Avoid any soft case. Other forum members will reply with something along the lines of "I've flown with my bike 20 times with a soft case and never had a problem, blah, blah, blah...".

I'm not sure I've ever read a post on here about a frame being damaged in a hard case due to external forces. Read a lot of posts about frame being damaged in a soft case.

Using similar shaped bags that allow base and aerobars to remain attached to the bike as an example:
Scicon's Aerocomfort 3.0 Tri soft case is $569.
Premier Tactical's hard case is $699.
Bike Box Alan's Tri Aero Easyfit hard case is $699.

For $130 more it's a no brainer to go with one of those two hard cases.

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Favorite Gear: Dimond | Cadex | Desoto Sport | Hoka One One

Get the BBA.

I have a M Speed Concept and it doesn't fit the Premier case well at all. If the case was able to accomodate a slightly wider basebar, it'd be great. But it's too tight of a fit for me.

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@floathammerholdon | @partners_in_tri

Gman is right on with:

Premier Tactical's hard case is $699.
Bike Box Alan's Tri Aero Easyfit hard case is $699.

I have the BBA and am very pleased.

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David
* Ironman for Life! (Blog) * IM Everyday Hero Video * Daggett Shuler Law *
Disclaimer: I have personal and professional relationships with many athletes, vendors, and organizations in the triathlon world.

Evoc Road Bike Bag Pro. Great protection from hybrid soft/hard case. You can keep the cockpit and RD on. And it weighs less than 51 lbs all-in

BBA all the way.

I have one for my XL Speed Concept but also use it for my road bike and gravel bike on occasion.

The XL fits in there fine:
- Slam seatpost
- Remove saddle (only because I use a Wove with the long tail)
- Remove rear mech (velcro in base-bar box area of the case)
- Removing the extensions (popping the Di2 cables and securing that whole assembly with some of the velcro elsewhere in the case)

Nice protection when flying with a disc as well, I just toss it in a wheel bag and feel really confident it will be unharmed.

I imagine it's even easier if you are riding a smaller frame with a less stretched out position.
My road (60) and gravel (61) bikes fit in this case with just slamming the seat posts and pulling the rear mech.

People will go back and forth forever about whether a soft case or hard case is better, and soft cases certainly do have some upside (better pockets, potentially handled more carefully because they are perceived to be fragile), but the question that I asked myself that made it clear a hard case was necessary was "If something happens will I be able to say I did everything I could?" and a hard case was the only way to answer "yes" to that.

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~Zac

I second the hard case recommendations. Especially for multiple flight legs and international travel. Just had a friend have his second tri bike smashed in the Scicon soft case because he doesn’t want to screw with removing the handlebars. Baggage handlers did in his brand new Canyon on the way back from Finland.

I’ve had most of the different brands of hardcases over the years. Settled on the Premier for a while. But just recently picked up the BBA Tri Easy fit for my wife as she traveled to Finland without me. She has a new Trek SC SLR (disc brake) size small and we assumed it was going to easily fit in the BBA with minimal breakdown. Turns out it absolutely will not fit with the derailleur mounted which really surprised me. I think this is due to the new style hydro brake levers which extend the overall length of the bike at least a couple inches vs. cable brake levers. She’s come up to speed on derailleur removal/mounting. But it was a surprise for the size Small.

A friend with the same SC in size Large has to remove both the bars and the RD. This is a shame because the case is so wide compared to others because it is supposed to allow keeping the bars on.

The Premiers probably fit slightly larger frames. Even with derailleurs mounted. But the aero extensions absolutely have to be removed. I haven’t tried testing her SC with hydro levers in the Premier, but suspect they would also limit the frame size that would fit w/o bar removal.

The plastic on mine shattered the first time I used it. Evoc were awful to deal with and extremely rude in their communication to me. That was the last dollar Evoc will ever see of my money! I went with the Bike Box Alan instead and couldn't be happier.

I always wanted a BBA but with the shipping from the UK it always brought the price closer to a grand. Looks like they have a USA distribution now though? Is this new?

https://bikeboxalanusa.com/...y/triathlon-easyfit/

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the world's still turning? >>>>>>> the world's still turning

I'm still seeing $330 US to ship here. The price is totally worth it until you pay half of the total price in shipping...that's where I end with up a soft Scicon when I want a BBA...

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Blog: https://davidkoppeltriathlon.blogspot.com/
Coaching: https://dkendurance.com/

damn you're right. I was hoping they had some in stock in the US and would be able to discount the shipping accordingly

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the world's still turning? >>>>>>> the world's still turning

.

Still much cheaper and less hassle than a frame repair or replacement. It also isn’t that much up against race entries and air travel.

I know. I'm still planning to get one. But, I got a Scicon 3.0 tri for $300 second hand, which is a lot less than $1000. I take extra precautions and wrap the entire cockpit in a comforter. I also now have totally wireless etap, so I'll be taking my extensions completely off which only takes a couple minutes.

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Blog: https://davidkoppeltriathlon.blogspot.com/
Coaching: https://dkendurance.com/

they are also huge and tough to fit into a small rental car. so you might have to take that into account for future costs.

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the world's still turning? >>>>>>> the world's still turning

I got the Thule hard case this year. It's pricier than some of the other options but it has a nifty built in stand you can use to build/breakdown the bike. It's also heavier than a lot of other cases. I can't get it below 50lbs (I have a super lightweight bike) and have to pay an extra fee when I check it at the airport. Overall I'm very happy with it, never had any issues on the 3 trips I took with it this year.

This is pretty much the case for almost all bike cases. We used to have TriAll3 cases and they did impact rental cars due to length and thickness. Most long euro trips I take use airplanes and trains cuz rental cars are small and city access and parking is challenging.

I've been using a borrowed Thule this year as well (6 trips including international) and haven't had any real issues. It is HEAVY, I can't get it anywhere near 50lbs but I've never had to pay overweight, and because the closure isn't simple the baggage handlers in OKC didn't bother closing it when they shipped it. Thankfully everything was still in the box when it go back.

I'm convinced it's an OKC issue though, they've screwed up many of my bags multiple times in the past.

I've been debating pulling the trigger on a BBA box, but man are they pricy...

This. It's not the frame and case being hit that's the major problem, it's the frame getting crushed.

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Favorite Gear: Dimond | Cadex | Desoto Sport | Hoka One One

Ugh. Yeah, I don't fly much with the bike but a few times a year at least. I know i need the BBA!!!

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Blog: https://davidkoppeltriathlon.blogspot.com/
Coaching: https://dkendurance.com/

The other case I recently got was the Topeak Pakgo TT: https://www.topeak.com/...roduct/1567-PAKGO-TT

It came with my new Cadex frameset. I don’t think it’s for sale in the USA yet and will likely cost $1,000 if the price of the mountain bike version is any indicator.

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Favorite Gear: Dimond | Cadex | Desoto Sport | Hoka One One

The Premier case was not really made for disc brake bikes. It can be made to work but it needs a bit of a redesign if Dan ever goes that way on his bike. I have two that I’ve modified.

Seems there is still room for a good triathlon hard case for disc brake bikes.