Mountain Bike Soft Carry Case - Buying Advice Please..

zznmfc

Hi,

Off to the Alps in August and am considering buying a couple of soft bags for my wife and I.

I ride a Whyte 146s and she has a Whyte T120.

Couple of specific questions:

- Can anyone provide any views on thier experiences with a soft bag?
- What should we look for when choosing our bags - I've read the recent review on Bike Radar (http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/article/b ... ags-33421/) but am a little concerned about sizes and buying something that I then can't use?

Any other thoughts people have would be gratefully recieved.

Thanks,

Mike.

paul.skibum

I have an old Planet X soft bag and to be honest it is a pain in the arse to use!

Basically its too big - not too long but just too much up volume. With the bike in it, wheels in side pockets, a few tools and so on it is a fair weight (it has a rigid base with wheels in one corner) - I think the bag probably weighs 10kg so I have to be careful what goes into it (not that you are allowed to put much int he bag these days aside from the bike) to avoid max weight regs in the airport.

It is then soft sided which means it flops about all over he place (partly due to its height - the top 12-18 inches basically has nothing in it - the bike is in the lower part) and cant be rolled on its wheels with any ease, the shoulder straps with my height means it drags on the floor so no help there.

On a baggage cart it gets stuck in doors and airport barriers all the time as well.

That said it is very sturdy, has made 6 or 7 trips with me including trans atlantic and I have never has any damage to my bike.

My mate has an inexpensive bike bag from Wiggle cant recall the brand but it is basically a bag (no wheels or rigid base) and is the right size for an AM style bike (probably wouldnt take a full DH) and first flight with it the airport put a hole through the material - no damage to the bike.

If i were buying again I wouldnt get such a massive bag but would stick with the sturdier models. would probably be tempted to use bike boxes in future although some airlines say these aren't accepted any more.

miss notax

Evoc - a reinforced soft bag

I used a bog standard soft bag for my first Alps trip and it was a nightmare - the bike was safe (after stuffing all sorts of clothes, bags etc around it) but the huge bag was so unwieldy that I really struggled with it. I'm pretty short and I couldn't use the shoulder strap to lift the bag off the ground, so all I could do was drag around this massive floppy bag :?

The Evoc bag (used last year) is in complete contrast - the wheels work, it's compact (so I can actually wheel it about) and its definitely been designed by someone who has used a standard bag and thought 'there has to be a better way...' It's also really easy to pack your bike into - I was having a goodbye beer having packed my bike away in under 5 minutes whilst everyone else was still removing various bike parts and stuffing clothes in the bag 8)

Not cheap but very definitely worth it in my humble opinion!!

felix.london

paul.skibum wrote:

I have an old Planet X soft bag and to be honest it is a pain in the ars* to use!

Basically its too big - not too long but just too much up volume. With the bike in it, wheels in side pockets, a few tools and so on it is a fair weight (it has a rigid base with wheels in one corner) - I think the bag probably weighs 10kg so I have to be careful what goes into it (not that you are allowed to put much int he bag these days aside from the bike) to avoid max weight regs in the airport.

It is then soft sided which means it flops about all over he place (partly due to its height - the top 12-18 inches basically has nothing in it - the bike is in the lower part) and cant be rolled on its wheels with any ease, the shoulder straps with my height means it drags on the floor so no help there.

On a baggage cart it gets stuck in doors and airport barriers all the time as well.

hahaha..sounds awesome! I gotta get me one of those!

zznmfc

Thanks folks - I was thining about the Polaris Cargo bag in the reiew posted above. Sounds reasonable and - not wishing to sound a bit Girly (no offence ladies) I quite like the look of it... Has anyone had experience of said bag?

Ta, M.

paul.skibum

felix.london wrote:

paul.skibum wrote:

I have an old Planet X soft bag and to be honest it is a pain in the ars* to use!

Basically its too big - not too long but just too much up volume. With the bike in it, wheels in side pockets, a few tools and so on it is a fair weight (it has a rigid base with wheels in one corner) - I think the bag probably weighs 10kg so I have to be careful what goes into it (not that you are allowed to put much int he bag these days aside from the bike) to avoid max weight regs in the airport.

It is then soft sided which means it flops about all over he place (partly due to its height - the top 12-18 inches basically has nothing in it - the bike is in the lower part) and cant be rolled on its wheels with any ease, the shoulder straps with my height means it drags on the floor so no help there.

On a baggage cart it gets stuck in doors and airport barriers all the time as well.

hahaha..sounds awesome! I gotta get me one of those!

To be fair I bought it 2nd had for 20 quid and i have had it 8 years!

Oh and I just realised my first p[ost simply told a story of a bad bag - what I was trying to express tot he OP was that a high sided soft bag can be hard to maneuver and there are probably better options around - I actually think if mine had some internal straps to hold the sides closer to each other it would make a huge difference.