I am literally packing up my POS Scicon Aerotech 3.0, for a trip in which I leave tomorrow.
Dropping f bombs as pieces are slowly breaking…I hate this bag, but am a customer as my front end/cockpit is crazy a$$ hard to remove.
When I write Scicon with pics of the breaking case, they laugh and are not too helpful (:
Anywhoo, got me to thinking- why isn’t there a combo bike bag that is both hard and soft case (where you don’t have to take off the aero extensions)… and is lighter than the Bike Box Alan?
So, after a few beers and some googling, I found the below.
No, but the design puts the extensions at risk. There are posts on ST about the damage that can occur. And I know some people doing IM Malaysia this weekend using this case. One of their bikes had the Di2 shifter ripped right off the right aero extension bar. Lots of people have had good experiences, but the anecdotal evidence on this case points to it being the worst possible choice if you are going to travel with it a lot.
Edit- duh, I’m trashing the SciCon and you are looking at the EVOC. Sorry. What’s the weight of that thing? I would want to make sure that bike + case < 50 lbs.
Moxie Multisport recent posted pictures of a customer purchasing a bike and rolling out in this new case… they made some positive comment about it… maybe give them a call and see what they think of it. $925 is a lot of cheddar
Isn’t every airline adopting the guideline that handlebars have to be removed and laid flat against the bike? Seems like an expensive box if they’ll turn you away
The “handle bars removed, turned sideways and affixed securely to bicycle†is in the fine print of any airline’s bike packing guidelines that I have ever read. No one checks, but if you ever had a damage claim, and a zealous employee was able to prove you had not complied, they wouldn’t owe you much. I hate taking my cockpit apart to put it in my BikeND, but I cringe more when I see the lack of protection in a SciCon bag.
I can’t speak to that hard/soft combo bag, But I have several successful trips with the EVOC Pro Bag, no issues for the bike or wheels (I recommend that if you buy the base model, you spend the money to get the internal frame to attach your bike too, rather than just the block for the chainstays and the pocket for the fork… it adds sginificant shape and rigidity to the bag). That said, mainly travelling for DL races, I can’t comment on the extensions issue…
I can’t speak to the EVOC tri bag, but fwiw I have the Scicon Aerocomfort 3.0 and while it’s very easy to pack and handy to bring around, I’ll be upgrading to the Bike Box Alan aero as my seat stay got damaged on my flight back from IM Switzerland and had to get it repaired and paint done which meant I couldn’t ride my bike for a month.
I was probably just unlucky and there’s many who’ve had no issues, but to ease my mind I’m going with a hard case going forward.
