A few weeks ago over at Eurobike
I was talking to my friends from Elite about what we're up to after the show.
Turns out Ray and I were heading South to almost their backyard
to ride the Stelvio in Northern Italy.
They were then asking about
how we're carting our bikes around
and how I usually travel with the bike.
I wasn't taking on this trip from Australia over to Amsterdam and then down.
It was just a bit too much of a hassle.
So they asked if I'd like to check out their BORSON Bike Bag and give them some feedback on that.
So by the time I got home from Europe
I had a demo BORSON Bike Bag ready to test on my next trip.
I have a sneaking suspicion they've sent me that Bike Bag
as a bit of an incentive to get me back over to Northern Italy to ride their roads
and maybe pay a visit to Elite HQ.
Stay tuned for that possibly coming in the future.
In the meantime, let's have a look at the promo video
Elite put together with Team Sunweb with the BORSON Bike Bag, which was quite amusing.
Let's have a look
[You]
So today I'm not quite going back to Italy, but it's almost halfway there.
We're heading over to Perth in about three hours time.
So, I've got to get this bike into...
...the Elite BORSON Bag
in no time flat.
So I'm really hoping it doesn't require as much breakdown as my other bike bag.
But let's have a look and see what this is all about.
We'll go to Melbourne Airport we'll throw...
...'carefully' place it into oversized luggage and we'll see if it comes out in one piece at the other end.
That's going to be the big test.
Now the first thing of note is this has wheels on it.
Which makes travelling through airports so much easier than having either wheels one end or no wheels at all.
So here it is.
Pretty much as it comes out of the box that this bag comes in.
We have wheel bags.
Wheel bags.
We'll deal with those last.
We have some kind of dinner plates, they're wheel protectors
and disc brake protectors.
One, two, three...
...four of those.
We have...
they will be handlebar protectors
handlebar protectors.
We have some over the shoulder straps
because this is obviously something you can just throw over your shoulder.
Just kidding. Kind of handy to grab and pull.
We have a dangerous. "Do Not Eat". So do not eat.
More straps to keep the bike down. Excellent.
I've got a set of tools up here that I'm familiar with that
I use every time when I put a bike in a bag, so hopefully we've got everything sorted.
Another gel, "Don't Eat".
And we have all these...
...tools and the manual.
So ok, what these are all about
is for support of thru axle or 5mm.
Pretty sure that's all we'll need and there's a quick release thing here. Ok.
One on there, one on there as wide as we need, I take it.
So front quick release goes on here.
So bike goes in there.
Bottom bracket sits down here on that part there.
This thing here goes around a...
...axle that we'll build
for the rear which will have these on it
And I'm really hoping we can...
[Not drop that]
...I'm really hoping we can leave the rear derailleur on.
It's gonna save a lot of time if that's the case.
So I'll put these aside for now.
But first things first.
Pedals off the bike. Never forget that.
There's always the first step before putting a bike into a bike bag, is pedals off
Awesome.
Ok, we slide this little bit forward.
That a little bit back. Rear derailleurs.
Ok, right so we're in there.
Now, front quick release we'll use off the wheel here.
Ok, the rear hub and quick release we need to put on.
Let's get that done at the back here.
So through there like so.
Ok.
That's good, and then we get this rear strap and lock this monkey down.
Sitting there correctly on the bottom bracket.
Another screw down here to lock the bottom bracket pad in place.
Ok.
And then this here...
Ok that shouldn't be going anywhere now.
So status is...Everything's...
...locked in.
Let's have a quick scan around
with this camera.
So current status of the bike box in here.
We have the front skewer in and that knob down there locked in.
We have the bottom bracket sitting on top of that little pad there.
And also locked in with that little bolt down here.
And in the rear, we have the makeshift rear hub with the velcro strap...
...over the back there to hold everything in place.
And that's pretty secure for now.
Ok, so bike stability-wise let's...
Ok, it's not too bad.
It's not coming out the back.
It's not going to be locked off.
Those cranks still turn.
Now what I'll do with the cranks so it doesn't rattle around too much.
We have some double-sided or some velcro tape, it's not double-sided.
Again these, you can probably use what comes in the bag
but I always have my own little stash of goodies.
Anyway, that shouldn't cause too much fuss....
...from there on in.
And shouldn't get too much grease everywhere, but it happens.
It's a bike. It happens
And finally, I'll put a bit of velcro around the cranks themselves.
So the cranks don't turn any further than what they need to.
Cool. Ok. Good. Done
Bike bottles. If you're taking bottles on your bike
make sure you pop the lids so you don't get any air compression problems.
I'm leaving this as is.
I'm leaving the saddle in the same spot where it needs to be.
I'm going to mark the saddle so if it does pop,
anything untoward happens on the flight
I know where my saddle height is.
Current status check.
We have the bars wrapped up.
We have the bike locked into the bag.
We have the chain tied up and protected.
And we have the wheel bag...
...sitting there providing protection for the bike.
That's all looking pretty good so far.
So I've got an unused wheel bag on this side that I want to use as protection for the bike.
What I'm going to do is, again...
...use some of this strap from one of the wheel bags that I aren't using
...strap it round one of the top tube
extra padding for the bike with not a lot of extra weight.
Cool, ok, so in there.
I'll just strap that to the side.
That's all looking pretty good.
Now I guess for the final test.
Can the thing zip up?
And what's the general size that we're looking at?
Ok. Now it's just the front I've got to pull it around.
Ok. I think we're almost there.
That's the bike itself in the bag
Now remembering this is going to be treated pretty harshly by the airline
so I want to make sure it's going to be...yeah, ok.
So airport simulation no. 1 done.
Let's have a look at how it's gone.
Everything's still in place.
Ok.
Yes, I have been pretty harsh on this
but look that's exactly what's going to happen to it and probably worse at the airport.
Yeah, there are horror stories and why not put it to the test here first?
Everything appears to be ok on the bike so far. So that's all good for me.
Yeah, that didn't require the exact teardown
or the same teardown as my other bike box
So that's kind of handy for a time-saving.
It's gonna be super quick to take out
and packing it next time is going to be a lot faster
because I now know how to set the whole thing up.
So that was a bit of a journey of discovering how to put it in the box.
Now that I've got it all sorted.
Taking it out is going to be an absolute breeze.
So now what I'm going to do is pack a few extra things in here.
Shoes, helmet and yeah, we're good to go.
We'll go put it on the plane and we'll see what happens at the other end.
The bag has a number of handy little pockets too.
So pedals and pedal tools in there.
My helmets put in a bag here in this space and my shoes in a plastic bag behind here.
So we should be all to go, right to wrap up.
Let's get this thing on a plane.
Weighs 20..20kgs
Ok, following day here in Perth.
It's time to unbox the bike.
Rebuild and get out for a ride.
Let's see how long this takes.
Wheels out. Wheel-protectors out.
Bar protectors off.
Everything seems to be in order there.
Rear hub velcro taken off and the rear skewer put into the rear wheel.
Same again for the front skewer.
Everything neatly packed back into the bike bag and pushed aside.
Folds away pretty easily and wheels on.
Not having to take the rear derailleur off is an absolute...
...bonus I have to say for sure.
Ok, wheels on. Wheel spun. Brakes checked.
Yes, you can turn a bike upside down these days.
It's long gone are the times where you would scratch your hoods.
They are rubber on the top. Don't stress about that.
Ok. The most technical part of this whole process is putting the pedals back on.
Aussie wildlife there.
Come here to play with the audio.
Bikes done, back over.
Everything tested, good to go. Let's get out on the road.
So here we are, this is what it's all about.
Enjoying beautiful bike rides. Somewhere nice to ride.
Perth is fantastic this time of year.
Ok, after travelling across country with the bike in the BORSON Bike Bag
Let me go through top to bottom the BORSON web site here, and my take on all the dot points.
First up, it was totally safe.
Well, there's always an element of risk when travelling with your bike.
There's always horror stories of luggage handlers
doing bad things to bikes. Breaking carbon.
Look, there's always an element of risk. So totally safe.
I'd give that a neutral and that's just not the Bike Bag, that's just travelling with a bike in general.
Next up. Very little disassembly required.
Absolutely massive check box for that one.
Simply taking the bike pedals off and the wheels off you put everything in and away you go.
That is absolutely brilliant.
No breaking down of the bike. That's a huge plus for the BORSON Bike Bag.
Next on the list is the compatibility.
That's a big tick box there because it supports everything I can think of...
...so quick release and all types of thru axel bikes.
So Road, Mountain, Cross you name it. It's there ready to go and the parts come in the box.
So another tick box for that one for me.
Next up is the weight of the unit itself. They listed as super light.
Well, it's not as light as a cardboard box.
But you saw there in the video my bike with some shoes and helmet, pedals and tools
all in that bag came in at just over 20 Kilos.
So that ticks the box for me there as well.
Next up is easy handling and yet that's another big tick from me.
Pulling that thing around the airport with the two wheels back and front was an absolute breeze.
Another bike bag that I have requires us to lift the front and drag it.
Other bike bags are a bike box, you've got to carry the whole thing.
So pulling that around the airport was no problems whatsoever.
Reduce clutter. Well everything goes in the box anyway.
So I guess, reduce clutter? Sure.
And lastly there, the BORSON being developed with protour teams.
Well I'm gonna have to put a neutral through that one
because the requirements and the consequences of being a protour rider having a bike break in transit
is a lot different between you and I.
There's a lot of tears if our bikes break.
So that one whilst it's handy to know they do use that...
...saw that in the promo video
But in real life here, if our bikes break, it's going to cost us a lot of money
So we need to make sure that these units are safe for our bikes
so we're confident to get to the other end and not be in tears.
Ok, before we wrap up pricewise looking at $7.99 Australian dollars
so plus or minus for your local currency.
That's a roundabout ballpark figure for a bike bag
that comes with everything that you need to get up and running.
So, mountain, road everything in the box, so you can just throw your bike in as I did and travel.
So there we are, my experience with the Elite BORSON Bike Bag going from Melbourne to Perth and back again.
Having my bike in one piece at either end and only having to put the pedals on each side.
That's actually very, very handy.
I think this is the strong selling point or the benefit of having a bike bag like this
which allows you to leave your bars on, seat post on.
You just have to put your pedals back on.
That is super easy.
If you're not confident in putting all your bike back together, your bars on, your stem on
your computer mount, your seat back on etc.
It's gonna save a lot of time.
Look there is pluses and minuses with soft bags and hard bags.
You've got weight, storage things like that.
But this one worked for me.
I was sceptical of a soft bag.
I'll be absolutely honest with that.
If the bike had of broken, I would have been yep, soft bags aren't for me.
But look that just proved that it was fine.
That was travelling with Qantas. So your mileage may vary.
But anyway, there you go, there's an option.
Thanks for watching and safe travels and enjoy those roads.