The best bike boxes for triathletes

The best bike boxes make it easy to transport your pride and joy abroad while giving you peace of mind that it shouldn’t get damaged in transit.

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.

Costing in the region of £600 / $600, the best bike bags for triathlon require significant investment. But given the price of the best triathlon bikes, you don’t want to scrimp on what you transport it in.

To stop you wasting money on a dud, we’ve put an array of triathlon bike boxes through their paces, so you can choose the best one for you.

After reading our reviews, continue scrolling to our buyer’s guide to bike boxes.

• 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 (£513)

• £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

Buy now from Sigma Sports (£735)

• £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.

Buyer’s guide to bike boxes: what to look for in a triathlon bike box

The best bike boxes will provide protection, manoeuvrability, a light weight and user-friendliness. Consider the following factors when making your selection.

Hardshell or soft case

Hardshell boxes should offer the best protection for the contents, but that’s not the whole story. A well-packed softshell bike bag can be just as safe and more practical in some cases.

Internal padding

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.

Look for bike bags with straps to secure components like wheels. The last thing you want is for the rims of your best triathlon wheels to bash against each other.

You’ll also want padding to cover sharp drivetrain parts like cassettes and chainring teeth.

If you remove your rear deraileur to fly, you’ll need something to wrap this in and a means to secure it in the box.

Packing

If you’re travelling with a triathlon bike, you’ll probably prefer a bike box you can pack without entirely dismantling your integrated tri bars.

This way, packing and unpacking your bike is less stressful. Unless you’re mechanically skillful, this feature is worth paying for.

Moreover, an ‘easy-fit’ bike box will make travelling with your road bike simpler, especially if it features an integrated, one-piece cockpits, as many of the best road bikes for triathlon do.

Manoeuvrability

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

This is where hardshell bike boxes can fall down compared to lighter softshell cases and bags. These take up less room and are far easier to store at home.