Bike Bag - 120cm x 90cm ?

[scraynes]

Evening all,

I'm looking into getting a bike bag for my bike.

I note that a lot of trains restrict your bike bag dimensions to 120x90 cm, but almost all the ones I've come across are larger than that.

I'd like a soft padded bag as it can be used in the car and of aircraft swell and on the trains.

Just wondering if any off you have any recommendations?

Many thanks in advance,

Spencer

 

[TheDoctor]

Hi and

The problem with a padded bag is that they roll up to the size of a small baby elephant. They're a major pain if you're aiming to cycle away from an airport.
An unpadded one goes down to a still not insubstantial size, but will at least fit in a pannier.
Don't get too hung up on the 120 by 90 cm thing - like you say, most bags are a little bigger, and it's only Eurostar and TGVs who you'll want to take a bagged bike on anyhow. My one (which Ribble don't seem to do anymore) is 130 by 100 IIRC and got on fine. All Eurostar are worried about is if it'll go through the X-ray scanners and fit on a luggage rack.

 

[mcr]

What you want is a Tardis. I see it's been tarted up a bit since I got mine, but otherwise looks similar. You do have to do a fair amount of bike-dismantling to get it in (especially if you have a mudguards and rack), but it fitted on Eurostar etc when I last used it. It's not the most comfortable of things to lug around, though. But on the plus size, it folds down to about A4 size (plus 4 inches thick?) so can easily be stowed on the bike when not in use (strapped to the rack, or in my case in a spare pannier).

 

[Alun]

A friend and I used these bags to take a couple of bikes on the train to Grenoble a couple of months ago:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B004X4P7...de=asn&creative=22206&creativeASIN=B004X4P7XO
They do roll up quite small, 15cm x 45cm (ish)
No probs on Eurostar as they went in the luggage van, just asked a guard/ train manager.
The bag will take a bike bigger than 120x90, but the luggage rack on the TGV is 120x90 exactly so you'll struggle if yours in any bigger.
There was a larger rack elsewhere on the TGV upstairs, if you can find it !
Don't try to carry a bike any distance in a bag, it gets very heavy, very quickly, especially if you have other luggage as well, it was a nightmare, please be warned!
It's not a padded bag, I wouldn't take it on an aircraft.

 

[TheDoctor]

Alun ain't wrong about the weight thing. My 9 kg carbon bike weighed about 15 tonnes by the time I'd carried it (in a bag) from Kings Crustacean to St Pancreas.
The next time I took a bike on Eurostar it was a Brommie.

 

[Aushiker]

What you want is a Tardis. I see it's been tarted up a bit since I got mine, but otherwise looks similar.

Another vote for the Tardis and Ground Effect a great little business to deal with. In my experience their customer service has been exemplary.

Regrads
Anderw

 

[scraynes]

Thanks for the replies so far.

I should have mentioned more in my first post.

I'm not too worried about the size of the bag when not in use - I don't pan to use it in a situation where I need to carry it on the bike. When I'm away touring I use the CTC plastic bag which is great for that sort of thing.

This is more for my Road bike which is full carbon, hence needs protecting. I'm thinking of using the train just to get to a base where I'll stay for a while, but when I'm at home the bag can be used to move the bike around in the boot of the car.

I can see that they get quite weighty - but most of the bags I've seen so far have a built in pair of wheels on the base which would help quite a bit, it's just that they are bigger than 120cm - which is a pain for TGV and the back of my car which has a boot that is 121cm across!!

The smallest I've seen so far is the CRC which I've asked about and they told me that it measures 126 x 75 and given that the base is hard it would squash up.

Once again thanks for the suggestions so far - I like the look of the Tardis..but lets see if anyone else knows of one with more protection.

Spencer