and you should be fine.

On my last bike trip abroad - the only bike taht was damaged in transit was in a hard shell case - the gear hanger broke off. Apparently he didnt secure the bike inside the hard case - so dont think a hard case is the be all and end all.

stfc1

Thanks for the advice everyone - with some judicious packing it sounds like I can afford to go on this holiday after all :-)

marco67

I also use the Neal Pryde bag and do all the stuff cougie said, i just added a cardboard bike box. Go to your local bike shop, pick up an old bike box - they will probably even give you the dropout spacers as well, and put the cardboard box in the bike bag, I had to cut the box in half as it was too long length ways. I have used mine for on 6 trips so far and (touch wood) had no problems.

GyatsoLa

The Groundeffect Tardis is an excellent bag - it needs a bit more dismantling than most, but the result is a much more compact and easy to carry bag. Its good value too. An advantage of the smaller pack is that it is easier to get onto a taxi when you get onto your destination (big bags often don't fit in boots), and less likely to cause a problem on buses and trains.

Last time I took my roadbike using it I bought a fivers worth of bubblewrap from a local hardware store and used that and cardboard to keep it secure. It survived multiple changes of flight (I was flying to Taiwan, via a few different destinations) without a problem. I've flown multiple times with my touring mtb previously with it, again without a problem.