Travelling with your bike this summer?
Paul just spent a week in Finale and tested out BikeBag-Hire.com‘s bike bag rental service.
Bike bags are an essential part of travelling abroad with your bike but they’re hardly the ideal thing to own. They take up loads of space in the house, they only get used a couple of times a year and they’re expensive. A decent one like an Evoc Bike Travel Bag can cost you at least £300, which for a once-a-year use can be pretty hard to justify.
This is where BikeBag-Hire.com comes in. For £55 including delivery you can hire a bike bag for your next mountain bike holiday. They’ll supply you with top of the range Evoc bike bag for your holiday and forego the hassle of actually having to own and store one of these things.
Is renting a bike bag worth the money?
The cost of hiring a bike bag with Bikebag-hire.com works out at around one fifth the cost of buying an Evoc bag outright, but even if you figure you’re likely to travel more than five times within the lifespan of the bag, don’t forget, you don’t have to store it either.
If you’re travelling for longer they can be rented for two weeks (£65) or three weeks (£75). The durations take into account a couple of days either side for delivery and collection, so you don’t need to think about hiring the bag for longer than you’re away for, it’s all taken care of.
How does it work?
The online booking process was pretty straightforward. They’ve got a slick and modern looking site and all you have to do is put in your holiday dates, where you’d like the bag delivered to and picked up from, they’ll confirm the dates and arrange payment. Next, they’ll make sure the bag turns up to you on time, and come and collect it from you when you’re back with your bum firmly at your desk.
I chose to get the bag delivered to work and it certainly raised a few eyebrows as it’s a pretty big box that turns up and is far from light. The only slight hassle is that you have to make sure you’re somewhere it can be delivered to, as if you miss the delivery it could have dire consequences for your holiday. If, like me, you cycle to work it’s a little bit of an effort to get the enormous box home – I ended up calling in a favour from a mate to get a lift home!
There was part of me that was dubious. Would the courier deliver in time? Was it going to be collected without any hassle?
I’m pleased to say it all went very smoothly. The bag turned up at my office a couple of days before my trip giving me plenty of time to pack the bike into it and get myself set for departure.
The courier returned a couple of days after I was back armed with a label already printed and picked up the bag from me.
Evoc Travel Bike Bag
A short word about the bags themselves. I’ve used a few different style of bags and I can definitely say that the Evoc Bike Travel Bag is the one to get.
Packing your bike into the Evoc gives you a real feeling of confidence. The bag has instructions printed inside to make life easy and wraps your bike up safe and sound with no moving around or bits rubbing on each other. Your forks and stanctions are wrapped up securely and your bars are kept safely away from your frame. Wheels are stored snuggly in their own sections, with no need for separate wheel bags.
The Evoc is also much more stable to drag around than the others I’ve tried. The wide base and wheels make trudging through the airport a relative breeze. When you’re rolling through the airport comfortably and have faith that your bike is well protected, the extra money will feel insignificant.We’ve also had good experiences with the Chain Reaction Pro bag, but they’re currently out of stock.
There’s nothing worse than arriving at your destination with a knackered bike. Resist the temptation to cheap out and either rent an Evoc one from these guys or if you must have your own one, save up and plump for the Evoc.
What we think:
Bikebag-hire.com made travelling super easy. Online booking was simple and the bag was delivered to my desk and collected again. The Evoc bags are brilliant and gave me huge piece of mind that my bike would turn up and go home undamaged. Value for money is good too – it would take five bike bag rentals to equal the cost of buying my own Evoc bag.
Loved it:
- Great value for money compared to buying a bag
- No need to store a bag between trips
- Quick and easy service with no pre-holiday stress
- Evoc bike bags are the best in the business
Could do better:
- Nothing really, it all worked really nicely!
This review was written by Paul Thomas a UK mountain bike rider and previous owner of a well-known mountain bike holiday company in the Alps. Paul has spent his 20’s and 30’s travelling with his bike and seen the best and worst of bike travel!
