- If, like many of us, you are surely
heading off on your summer holidays or vacation,
perhaps to warmer climes, or just somewhere
with climes, you're probably going
to want to take your bike with you.
However, few things bring more dread
to your holiday-going cyclists
than travelling with your beloved bike.
You first have to pack it, and then you've gotta
lug it to the airport, and then you have to
lug it around the airport, and finally,
you have to surrender your beloved
bike to those baggage handlers.
Quite frankly, it's enough to give you nightmares.
However, that is where this week's unboxing comes into play.
Well, less of an unboxing on this
occasion as a boxing, really.
This is the Topeak Pakgo X bike box,
and we've got one to give away.
This is Topeak's first foray into the world of bike boxes,
and we think they are onto a winner.
Now, one of the neatest features
of the Pakgo X is this little frame inside.
You mount your frame onto this frame,
and then this mounts inside the box.
It's a really easy way of packing your bike.
As you can see, it's also removable.
So if you need to work on your bike whilst you're away,
you can kinda use it as a mini-work stand.
Really, though, in essence and in general,
it's just a much easier to disassemble
and assemble your bike at either end of your trip.
All you do is pop your wheels off, pop your pedals off,
and then put your frame onto this frame.
(calm electronic music)
This internal frame has mounts to accommodate standard
rim-brake, quick-release bikes, as we've got here today,
but also has a 12 by 100 millimetre through axle,
which is about as close as you can get
to a standard when it comes to road bike disc brake hubs.
It also comes with, wait for it, get this:
a dummy hub forward slash chain keeper.
Now Cy is going to be pretty excited about this.
I am over-the-moon excited, because I, as you know,
have got a slight fetish when it comes to chain keepers.
And what this does is keep tension on your chain
so it doesn't flap about in transit and chip your nice bike.
This is, again, for your standard quick-release bike.
If you are running disc brakes and through axles,
you just use this, and then put
the through axle through the frame.
Topeak also provide inside the box this kind of foam pipe
insulation type stuff to protect your frame.
You could, of course, go down to your local DIY store
and buy this fairly easily, but it's a nice touch
that they include it, and not something
that we've seen with other bike boxes.
You cut this up to size for your own personal frame
and fork tubes, but we're gonna be leaving this today,
because this is the box that we are going
to be giving away to one lucky winner.
Also included inside the box is this, which is
a neat little drivetrain protector.
Protector? Protector.
This one, again, just keeps your chain
neatly in place and prevents it from rattling
around whilst it's on the aeroplane.
Just as with the vast majority of bike boxes,
you will need to remove your stem
and your handlebars from the fork steerer tube.
But unlike most bike boxes, Topeak have included this
headset spacer, which means that you can keep
your forks tight and your headset tight
and stop them from rattling about.
Again, you could do without this,
but it just goes to show the extra thought processes
they've put in into designing this Pakgo X.
Now this is the part where we would normally
be cutting up some of that foam padding
and putting it in one side of the fork lay.
We'll be leaving that for the purposes of this today.
But they do provide these three
specific pads, which I'm about to put on,
which protect your frame and your cables
from getting damaged whilst the bike is in transit.
(calm electronic music)
That is very neat, very secure, and really easy.
Also included is a seat post protector sleeve.
Secure the seat like so, and then, wait for this.
I've never seen anything like this before.
It slots down here through your
seat stay, through your chainstay.
This Velcro then sits up against your drivetrain protector.
You bring this part over the top,
around your chain keeper, then take these bits
around your seat stays, like so,
and pull them tight.
And there is your seat.
Strapped in, neatly and securely.
And that means we're about ready to put our frame
on a frame into the box, which is also very simple.
All you do is line up the front, line up the back,
and hinge it in like so.
Next up, we're going to put the wheels
in the wheel bags, which are front- and rear-specific.
Pretty obvious which one's which.
I'm gonna put the rear one in that one.
(bag unzips)
(calm electronic music)
And we're pretty much done.
All that remains is to make sure
that we don't forget to take our pedals.
You can put them in one of the two
little pockets here on the side.
I'm gonna use this one next to the wheels,
where I'm also going to store ...
Well, I've just done that up.
Undo that.
But I'm also going to store my Allen keys ...
And you can, of course, put any other spares
in there, as well, that you want to take with you.
Zip that up, and hopefully ...
Look at that.
(zips bag)
And there she is, in all her glory.
As you can see, contrary to most bike boxes out there,
this Pakgo X has an upright design
with four wheels at the bottom.
And I can tell you, it's very, very
easy indeed to manoeuvre about.
Probably also means that when you're
going through a very busy airport,
you're less likely to get people knocking into
your bike box as you go on through to check-in.
How much does this thing weigh?
Well, without the bike inside,
it comes in at 12.8 kilogrammes,
which is slightly on the heavy side for a bike box.
But when you consider that there is that
internal, removable frame, and all the security
that this thing offers, I'd say that's pretty competitive.
How do you get your hands on one?
Well, as ever, there is a link in the description below.
Just follow that, and all the details will be there for you.
And I can honestly say, I wish you the best of luck,
'cause I'd quite like to get my hands on this myself.
Right.
Give this video a thumbs-up down below if you've enjoyed it.
We actually first saw this bike box
at Eurobike last year in late 2017.
If you'd like to see our first look there,
along with a whole other load of tech,
why not click on the video, which is just down there?