Soft vs Hard Bike Case

[maxim809]

WW Denizens... I'm curious to know people's preference on how the population flies with their bike.

For those who air travel, which do you use and why?

if you have specific questions or want deeper details about cases, please feel free to start a new thread

[alanyu]

A semi-hard case which can be folded. The case itself is pretty light @ 7.8 kg

[Maddie]

I air travel several times per year. Simple answer: Buxumbox

[Ritsuke]

I air travel several times per year. Simple answer: Buxumbox

Awesome, thank you!

[jekyll man]

Trico hard case.
Having had 2 monoc/tc1 suitcase type bike boxes destroyed by those lovely baggage chuckers, and a scicon bag partially damaged, (thankfully the bikes were okay), there's no way i would trust my pride and joy in anything else. As its not got any handles, the Trico makes it especially hard for them to abuse.

[Broady]

Anyone used the Topeak Pakgo range? I see they have the EX, X and XS model, not exactly sure what the differences are, I'll have to do a bit of research.

[Eterna7m]

last time ive travelled with a rented scicon aerotech evolution. In general i liked it a lot. if only they upgraded the design since 2000 to support wider tyres and tubeless....

[jayjay]

I never had any problems with my Evoc Bike Bag (soft case), it must have been 16 or more flights.

That Buxumbox looks very nice and I have thought about it a few times. But is is just so damn expensive! £1,044 (+ in my case shipping to Germany + taxes)

[rowdyyy]

I never had any problems with my Evoc Bike Bag (soft case), it must have been 16 or more flights.

That Buxumbox looks very nice and I have thought about it a few times. But is is just so damn expensive! £1,044 (+ in my case shipping to Germany + taxes)

Brexit screwed everybody over. There are so many great products coming out of the UK that we in the EU can't buy because of taxes and shipping.

[skinnybex]

I have the Scicon Aerotech Evo and Scicon Aerocomfort 3.0, I much prefer the latter although it doesn't have the same amount of protection It's much more convenient to pack and transport especially if you have cable integration.

[gurk700]

Been happy with my BikeboxAlan (hardcase if you're not familiar). I used it with my rim brake bike a few times to and from UK with 0 issues and damage to box or bike.
Since I've switched to integrated handlebar / disc setup though I haven't used it. Might be a little trickier. I might end up getting the version that doesn't require handlebar disassembly. Probably overkill but I'll be traveling with my bike wayyyy more often starting 2024.

I've been flying British Airways for all of those trips and they never charged me extra for it. They treat it like luggage (I have wardrobe over in the UK so I only take my bike and a backpack with me). As long as it's under 23kg (I think) they don't charge extra. You just pick it up in the oversized area when you arrive. I use airtag in it for a little more security.

[matcav]

Yes, Buxumbox would be the best, but it's damn expensive and rather heavy - which can be an issue if you have a max 23kg allowance.
I recently went to the US from Europe with a 300eur B&W Bike Box II, which worked amazingly. I packed my entire road bike with integrated stem, shoes, helmet, a bunch of tools, including torque wrench, three complete kits, and various accessories like chargers, lights, etc.

[rowdyyy]

Has anybody first hand experience with the Thule bag? I like the idea of having a build in workstand.

[Jaisen]

Anyone used the Topeak Pakgo range? I see they have the EX, X and XS model, not exactly sure what the differences are, I'll have to do a bit of research.

I just bought a Pakgo X, and I will be using it to go to Mallorca in March. XS is smaller model of X. Same setup and internal stand but it is for smaller frame sizes. My 58cm Tarmac SL7 fits in the Pakgo X, but doesn't in the XS. The EX is a new slightly lighter line. It doesn't have the included stand like the Pakgo X, but is otherwise almost identical (the wheel packing system is slightly changed, on the EX the wheels are on the same side as opposed to one on each side in the other models). The Pakgo TT has same system as X & XS, but is slightly larger than the X to accommodate TT bike frames.

[Jaisen]

Has anybody first hand experience with the Thule bag? I like the idea of having a build in workstand.

I used a Roundtrip Pro a few times with my rim bike. I have no complaints with it but it wasn't ideal to use it for my bike with internal cable routing.