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Dakine Bike Bag
March 24, 2009
Getting on an airplane with your bicycle is not the nicest of tasks. It can be downright stressful. Have you ever tried carrying a cardboard bike box through an airport while still carrying your gear bag? Not fun. The Dakine Bike Bag solves most of the issues I see with cardboard bike boxes and even hard shell cases.
The first thing I noticed is that this bag is huge, there are not many bikes that could not fit in here. Often the problem with a bag like this being big, is that it is impossible to move around. Not so with the Dakine Bike Bag. There are a total of 6 hand straps for loading in and out of vehicles and general lugging around. And on top of that it has a retractable handle for easy pulling on sealed bearing wheels.
The front of the bag features a heavy duty zipper that goes around three of the four sides, making for easy access into the bag. Dakine has thought out everything. Internally there are two medium sized zip pockects. I used them for my pedals and tools and still had room to spare. There is also a heavy duty nylon covered foam pad that I used to seperate the wheels from the frame.
Depending on the bike being put into this bag, it can be as simple as removing the wheels, turning the handle bars, and taking the pedals off. It took a little more work to get my touring bike in. I had both front and rear racks and fenders, but when all was said and done I still had room for a set of pannier bags. Pretty nice to be able to hold all the gear in one bag
Now depending on which airline you run with this bag may get you paying some oversize fees. It is not overly heavy at 22lbs, but it is fairly large. At 46 x 10 x 30" it will be over sized, so count on a little extra money going to the airline. I have found that arriving early and being nice can go a lot further than you think, possibly helping those fees go away.
Dakine has made a bike bag, that although is filled with heavy padding on all side and is structurally reinforced at the corners, there is still the possibility of an overzealous baggage handler tossing this thing around and possible damaging your bike. I have found that the pros far out way the cons on this one though. The handles, ease of trasport, and size all do it for me. This makes me want to travel more with my bike.
Price: $389.95 USD
Details: A soft sided case for travelling with your bike
Pros: Easy to transport, lots of handles, great wheels
Cons: Soft sided, and possibly prone to outside forces
Rating: 4.25 out of 5 stars
Dakine
Reviewed by: Ryan