TESTED: Thule RoundTrip Pro bike bag

Travelling with your bike isn’t quite an artform – but it involves some thought and consideration. Recently, Thule expanded their range of racks and car boxes massively, including everything from backpacks, panniers and luggage racks for bikes – and of course bike bags. We tested the Thule RoundTrip Traveler last year and I’ve since used it on many trips at home and abroad. The RoundTrip Pro is the next model up, gaining a built in workstand and better packability when not in use.

Sizing up the RoundTrip Pro

The Pro uses the same bathtub base with wheels at one end and a handle at the other for wheeling the bag around once packed, and offering an excellent foundation for secure stowage of your steed. But the Pro uses a removable internal frame, which clamps your fork for either a regular QR, 15 or 20mm through axle, plus a cradle for your BB shell and a strap the secures your frame to it. This frame is removable, and can be made into a workstand with a small block that takes three included legs that add side support to the bag. Th

What’s the point? Well your bike is held securely in the base of the bag, with both wheels off, and you use that hardware to then make building, and repacking your bike easier.

Both wheels slip into included wheel bags and they sit beside your frame, and the nylon sides of the bag are reinforced with collapsible core flute style sheets. They’re easy to put in and take out and provide structural integrity once in, and help you keep the bag packed smaller when it’s not in use at home, or maybe in your hire car at the other end.

On the road with the RoundTrip Pro

Weighing in at 9.77kg (claimed at 9.5kg) the bag can make a dent in your luggage allowance. So were the features worth it? I’ve packed my bikes into a real variety of bags and boxes, and the hard part is using bags like this where both wheels need to come off. A cardboard box or simple bag where only pedals, seat, front wheel and bars come off is easy – there’s way less drivetrain fuss. When both wheels come off there’s always the moment where rear mechs and chains are dangling, bars are off stems, and you’re just not sure where to put anything. This case removes that entirely.

Starting with the bike on the stand, it was a case of removing the pedals and accessories, compressing the dropper, then putting the wheels in wheel bags, and removing my rear mech and securing it to the swing arm in some bubble wrap. I took the bars off the stem and secured those along the fork. Next up I unclipped the base frame and slotted it into the base of the bag, and attached the parts of the stand into their mounts, Wheels went either side of the frame, I had to lower my post a little more, and I bunged some bubble wrap around the front and back for good measure. My tool bag with pedals and spares sat in the base neatly, as did my shoes.

It did hit right on 23kg, but it’s a very neat system to use. It’s actually more compact than the RoundTrip Traveler, and all up feels more secure for your bike. Two trips with it have had it arrived in one piece, and with my partners bike in the Traveler, I can see that the contents does move around more in that bag.

Weighing up the RoundTrip Pro

So, is it an awesome bag? Yes – I found the stand really useful. I’ve got a whole bag of tricks to make packing and unpacking bikes easier, but this is really straight-forward and secure. It is still limited to XC, cyclocross and some trail bikes though, as with a wheelbase limit of about 116cm that rules plenty of bikes out, including slacker XC bikes. But if your bike is much over 11kg you might start to hit a 23kg weight limit too easily. As it is it was easy to use for a short trip away on a basic flight ticket, especially because it was so secure. But it would be great for a longer jaunt where the need to keep on top of some bike maintenance made the built in stand a real bonus, if you booked your luggage allowance accordingly.

Hits:

• Great design and production

• Easy to pack into and move around

• Very secure packing

Misses:

• Gives up a couple of kilograms to other similar strength bags.

RRP: $799

From: thule.com.au