Test 2016: Panniers for road bike transport - Road bike transport bags put to the test

When you fly with your bike on holiday or to a training camp, you are often worried that something could happen to your valuable cargo. The bike is fragile and the loading staff usually don't wear kid gloves in the stressful everyday life at the airport. What's more, the aircraft cabin is so cramped that suitcases and bags can jostle next to and on top of each other and become a destructive burden, especially if the bike is at the bottom. Experience shows that when packed in a hard shell case, not much can actually happen to the bike. The rigid shell can withstand the pressure of even high pannier towers and the rear derailleur, handlebars, fork or seat post remain undamaged. Even if the bike falls off the conveyor belt or luggage trolley onto the concrete track, the case protects the bike like a roll cage protects the driver in a rally car. Although the case is then often demolished, if the much more valuable racer remains intact, it has fully fulfilled its purpose.

The doubts as to whether a flexible pannier can also offer this protection are initially justified. After all, the soft cover can give way and a hard blow can penetrate the racer unchecked and damage it. That sounds logical. At first glance, even a standard bike box, in which mail order companies send thousands of valuable bikes, seems more trustworthy - and much cheaper to boot.

The test results of these panniers can be found below as a PDF download:

- B & W Bike Guard Curv (comparison case in test)
- B & W bike bag
- BIKND Jetpack
- Evoc Bike Travel Bag Pro
- Scicon Aerocomfort 2.0
- Scott Premium Bike Transport Bag
- Thule RoundTrip Pro (TOUR test winner)

Crumple zones

Ultimately, however, it's all about how well the outer shell protects so that as little or ideally nothing of the destructive impact energy reaches the sensitive cargo, the racing bike. With a hard case, the hard shell usually bends elastically until the load becomes too great and it breaks. A flexible bag cannot break, but also does not absorb as much impact energy as a suitcase. The result: the supposedly cheap bag remains intact and the expensive racer is scrap. To avoid this, manufacturers equip their bags with removable struts or foldable side walls in the sensitive impact zones to reinforce the flexible outer shell. And it works. Our test result: Ideally, a bag equipped in this way protects the racer just as well as a suitcase - with the advantage that the bag can be stowed away without struts when you don't need it.

Dimensional check

It is important to note that modern aero racers with integrated seat posts and stem/handlebar units above a certain size can be quite unruly travelling companions that no longer fit into many transport cases - whether suitcases or bags - because seat posts and/or handlebars cannot be removed or can only be removed with considerable effort. The reference to the maximum packable frame size of 65 centimetres is only of limited help. However, manufacturers such as B&W or Scicon also offer special bags and cases for such cases, but these are considerably larger and heavier.

Apart from the protective function, you want to stow the bike quickly and easily in a bag or case, and the whole package should be easy to manoeuvre and transport. Wheel covers and fixable pockets for small parts such as pedals, quick-release skewers or rear derailleur should therefore be part of the standard equipment of a pannier - as should firm foam padding as a base for the frame, fork or rear triangle and spacers for the dropouts. Velcro straps and straps secure the racer so that it cannot slip in the bag. Smooth and quiet-running castors, two of which should be fixed and two of which should be steerable, speed up journeys in airports or large hotel complexes. And with a few carrying straps or handles, it is easier to hoist the trundle onto the luggage conveyor belt or into the car.

For our comparison, we invited the current top bags from B&W, Biknd, Evoc, Scicon, Scott and Thule. We assessed protection, storage space, handling, features, workmanship and service. The Bike Guard Curv from market leader B&W serves as the bike case reference. The cheapest bag from B&W costs 269 euros, while Scicon and Thule each cost around 600 euros - more than twice as much. For the case you even have to fork out a whopping
800 euros for the case.

The German brand Evoc can be described as a pioneer among bag manufacturers. The Munich-based company has refined its concept over the years and bundled its expertise into the Bike Travel Bag Pro. The standard fork padding, the bracket for the bottom bracket or lightweight fibreglass struts in the integrated wheel compartments are innovative details that the competition is now copying. B&W and Thule give the bike a firm, secure stand in their bags as standard thanks to removable mounting frames that can be adapted to the wheelbase and into which the bike is mounted using quick-release clamps. This is an optional accessory from Evoc.

The 20-centimetre-high floor pans at B&W and Thule are relatively new. They protect the bike better at the bottom and give the panniers better stability. Biknd and Scicon integrate fixed frames that are bolted to the underbody and can also be adjusted to different wheelbases. In the Scott bag, on the other hand, only the fork is secured with a well-padded bag, while the large chainring and the rear triangle rest directly on the floor.

In a direct comparison, B&W, Scicon and Scott offer the largest storage space, carrying standard racers with removable seatposts up to frame size 65, while the other bags are already cramped from a frame height of 61 centimetres. Evoc and Thule excel in terms of handling, both bags are quick to load, easy to manoeuvre and transport. The Scicon bag is also quick to load, as you don't have to remove the road bike handlebars and the mounting frame is easy to reach with the bag halves open at the sides. In contrast, the Scott bag is an unruly transporter in which the bike can only be secured properly with a lot of effort.

In terms of features, the bags from Biknd, Evoc, Scicon and Thule leave little to be desired. Biknd and Thule offer real plus points with an integrated "airbag" or mounting stand: Biknd's integrated air cushions can be inflated to provide effective protection against pressure and impacts. With Thule, the carrier frame can be extended to form a fully-fledged assembly stand, the three struts of which disappear into the side walls of the bag and give it additional rigidity. It is commendable that defective rollers can be reordered and replaced by the customer on most models; the Biknd bag, which is otherwise very well designed, is the outlier here due to its riveted attachment and requires more effort to replace the rollers. All bags are well made.

Young Swede

Thule is still a relatively young brand among suppliers of panniers and bike bags, but has managed to roll out a remarkable product on the market in a short space of time. The RoundTrip Pro is very well equipped, has a small pack size and an innovative design. In terms of protection, it comes closest to the B&W hard-shell case of all the bags; only in the event of pressure or an impact from above does this case offer slightly more security than our bag test winner. Biknd and Scicon also offer a great package - with slight compromises in service due to non-replaceable wheels (Biknd) and somewhat top-heavy rolling behaviour (Scicon). Anyone opting for the cheapest transporter in the test - the bag from B&W - should take the money saved to the DIY store to stock up on plenty of bubble wrap, polystyrene and pipe insulation to make the bag even more secure.

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