Evoc Road Bike Bag Pro - Travel protection for your bike

If, like me, you prefer to ride your own road bike on trips to iconic riding destinations like the Alps, Mallorca or the Dolomites rather than hiring one, then the thorny issue of how to protect your bike in transit will rear its head.

As road bikes have become more expensive, it has also become more justifiable to spend a not inconsiderable amount of money on safeguarding the carbon frame from potential damage whilst travelling. Evoc offers a number of options for air travel with a bike, but their latest is the Road Bike Bag Pro.

As someone who has used both the ubiquitous original and the newer Aero Easyfit Bike Box Alan products extensively, these will be my benchmark, so comparisons are inevitable and hopefully helpful.

Construction

Perhaps the most important aspect of it, compared with many boxes, is that it folds down to less than half its expanded size, which, whilst still quite bulky, is significantly easier to store than a hard plastic box. The cardboard box that the bag arrived in measured 142 x 38 x 32cm, so a collapsed bag should fit through an attic trapdoor or even under a bed, perhaps.

The basic design is a zipped clamshell, with removable, colour-coded vertical fibreglass struts that support the structure and enough width that the handlebars don’t need to be removed (ideal for modern bikes with internal cabling). The top and bottom sections of the bag are made from tough polycarbonate, giving the bag rigidity and adding impact and crush protection. There are three wheels, the front one of which is removable for transit, and handles dotted about the exterior for manoeuvrability.

Inside the bag is an aluminium and plastic frame (Evoc’s Bike Stand Pro) onto which the wheel-less and pedal-less bike is fastened, which is then secured with straps. The maximum wheelbase which will fit the frame is given as 112cm, which is enough for the vast majority of road bikes, whilst the handlebar section is just under 50cm wide, so might be tricky for flared gravel bars. A couple of horizontal struts add further strength, and there are Velcro patches onto which an adjustable post can be fastened for more lateral crush resistance.

A couple of zipped pockets can be used for pedals or tools, and there are a few internal Velcro straps for securing things. A TSA combination lock secures the double zipper.

As well as the bag, struts, supports and the internal frame, the Road Bike Bag Pro also comes with two basic wheel bags, a lightly padded handlebar protector and an assortment of axle adapters to mount the bike to the frame.

The ride

Building up the bag from scratch took about 30 minutes with occasional glances at the diagrammatic instructions, although it didn’t get off to a good start as the fibreglass struts generously imparted a bunch of irritating micro splinters into my hands during fitting. On the plus side, the colour coding made it simple to get the right length strut in the correct slot.

With all the accoutrements needed to carry a bike, the Evoc bag weighed in at 11.5kg, which is heavier than an original BBA, but 2kg lighter than the more comparable Aero Easyfit box. If you are taking it as part of your standard 23kg luggage allowance with a carrier like British Airways or Emirates, then those 2kg might be important. Less so with airlines like Ryanair and Jet2 with their paid-for 30kg+ sports allowance.

Once built, and the frame’s dropout supports set for my bike’s dimensions, it was undeniably straightforward to get the bike locked in place, with a couple of caveats; although the instructions and website pictures all show a packed bike with saddle in place, there was no way that my 56cm bike with saddle set for me at 186cm, could remain intact. Due to my bike’s frame design, I couldn’t even push my seatpost down inside the seat tube (and nor would I want to, as it would get scratched), so it had to be removed and stored separately inside the bag using a vacant Velcro strap.

This is the same as with both BBA boxes, so no big drama, but it seems a little disingenuous for Evoc to claim that the bag is “Bike Fitting Proof - the bike can be packed without having to remove or readjust the cockpit or saddle”, when this is only true for smaller bikes and riders.

I’d also suggest that it would be better to use padded wheel bags than the basic ones supplied, as they aren’t secured within the bag and might benefit from greater protection.

It was a little bit fiddly to set the spacing of the plastic frame mounts and axle adaptors on my own - definitely a job where an extra pair of hands would be beneficial - but once set, I marked the correct position on the aluminium bars with a Sharpie pen so it would be a lot simpler in the future. This would also be very handy if the bag were to be used for different bikes.

To actually put the bike frame and mount in the bag, you need to partially remove all five vertical struts on one side to allow the bag to fall open fully. I found these struts awkward to wrestle back into place once the bag was packed. The bike and frame can then be secured in place using a couple of straps that are attached to the inside of the bag.

Just like the BBA Easyfit Aero, the inevitable penalty for not having to remove your handlebars is a bulky and wide box. Whilst many mid to large-sized estate cars might fit one box OK with the seats down, to carry two boxes, your car would need to be very large indeed, with lots of vertical space, or van-shaped.

Maybe I’m too used to BBA boxes, but I found that the handles on the Road Bike Bag Pro were never quite where I wanted them to be, whether that was when loading it into my car or slaloming it through the departures hall. I usually push our two BBA boxes, but the Evoc bag definitely handles better if pulled.

However, one very impressive element was the smoothness of the wheels. Not only did the large wheels deal better with car park tarmac, but the bearings were so good that the bag seemed to have a mind of its own at times. Left alone during check-in for a moment, and it made a bid for departures all on its own, for instance - even the slightest incline and it was off! Pushing/pulling it along was definitely far easier than the BBA with its tiny wheels.

Value and conclusion

Ultimately, the Evoc Road Bike Bag Pro did its job, since my bike survived the baggage handlers unscathed.

In many respects, it is a more polished and slick-looking product than the BBA offerings, with their slightly Heath Robinson, man-in-a-shed design, and it does a fantastic job of combining the opposing requirements of protection and storability.

If you have an expensive road bike that you like to travel with but have limited storage space at home, then the Evoc bag is an excellent option. However, I do have some misgivings about the longevity (and field repairability) of things like the zip and the TSA combination lock. Equally, the lightweight aluminium frame and stand didn’t feel as sturdy as perhaps I would have liked, and one of the plastic rivets between the soft shell and the base has already come loose.

Whether it is good value or not is a matter of perspective. £950 to protect a £2,000 bike for one holiday is poor value, but if you take multiple trips a year with a £10,000 bike, then you might well consider it a fair investment. The alternatives aren’t cheap either, though - the Aero Easyfit is £650, and even the basic, handlebars-off Bike Box Alan is £440.

As a bag that can be compressed for storage, yet still provides decent protection whilst travelling, the Road Bike Bag Pro is very good. However, my concerns over the vulnerability of some aspects of the bag, such as the zip, the front wheel and the frame, combined with the high £950 asking price, mean that I feel that 4.5 stars is appropriate after a couple of trips with it. If it, and my bike, survive lots more trips, then perhaps I might feel like I short-changed it a bit.