Travel Tested - the Dakine Bike Bag

[cam@nsmb.com]

Max Nodwell stuffs his bike into Dakine's travel case and learns a thing or two.

Check it out. Your bike in a suitcase...

Please share some of your tips on travelling with your bike with us here as well. It can be a pain - and it's always great if you can fool the airlines into letting your bike ride free.

[the Master Plan Dan]

Great points!

Having used one on several occasions, they are great to have. Keeps everything safe and in its place.

Dan

[Sparkplug]

Travel with British Airways when you can... if you use a dedicated bike bag (we used the Dakine bags), BA allows you to check the bag as one of your allowed pieces of luggage WITH NO EXTRA CHARGE!! Better than the 100 bucks - each way- that American Airlines charges.

[gotham]

Does Air Canada/WestJet charge extra for this bag?

[ESHER SHORE]

I have a Da Kine bike bag sitting behind me as I type...its frickin huge!

my cats currently live on top of it, they find the soft top very comfy to sleep on

inside is perhaps 6 folding tires, 5 non folding tires, handlebars, bmx parts, foam packing, body armour, spare parts, etc. its a collossus and will take anything

I even got both my BMX and Freeride in there last year to check the sizing, but could not lift it off the ground

hell I even got my buddy inside it and wheeled him round the shop for kicks


the only criticisms are the high weight of the bag, and the weak spot the article author also highlighted

depending on your bike you may be forced to remove parts of your bike and put into your regular hold or hang luggage as many airlines will now not lift over 32kg because of manual handling regulations (health & safety - to avoid lawsuits from airline staff with injured backs)

with my Chaparral i had to remove the DHX coil shock, syncros pedals, disc brake rotors, seat and post and all my armour to get the Da Kine bag and what was left of my bike down to 31.9kg

I heard the new version has been substantially lightened, and even with the version i have there was opportunity to "unbolt" various internal framework components, surplus grab handles and whatnot which could have shaved a KG or 2

the biggest bonuses were the ease of moving it around with the bike in there, the wheels are excellent as i walked about 2 miles through London pulling it behind me, and had no problems in the airport or at the other end in Vancouver / Whistler

[the Master Plan Dan]

Originally Posted by gotham

Does Air Canada/WestJet charge extra for this bag?

They never before the price of gas went throught the roof... when we flew to Alaska... they made us pay.

Dan

[King of Fasia]

Originally Posted by gotham

Does Air Canada/WestJet charge extra for this bag?

I flew to Peru through Air Canada and LAN Peru and I never got charged for either way. This bag works very well. I saw 9 different ways to pack a bike on that trip and the Dakine bike bag definitely was the best solution. Cardboard boxes get crushed, and the fellow who had the hard bag had to disassemble his bike completely to fit in the bag. I fit my 08 Shore in the bag in with no problem, I even got to leave the fork installed on the frame. The bag was a little tough to close with two wheels (rotors still on) and the 150mm rear end. I had to remove the derailleur and loosen the handlebars from the stem, but everything fit and was well protected during two transfers and three flights. As far as durability, this was the second trip that the bag had been on and it has held up very well. My friend took it to Europe over the summer and the wear and tear on the bag is minimal (a certain amount of damage is to be expected on flights). When considering price, the extra money spent was well worth it when I saw a fellow travelers soft bag from Chain Reaction Cycles. It didn't even last the trip. If you travel alot (or even a little), and you want to keep your bike in good shape so you can enjoy it when you get to your destination, the Dakine bag is hard to beat.

[esor]

I was tempted to buy one and haul my bike to Japan a couple years ago, but for the $400 plus airlines fees both ways I just bought a cruiser BMX over there instead and sold it before I left.

speaking of traveling with bikes... if you got LOTS of bills to spend and/or your cool with being a hipster (I am) check out freeman's take down fixie frame, its fits in a suitcase so small you don't have to pay airline fees and its not a goofy looking folding bike

[gregzore]

I will just second all the good comments about this bag and add that the wheels are tough! I have dragged this beast far too far (4 km one time) over gravel bicycle paths and down cobblestone streets, and it just rolls. I strapped the handle to the back of my commuter bike's rack and towed it to the train station once. It gets a little heavy dragging up hills, but it is hard to beat the shear amount of stuff that can be packed in this mofo.

The first time I flew with it, when I moved to Europe, I packed my bike, plus all of my gear, full-face helmet, armor, tools, clothes, ski boots even, in the bag. It weighed something like 50 kg. The lady at check in just looked at me and said "you sure you got a bike in there". "It's a downhill bike.." Then she said that if it turns out there wasn't a bike, to would be $400 to take it. With the bike in there, it was $100.

So, now I'm thinking about packing a children's bike in there and loading it to the brim!

[Mitch1616]

The only down side to it is the amount of strange looks you get rolling through the airport.

I used the bag while I was on my European Qashqai adventures. It easily the most useful thing I took aside from my bike.

Packing was simple, it is huge didn't have to remove any thing from my bike except the pedals and wheels. I was the only thing I wheeled around, its weighed over 90 lbs though, I had to remove items and place them in a duffel bag to make the 50 kg weight limits. As for charges I only got charged twice. I flew KLM to Europe and Was charged $150 for it, i think It had something to do with me being in Vancouver and the check-in clerk knew what it was, so my "it's art" excuss didn't fly. I flew into spain in Air Iberia and out on it as well, the down side is that my say was on the day the new baggage rules came in to play. So in Madrid leaving to Munich, it was only 25 euros. Pedro payed over 150 euro`s for his cardboard bike box.

British Air lines does not charge you for your bike as said above, which is awesome and more airlines should follow suite; they allow 50lbs of golf clubs why not 50lbs of bike?
I knew I would probably have to pay to fly home on KLM and was not looking forward to it, As is would be 150 POUNDS, KLM's policy is 150 of the currency of the country you are in. I rolled up to the Check in desk and the guy there was like "That you bike?" "Yup" I answered as I reached for my wallet. Out of know were he said "Cam Zinc Missed his plane, I think he is on yours, I'll just miss mark this for you and does your little duffle bag fit in here?" He had me put it all in the bag and it weighed a tonne, Nothing a few "Extra Heavy" stickers wouldn't fix. Turns out he came out to watch the London event.

Originally Posted by gregzore

I will just second all the good comments about this bag and add that the wheels are tough! I have dragged this beast far too far (4 km one time) over gravel bicycle paths and down cobblestone streets, and it just rolls. I strapped the handle to the back of my commuter bike's rack and towed it to the train station once. It gets a little heavy dragging up hills, but it is hard to beat the shear amount of stuff that can be packed in this mofo.

The bag rolls amazing and I'm sure I had it over it weight limit. I huffed it a ling ways through Milan with Andrew Taylor and Pedro Marandez, I think both were jelious since they had hockey bags with their bikes in them. Which is another good point, If you traveling with with in North America with your bike, Put it in a hockey bag, say your a player, that you are taking your gear with you and it goes on free as your luggage. My reasoning I came up is that the airlines do not want to lose the NHL`s business.

[zionrider]

I've been using this bag since the first year they came out. As a bike guide I've traveled the world with this bag. It has more then served it's purpose. I've now got two of them. I've managed through airports with both bags. My only issue is the warrenty at DAKINE. On one of my bags the retractable handle bend and broke off. I contacted DAKINE a number of times in Canada, Europe, and DAKINE's mothership. Not once did I get a reply. Kinda of a bummer. I have always thought DAKINE was behind their products. If anyone can help me I'd be stoked. This product is worth it's weight (which is kinda heavy) in gold. It is a pleasure to travel with.

[XXX_er]

Originally Posted by Sparkplug

Travel with British Airways when you can... if you use a dedicated bike bag (we used the Dakine bags), BA allows you to check the bag as one of your allowed pieces of luggage WITH NO EXTRA CHARGE!! Better than the 100 bucks - each way- that American Airlines charges.

that is 100% correct BUT the cheap BA subsidary airlines were NOT free...they will charge you.BUT we got out of it,we flew Gatwick to toulouse and they tried to charge us but the highly organised GF had a duo tang with printouts of all our tickets/reservations/mapquest to hotels/plasticized flipcharts of our tour route ect which she pulled out and showed them where BA allows bikes (she was showing them the printout from the BA website not the discount airline ) ,they got on the phone and eventualy let the bikes go free saving a bunch of$

thats a good tip ,printout everything to do with your trip in case you need to challenge a ticket agent

make sure the bike is clean & the tires are deflated cuz they can hassle you on either point...tires exploding (bogus) and bringing agriculturaly dangerous material (dirt) into a country

air transat is a relatively cheap ,established and respected aircharter and they do not charge for bikes


they all primt thier bikes charges on their websites ,do your homework and it can change the net price of getting to your destination ... a slightly cheaper ticket on a discount airline that charges for bikes might even be more expensive not to mention they could go belly up