Case study

When you travel with your bike, make sure it arrives in one piece

In a perfect world, a cyclist flying abroad would be able to wheel their bike directly onto the plane, sitting next to it while enjoying a movie and a comically small can of lager. Instead we’re forced to consign our pride and joy to the belly of the beast, leaving it in the merciless hands of physics, fate and woefully underpaid baggage handlers.

In an attempt to protect their bikes from the travails of air travel, many plucky cyclists make do with a cardboard box and bubble wrap, but Christian Pearce, global brand manager for Scicon Sports, explains why a purpose-built bike case is a better option.

‘Bike travel cases are equipped with a hard shell, and bike travel bags with a rugged, padded outer shell that will protect your bike from impacts, punctures and scratches,’ he says. ‘These are areas where a cardboard box fails to provide sufficient protection.

‘Purpose-built bags and cases can also withstand humidity and rain when left out on the runway waiting to be handled. Unless the cardboard box is shrink-wrapped at the airport, it’s likely to fail and collapse once it’s wet.’

In addition, dedicated bike cases usually have straps, protection pads and clever compartments for components. This helps keep your bike secure and safe in transit while also ensuring security staff need only do the bare minimum of unpacking and repacking when conducting any inspections – chances are they’re highly unlikely to put it back in a cardboard box with anything approaching the same care and precision as when it was packed.

Things like this weren’t as much of an issue several decades ago, but as travel has evolved so have the needs of travelling cyclists. Getting a bike from country to country is a very different prospect now compared to back then, and today’s bike cases are designed to meet these new requirements.

‘I remember my racing days as an international cyclist 50 years ago,’ says Alan Hamshaw, perhaps better known as Bike Box Alan. ‘We used to wrap corrugated cardboard around the frame, take the wheels off and secure them with rope or Sellotape to keep it as one package. Amazingly, I never had any major damage, but bikes were all steel then and the wheels could have as many as 40 spokes. So while they were heavier than many of today’s machines, they perhaps offered a little more resistance to knocks and scrapes.’ Back then far fewer people were flying, which meant baggage handlers could take more time and care when loading. These days they’re under extreme pressure to load everything as quickly as possible, which means bikes are likely to be quite literally thrown around.

‘When I was looking into designing my original bike box I interviewed a baggage handler,’ adds Hamshaw. ‘I said, “Surely it would be sensible to place the stronger bike boxes at the bottom of the pile and place the soft bike bags at the top to minimise any potential damage?” His answer was, and I quote, “Mate, we have no time. Whatever

box or bag comes up that conveyor first is put on the bottom. If there’s space at the top, we might ram a bike bag in to use it up. And why should we bother? We’re all on minimum wage.”’

Boxing clever

If that alone doesn’t convince you a bike case is necessary then nothing will, which means the only thing left to do is decide on the right one.

Different cases suit different situations. A padded bag is generally a cheaper, lighter option than a hard case, making it better suited to cyclists on a budget or those attempting to adhere to stringent baggage limits or car hire dimensions. A hard case, while more expensive, offers maximum protection, albeit with a weight penalty. For domestic flights and train journeys a bag should suffice, but for longhaul trips with multiple changes, something more robust is probably a good idea.

Some brands, such as Evoc, have attempted to find a happy medium between the two, combining the structural integrity of a box with the lightness of a bag.

‘Our Road Bike Bag Pro features a hybrid construction, combining the advantages of a hard-shell suitcase with those of a soft bag,’ says Tobias Reischle, product manager at

Evoc. ‘It’s designed to be soft where possible and hard where necessary. It also makes it possible to transport your bike without having to dismantle or adjust your saddle or cockpit.’

That last part is key. The type of bike in question also plays a large role in determining the appropriate case or bag. Traditionally, bars, saddles and wheels would be removed in order to fit inside a box, but today’s fully integrated aero machines require a different approach.

‘A new breed of high-end aero road and triathlon bikes has now become popular,’ says Hamshaw. ‘These bikes have integrated brake and gear cables that are inside the handlebars and bike frame, giving the bike a clean appearance. It makes it almost impossible to remove the handlebars in order to pack into a bike box or bag, so a new type of case had to be designed to allow these bikes to travel by air.’

Bike Box Alan’s solution is its Triathlon Aero Easyfit box, which can take a road or time-trial bike without the need to remove the handlebar.

‘In the majority of situations, it’s just a question of removing the wheels and pedals, so packing the box can take as little as seven minutes,’ says Hamshaw.

This is indicative of where bike case design is heading in the future. Along with advancements in materials, there’s one key factor driving innovation: ‘There is always room for improvement and development,’ says Hamshaw. ‘But the most important thing is that we adapt accordingly as the bicycle continues to evolve in its various forms.’

‘When I was designing my bike box I asked a baggage handler about potential damage. He said, “Why should we bother? We’re all on minimum wage”’