What To Look For In A Bike Transport Bag

Question: I'm planning a bike trip and need to get a bike case for airline transportation for a road bike. There seem to be so many choices. Can you recommend a good soft case?
Thanks!

Hi Lorna,
Are you going somewhere nice, some good hills or coastal rides?

First before I go into what to look for in a soft bag you should find out what dimensions are acceptable to the airline, as they can be a bit funny about the size of box you can put on a plane.

big bag

What to look for in a soft bike bag? Padding that's the main thing, you want as much as you can get, protecting your bike is what its all about.

You need to look for a bag with separate wheel pockets on either side of the inside of the bag, these protect the wheels, but to larger degree they protect the frame as it is in between the padded wheels, if you are unlucky enough to have something damaged if it is your wheels you can borrow some but if your frame is damaged, well we don't want to think about that one.


Hard corners and edges are also a must to protect everything also a full zip that goes all the way round the bag (at least top and sides) makes loading it easier, wheels on one corner are a good idea for when you cant find a airport trolley.

Smaller inside pockets are always helpful for little things like tools and other bits like your quick release skewers.

lots of padding

Look at the stitching, especially where the carrying strap goes, check out that they are stitched securely to the body of the bag, you don't want them coming off.

The best thing to remember is to get as much of your clothes in and around your frame this protects your bike and it is less for you to carry in your bag. Tell us about your trip when you come back.

padded wheel pouches