The best bike boxes for triathletes

There are a huge number of solutions available for travelling with a bike, ranging from homemade efforts using the cardboard carton your bike arrives in at the shop, through to some futuristic-looking inflatable offerings.

But ultimately, what we all want is to find that one offering that ticks all the boxes – providing protection, manoeuvrability, a light weight and user-friendliness.

The bike bags and bike boxes reviewed here each represent a different approach to the same problem. Two are hardshell boxes, which should offer the best protection for the contents, but that’s not the whole story.

The manner in which the bike is secured within the carrier plays a role in how well it will travel, as does any padding or reinforcement supplied.

Handles, straps and wheels each play their part in how easy a carrier is to live with, as is storage when not in use.

Now then, let’s look at how these stack up against each other when loaded with a tri-specific bike from Vitus.

• How to pack up your bike for an overseas triathlon

Best bike boxes for triathletes

Scicon Aerocomfort 3.0 Triathlon Bike Bag

Buy now from Sigma Sports (£570)

• £650 / $999

Scicon make a range of bike bags, but the one featured here is the triathlon-specific soft version.

It comes at quite the cost, but you get a lot of great features for the money.

For a start, it’s easier to store at home. But when you are on the move, you can remove the wheels and attach your bike onto the mounting system (it works with both disc brake wheels and callipers), while keeping your integrated tri bars firmly in place. However, if you’re using a road bike with clip-on aerobars you’ll need to take them off first.

Inside, there are more great features in the form of protective pockets and dedicated storage for your accessories, but there are some negatives, too, such as the front-end shifters feeling a little exposed.

Read the Scicon Aerocomfort 3.0 Triathlon Bike Bag review for our full verdict.

Evoc Bike Bag Pro

• £600 / $795

The Evoc has an impressive adjustable frame in the base that will fit most axle configurations.

The removable supports make for easy storage, with the bag packing down to just 20cm deep.

The base is solid, so the drivetrain is protected as it sits well inside the back of the bag.

At 9.9kg, it’s lighter than the two hardshells on test, meaning more flexibility with contents. The wheels fit in outboard compartments, protected from the outside but also shielding the frame from the axles.

Straps within the bag hold the mounting frame to the base of the box and the forks to the front of the bag.

It’s very well padded, but the limited bar mounting points, and the fact that the front axle is at the very front, means more integrated bikes may not fit without some level of manipulation.

Shokbox Classic Bike Case

• £499

This clam-shell style box has a reassuringly solid look due to its sizeable handles, recessed buckles and TSA-approved locks. It also comes with a GPS tracking device built in for use with the LugLoc app.

But inside there are surprisingly few straps and little in the way of padding. At 15.7kg with the wheel bags (which have cutouts for the built-in anti-crush system to fit through) it also eats into the weight allowance.

On the plus side, it’s relatively easy to pick up and move. Four independent casters each have 360° of movement, which makes dragging the box around an amusing prospect at best, and it can seem like it has a mind of its own!

Being top-heavy, with the wheels not very widely spaced, it does mean it falls over a little more easily than is ideal.

Bike Box Alan Triathlon Aero Easyfit

• £622 / $999

Bike Box Alan has been around for a little while now and has a number of products in its range.

We tested the Tri Aero Easyfit case last year and praised it for the ease of packing. Our tester’s only needed to remove the wheels and pedals on his triathlon bike (the new Trek Speed Concept SLR 9) to slip it into the case, but those with larger frame sizes may need to do more tinkering.

The case proved a secure fit for the bike, with a good number of straps and foam to keep it protected.

Wheels underneath make lugging the box around nice and easy, while two grab handles help make it easier to load in and out of things.

Read our full Bike Box Alan Triathlon Aero Easyfit review for more.

How we tested

While we didn’t book ourselves onto multiple flights in order to test each of these bike bags (editorial budgets don’t stretch that far), we did put them through some substantial testing.

That included packing bikes into them as if we were heading off for a race, transporting them on a range of surfaces (including tarmac and rougher ground) and bundling the bike bags (and bikes) in and out of vehicles.

During testing, we were judging each bike bag on the protection if afforded our precious cargo, how easy it was to pack our bikes into the bag/box, how securely the bike fitted inside, how easy it was to transport and, vitally, how well it’d pack away into a garage or loft.