Padded Cycling Bag

Rhods

Hi

I'm looking at buying something suitable to transport my bike on an airplane. Going to tour Croatia later this year. I know of the different options and think I will go for a bike bag. I say this as I will use and post it to my final destination.

With that in mind, does anyone have experience of padded bags, particularly the Avenir padded bag? Does anyone have any reccomendations at a reasonable price?

Thanks

pmckeown

Me to, need a bag but want one thats light enough to fold up and stick on my rack, any recommendations.

pete2feet

andymiller

You won't find a padded bag that you can fold up and carry or post to your final destination.

I think the bag to look at is the Ground Effect Tardis. It folds up to the size of a phone book.

I've flown with the Ground Effect Tardis without any ill effects but you need to pack carefully: eg take off the rear mech and chainset and secure anything that could rattle around with a cable tie.

(My top tip for sending the bag is to carry a couple of those polythene mailers you can buy in the post Office or Tesco - they are light but perfect for posting the bag).

GyatsoLa

A vote here for the Tardis. Its done me loads of trips. It needs more dismantling than most bike bags but it packs down to a very reasonable size. Padded bags are very bulky, it makes more sense just to get bubble wrap or pipe lagging or whatever packaging you can drag out of a skip or bin and use that to protect the frame and parts within the bag.

Rhods

Definately no padded bag you can post?

Hmm... in that case, is there much to be gained from using the Ground effect Tardis over the CTC clear plastic bags then?

Thanks

andymiller

Better protection (heavy cordura versus polythene)? Better carryability (shoulder strap)? Will last for many trips.

As with everything in life there's a trade-off: an undismantled bike is the most convenient approach if you're prepared to trust the baggage handlers with it; a hard case offers the best protection but is the least convenient. And then there are the compromises in between.

And as for a padded bag you can post: I guess it all depends on how much you 're prepared to pay for postage.

suffolk rider

I bought a Planet X padded bike bag on ebay, in which I transported my bike to Barcelona a couple of weeks ago. It worked fine - I put the bike back together within 40 minutes (I have since cut that time down) or so, left the bag in a left luggage locker, and picked it up on return.
The only problem came on my return home, when I took the bike out only to discover that the front forks had been bent: somebody must either have dropped it very hard or else stuffed something very heavy on top. However, I got it put back in shape and next time will put in lots of extra padding (+ a fork separator).

priory

Don't take a valuable bike, then you have less to worry about. use lots of cardboard or polystyrene foam etc instead of padding. especially at the edges where the handlers WILL bang it down on the ground take a roll of parcel tape and use it liberally. unscrew the rear mech and tape it to the frame .tape spacers ( bits of wood)front and rear. tape the cranks to the frame so that the crank might protect the chainwheel . put a multitool including blade in the bag with the bike, and a dustbin bag for the rubbish.get more cardboard on packing day.