My Two Wheel Life

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The Thule Roudtrip Transition

Sarah’s Pinarello and my BMC packed for the trip

Since Sarah and I got married we have been spending our Christmas’s in Australia. We spend a few weeks down there each Christmas so I don’t go bat shit crazy after a few daysI have been taking my bike over to ride while I’m their the last few years. Sarah got me a soft shell bike bag years ago but with two little boys now I have to bring 4 bikes. This was an opportunity for Sarah and I to up our bike transportation game.

 

I looked into other brands but after doing research into other bags like my old one Sarah and I had agree to go with the Thule Roundtrip Transition The Soft bag that I own definitely serves its purpose but I have had multiple things happen to my bikes in transit. A bent derailure, bent rotor and a scratched frame. This is something that is hard to swallow when the bike is worth thousands of dollars. Also when using other this bag it’s hard to assemble your bike with out a stand, so it becomes a balancing act when putting your bike together and carrying your bike though the airport on your shoulder is no easy task that’s for sure.

With the Thule Roundtrip Transition you have a stand integrated to the case that comes out in one pull of a strap. You use this stand to disassemble your bike before your putting it in the box and once you get to your destination you pull the same strap to take it back out of the travel box. All you need to take off your bike is your seat post, bars, and wheels which go into some nice wheel bags that come with the travel box. Your bike is mounted to the box plate by the front axle and a ratchet strap that goes around the bottom bracket. I took extra precaution and used bubble wrap in between my bars and frame so nothing can get scratched when the bikes in transit .The hard shell case is one of of the best parts of the box because you can be assured nothing will damage your bike if a heavy bag gets thrown on top of it. We have all seen how airport staff treats bags at times so it’s important to protect a very expensive bicycle. As you can see by my time lapse video it only takes a few minutes to take your bike down and pack it away so you can get on to your next adventure.

 With the stand it’s easy to tune your bike once you arrive at your destination 

One thing I wanted to point out is, be careful with weight. Because of the bike boxes size it weighs a little more then others bags/boxes so even though you have a abundance of space around your bike don’t over pack the bag with gear or your airline will gouge you with fees. I recommend just putting very lite soft goods in with your bike but keeping helmets, shoes and tools in another bag to keep the weight down.  When it comes to getting the box around the airport don’t stress the handle and weight distribution is perfect. Another tip is it get an extra front wheel skewer to leave in the mount so you don’t have to take yours out of your wheel when picking up the bike. Overall I could not be any happier with my Thule Roundtrip Transition I’ve used it with my 160mm trail bike and road bike by just a simple change in fork adapters on the bike stand.

 

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The wheel bags are a nice feature