I have seen very little in the way of reviews online for this travel case so I thought I’d write my own little review here. (I have no affiliation to Dakine whatsoever)
Background:
I haven’t owned a travel case for about five years. Since I no longer travel to races I’ve made a habit of renting/demoing bikes where I’ve wanted one while on travel. This year I ended up doing a 3 day ride where I wanted to bring my own bike so I decided to evaluate my options. Initially I had planned to go the shipping route, but airline fees have come down a bit since I was last flying with my bike and there are some reasonably priced (and crazy expensive) travel cases out there. So I figured I’d get a new case.
Requirements/Considerations:
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Soft Case. I don’t want to get into the whole soft case vs hard case debate. Suffice it to say that there are pros and cons of each, are baggage handlers that prefer each, and there are good and bad ones of each. I specifically wanted a soft case.
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Not Huge. One of the things I HATE about travel cases is that I need to keep them somewhere and that they can be difficult to get into a rental car. I don’t want some massive box taking up space in my garage or store room.
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Reasonably Priced. Good lord, there are some expensive cases out there that are so big it might make more sense to own a dedicated box truck and hire a driver. I wanted something less expensive
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Minimal. I don’t need/want an internal rail system or the ability to haul a complete service course. I need to transport my bike, that’s it. I prefer to handle wrapping/assembling/packaging myself. Pretty much every bike that exists was shipped in a simple cardboard box at one time (from the manufacturer) I don’t need a military-grade flight case.
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Doesn’t Scream BIKE. Hopefully I could find a case that doesn’t let every casual observer know there’s a bike inside. My hope is that this would help me sneak it by the occasional ticket counter agent.
So I was looking at the Ruster Sports case, but came across the Dakine Bike Bag on Competitive Cyclist. I liked the price and what little info I could find. Later I noticed they had this gaudy camo “limited edition” bag available for about $265 so… I jump in it.
The bag comes with some nice accessories: pretty nice wheel “bags” (for use in the case only), a fork bag, a rear triangle bag. It’s clear that the focus for this bag is the MTB market. The rear-triangle bag will only work for MTBs, but I think it’s a great idea. The fork bag is also designed to work with a suspension fork and a flat bar. The entire case is lined with a durable tarp-like fabric and has velcro closures on the bag as well as some velcro “mounts” to connect one wheel bag to the main bag. There are also two large tie down straps to cinch everything together.
Triangle, fork, and 1 wheel bag:
Inside of wheel bag (both have this padded insert):
When ordering I knew that the bag wasn’t padded all around so I planned to make some cardboard inserts to provide extra protection and give the soft case more structure. Super cheap and easy. I didn’t mind making these but some might find it a pain. These are 2 layers of “Home Depot heavy duty” cardboard thick:
To pack the bike I go the foam bike insulator, bubble wrap, and zip tie route. This is how I want to pack my bike…make a padded, rigid structure and put it in a case. (Fork is in the bag) I was looking for a case to work with this approach. If you’re looking to mount the fork into a skewer and tie down the BB and be done with it, this case isn’t for you.
(I did add extra padding around the top of the seat tube… a bit too exposed in this pic)
One wheel goes in the wheel bag attached to the case:
Add the Frame:
(Pic is a little misleading… bike does not sit with the seat tube pushing against side of case as pictured)
Add the front wheel bag and cinch it all down:
Added top cardboard panel (with some TSA notes):
All done:
Total weight for me was 43 pounds for bike, wheels, tools, and 3 sets of jerseys/bibs/socks.
For reference, this bike is a Giant TCR XL… a big bike. It fits no problem. The bike with a seat mast would be a difficult and maybe impossible fit.
The travel experience with it so far (1 flight, once shipped for itinerary reasons) has been fine. Though the ticket agent in Denver was quite on top of things and right away said “come over here and I’ll take care of your bike”, damn. So no skirting the travel fee there. I suspect at some airports where bicycles are less common you may occasionally be able to sneak through. But the bag is big enough that you may still have a charge. It is surprisingly easy to roll. I was worried that given the soft case it would have a tendency to fold up a bit but there was none of that. I’m sure the cardboard inserts I made helped in that regard.
If considering this case, I’d definitely recommend making the cardboard panels. I feel like the side panels of the bag are just too thin on their own. With good padding and the panels I’m comfortable with the case. In the future I’ll probably make an insert to go on the top of the bag as that part is a bit too sift for my liking.
All in all I’m happy with the case and the cost. I feel it’s a good option if you’re open to a soft case and you don’t want to shell out a ton of cash. In all honesty I don’t feel like the more expensive cases will offer any real additional protection if you take the time to pack the bike carefully.
The Good In Summary:
- Great Price
- Plenty of room
- Well made
- Nice wheel bags
- Rolls up for storage
- Surprisingly easy to roll/move, lots of handles
- Reasonably light
- Easy to pack… for me (Happy to do the zip tie and padding thing)
- Doesn’t scream bike, but savvy agents will know
The Bad In Summary:
- Minimal to no padding on bag panels, I made my own
- MTB focus (not bad really, but their rear triangle bag doesn’t apply to road)
- Packing could be finicky for some (My zip tie and padding approach)
- No included “hub” spacers… I just use some spare hubs
- Big enough that you’re unlikely to avoid bag fees.