TESTED: Scicon AeroComfort MTB Bike Bag

Words: Imogen Smith

The worst part of travelling with a bike is travelling with a bike: lugging an oversize bag or a box through an airport – the stares, the aching arms, the bruised hip, the clandestine attempts to appropriate a luggage trolley without paying the requisite $4. We’ve all been there, and it sucks. When 29-inch wheels first entered the market, it was a little hard, at first, to find bike bags that could accommodate them, especially if you were riding a dual suspension bike, which typically meant a longer wheelbase, too. Italian bike bag specialists Scicon brought out a mountain-bike specific bag, the Scicon AeroComfort MTB, designed to fit any 29-inch-wheeled machine in 2013, a little behind most other manufacturers, but it was worth the wait.

If great bike bag design involves balancing weight considerations with protection and stability, and of course ease of transport, Scicon have long offered the very best in bike bags. In my experience of vast amounts of overseas travel with bikes (sometimes two at once), Scicon are the best I’ve encountered in the soft bag department, owing mostly to their use of four swivelling wheels (which mean that your bike bag basically follows you around the airport like a puppy on a leash), and simple but secure internal design. I first used a borrowed Scicon AeroComfort road model several years ago and was well impressed, and jumped at the chance to review the AeroComfort MTB for a big international trip to Switzerland earlier this year.

Scicon boast that you can pack your bike in ten minutes using this bag, but in reality I made a few adaptations to their recommendations just to make sure every piece of my bike made it to my far-flung destination undamaged. For basic packing, you’ll need to remove both wheels and stow them in the side wheel pockets, which accommodated my 29er wheels with 2.2” tyres (not deflated) with plenty of room to spare, then mount your bike into the internal frame.

The AeroComfort MTB is equipped, like all their bags in this range, with a solid internal ‘Antishock’ steel frame that you hook your bike into using both dropouts, with easy-to-use adapters supplied to accommodate quick release and 142×12 and QR15 through-axles, which worked perfectly well. The bike fastens into this frame (you wrap your chain around the rear dropout chock) and stands solidly within the bike bag. One drawback is that a supplied steel rear derailleur guard only mounts with a typical QR, and not with a 142×12 dropout, leaving your bike’s Achilles heel somewhat defenceless. You might choose to take it off altogether to avoid any risk. If you have a bike with Boost spacing, you might need to fashion some extra adaptors – but this could easily be done with some PVC pipe.

The next step is to remove your handlebars and stow them in the padded, Velcro handlebar protector and strap this alongside your bike. Some bikes will fit with little other adjustment, but I had to lower my seatpost and retighten it in order to be able to do the bag up – any riders out there with integrated seatposts might want to take note (although when I had one I got used to it sticking out the top of anything and everything I packed it in).

You can fasten the whole lot with an easy to set TSA-approved padlock, and there’s a neat address label that slides into a slot outside the bag. ‘Lateral Shield Cups’ on the bag’s sides protect your rotors and cassette from bumps, while there are study, unfussy straps at the top of the bag, and a strap handle for towing at the front.

Because I was headed to an important race in a country where I didn’t speak the language and didn’t know what kind of spares I’d have access to, I was ultra-cautious and removed rotors and rear derailleur, also detaching my handlebars at the stem’s faceplate, rather than by the stem at the steerer as Scicon recommend – all this took a little longer, particularly when it came to putting the thing back together. On the way home I packed more to Scicon’s recommendations, however, and nothing was damaged. If I were to use the bag in future, I’ve got enough faith now to use the quicker options to save time and effort.

Packing is simple and intuitive enough, but it’s in transit that this bike bag really comes into its own. For the test trip I travelled from Brisbane to Switzerland with more than my bodyweight’s worth of luggage in my hand luggage (a backpack), a large suitcase, and the bike bag.

The AeroComfort MTB itself tips the scales 7.9kg (a lot of this is in the internal steel frame), and this definitely added some excess weight and should be taken into account, particularly if you’re shopping for a bag to use on budget domestic airlines (although it’s a fairly standard weight for comparable bags in this market). The AeroComfort is pretty roomy inside and if you’re limited to one piece of checked luggage, then chucking in a few extra bags of clothes and gear should not be a problem, but unless you’ve got a $10,000 XC or trail bike, you’ll tip over the 20kg weight limit.

For this trip I took two pieces of baggage. I fit my shoes and some basic spares into the bag’s internal pocket and threw some empty bidons in for good measure, but took my helmet, race food, and tools in my suitcase, which also has four swivelling wheels. Both pieces of luggage weighed about 23kg. Getting around the airport was the easy bit – once I arrived in Europe I had to take three trains, a bus, and a gondola to get to my destination – there was a lot of walking involved during these transfers, too, so plenty of Scicon AeroComfort MTB testing, not to mention swearing, went on.

I found I managed really well by taking the rolling suitcase in my left hand and towing the bike bag by its front strap in my right (stronger) arm. I’m not known for my upper-body strength but all this was really manageable. The only time the Scicon bike bag gave me any trouble was on off-camber roads or in unfortunate cross-winds, when the bag stopped following behind me and swung around to the side – taking out any unfortunate passers-by in the process, and, occasionally, me too, triggering impromptu lessons in English profanities for my fellow travellers. These sections of the journey were mercifully short, as was the gondola ride, where the bike bag was manhandled into an open service cabin at one end and unceremoniously jettisoned onto a flight of concrete stairs at the other.

In spite of the hardships of the journey, my race bike came out of the AeroComfort MTB in perfect condition, and fared vastly better than my body on the two-day journey to Europe. The trip home was easier, with an expedition through the vast expanses of Zurich airport. I was able to stride through its corridors with incredible ease, overtaking rumpled travellers with laden baggage carts and navigating every curve of the queue barriers at check in without touching the sides.

A properly packed bike in a bag that was easy to use and carry meant I could race at ease at my final destination.

Not all smooth sailing

It was only on arriving home that I found some problems with the AeroComfort MTB. I suspect it was inspected a bit roughly or handled badly sometime during the flight home, as one of the large (and tough-looking) zippers had been snapped in half (although it’s still useable). I got a shock, though, when I took my bike out I realised that the front portion of the base of the bag, which does not have any frame above it, nor wheels below it, had sagged on the ground and the thin layer here had been scratched and even worn through in a few spots. I loved the bag’s performance but had noticed that occasionally this front bottom section of the bag sat very low, and even packing my bike with the seat at max height to 'lift' the bag couldn’t prevent this.

I may have a theory as to why. The AeroComfort bags designed for road and TT bikes have this front section of the bag cut out on a diagonal, keeping the part of the bike bag that isn’t structured by the internal frame and external wheels well clear of the ground. The wheelbase of a 29er, however, make this an impossible design option, so the bag is longer, and in creating a bag with, I suspect, the same wheelbase as the roadie versions, the front end is unfortunately unsupported – so it can sag.

If you’re going to travel more than a few times a year with your bike, my advice is to buy a proper bike bag and, if you can possibly afford it, a good one. Overall the AeroComfort MTB is the most manageable bike bag I’ve ever used and, particularly for someone trying to stay fresh in transit and arrive with a bike in one piece, a worthwhile investment. I’d advise, however, taking a lot of care with the front-end base of the bag where it has no support and may touch the ground – perhaps some reinforcement or experiments with packing to get the bag to sit higher will remedy this. It’s not a deal-breaker for me, but it’s certainly a design weakness that Scicon may well look at in future.

Hits

Incredible handling on the ground and great protection in the air

Easy to pack, and fast, depending how pedantic you are

Misses

Rear derailleur guard does not fit with 142×12 – take derailleur off to ensure its protection

Front of bag drags on the ground

Vital info

Price: $599.95

Dimensions: 136cm x 22cm x 88cm

Weight: 7.9kg

Contact: bikesportz.com.au