Not too long ago Dakine sent us their updated and newly released travel bag bike. As well thought out bike bags are few and far between, Dakine’s latest release caught our eye. Worth noting, Dakine has made a bike bag in the past, we never had the chance to try one, but the orientation of the bag was with the bike laying flat as it’s rolled around, rather then upright like the new model. The new bike travel bag rolls in at $400 retail.
Details
- Limited Lifetime Warranty
- Fits one Downhill, Trail, Fat, 29’er, or Road bike
- Smooth rolling, replaceable urethane wheels
- 360° Padded bike protection with five internal padded sleeves
- Rolls up for compact storage (55″x 14.5 x 18) (140cm x 37 x 46)
- Five upper grab handles
- Lockable YKK #10 main zipper
- Removable Tool Roll for tool and pedals
- Bag Size: 55 x 13 x 34″ [ 140 x 33 x 86cm ]
- Bag Weight: 17.75 lbs [ 8 kg ]
First Impressions
Upon receiving the roller bag, we noticed the small size of the cardboard box, and we were curious. The bag when empty is actually half the size of other travel bags, boasting the handy feature of folding and buckling the bag closed. We found this useful for storage, both at home, and in hotel rooms, etc. The materials seemed durable, and the construction sturdy.
In Travel
The bag was quite easy to pack. The various straps are color coded, which made things go smoothly for us. Should you get hung up, a stitched on, handy step-by-step guide is on the inside panel. I took us around 30 minutes from fully built bike, to zipped up and ready to go in the bag. Based on the bike, and speed of the user, this time could be both a bit shorter, or longer depending.
The various protection systems in place include bags for both front and rear wheels, both of which feature a foam ring, serving as a disc/hub protector. We typically take off our discs, but in the name of testing, we left them on, and arrived at our destination, and back home again with no issues.
A top tube protector velcro’s around the front of your bike. Once in place, your handlebars slide into a sleeve which secures them to the bike. We would like to see a good way to protect the brake lever area, as especially with carbon levers, we could see a possible problem if the bag gets tossed around. It’s best to put bleed blocks in your calipers when you’re on the go, and you could wrap the levers in bubble wrap as an extra precaution.
The small derailleur bag simply provides some padding to it getting bumped, it worked well with our DH cage, but we could see it being a tight fit for a large 12 speed Eagle cage.
A nice touch was the included tool wrap. The small bag is well equipped to hold pedals, and fit all the tools you’d typically take on a riding trip. The tool wrap is stored in a pocket in the fork protection sleeve.
The wheels on the bag certainly worked, but the bag did get wobbly if the surface wasn’t completely smooth. Larger wheels, spaced a bit further apart would likely increase stability.
On the opposite end of the wheels lays the handle, it is a foam tube, and worked well for towing the bag along. For inching the bag along while standing in lines, we’d like to see an additional handle in the same orientation, but at the top of the bag.
Overall
The Dakine Bike Roller Bag, was a welcome addition to our most recent riding trip, and far outperforms even the most highly customized cardboard box setups. With a similar, possibly lower price point to competitors’ bags. It features good construction, well thought out protection, and great storage. Last, but not least, it carries Dakine’s renowned lifetime warranty. Overall, we’d highly recommend giving the new Dakine Roller bag a try.
