Thule RoundTrip Road Bike Travel Case

Video Transcript for Thule RoundTrip Road Bike Travel Case Review

Hi everyone, it's Evangeline here at etrailer. And today we'll be taking a look at our Thule RoundTrip bike travel case. So this is gonna be a flexible hard shell case for your bikes. That way, you know, they're safe and secure as you ship them around. I'm not as big of a cyclist as my dad is, in fact, he likes to ride his bike across America just for the fun of it. And when that happens, you need to ship your bike back and forth because you wanna stay in shape.

You wanna keep training and you wanna make sure that wherever you go, your bike is safe but also ready to go too. In that case, I usually pick up a bike box for my dad and that's where we pack up the bike and get it shipped up onto the plane. That's a whole process of putting it together making sure it's wrapped using bubble wrap, using zip ties. If you want to take care of your bike and make sure it gets transported safely, you may wanna consider upgrading from a bike box to an actual travel case. So let's talk about that.

Now, comparing this with other options for you though, this is definitely gonna be an upgrade more pricey than getting a free cardboard box from your local bike shop. So, if you do have your pricier bikes that you wanna make sure are protected, this is a good option for you. There's also a luxury version, that's a bit more of a hard shell, that's from Thule. You also have the sport version and again make sure you have the right case for the right types of bikes. So, this one I have right here is ideal for your road bikes.

If you have mountain bikes, you may have to get a slightly larger case or a slightly different case in terms of design. What types of bikes can you carry with this So, let's talk about the maximum size of bike. So, for your wheel base, it's gonna be up to 43 inches and especially when you get to your longer wheel bases, you will have to take off your rear derailleur. Now for your tire size, this can carry a maximum wheel size of 29 inch rims, and then three inches in terms of tire width. The back weighs 28 pounds and the weight capacity is gonna be a maximum of 42 pounds.

So if your bike weighs over that, you may wanna consider a different case. But of course, remember, add that all up together, and that way you can check if you exceed your airlineses is weight capacity or not. And speaking of airlines baggage limit, let's talk about the dimensions of this bag. So, I already have a bike on the inside. So, in terms of length it's gonna be about 43 and 3 1/4 inches long. And then you're gonna have a width over here of 13 inches. Now for your height, that's gonna depend on whether you have the wheel off or on. So I'd like to say it's gonna be about 34 inches with the wheels on. Now, the bag folds down to be a lot more compact when the bike is not in it great for if you're shipping it from location to location on its own or if you wanna keep it inside your house or your garage. So we'll take a look at that configuration later on in this video, when I show you how to put your bike into the bag. Now this is technically a hard shell but I personally would classify it more as a flexible hard case, just because rather than the normal clam shell design you would see for a hard shell bag. This has your hard plastic on the inside as well as padding. So there's a little bit of flex to the case. So for your front and your back that's gonna be made of an HTPE plastic base. So, if you have any impact towards it that's giving that structure. Now, for the sides where you have your zipper, you have just the material there. So you have it where it's not loose enough, if you do have impact to it, it's gonna hold up to it. And also on the inside, there's going to be padding, so then there's gonna be stretch, but not that much. So, we've all seen how the baggage handlers have carried our precious bikes in their bike boxes. And we're gonna put this one to the test. So we have AJ here and he's just gonna throw it up onto the other boxes and just see how it handles the impact. So after all that, taking a look on the inside, I double checked and saw that all the wheels, the frame looks good, nothing has moved out of its packaging on the inside. Good job. So I actually do a lot of traveling and that's made me very particular about the luggage I have to carry, because if you need to go from one gate to another and you have to go really quickly it's very helpful to have wheels on your suitcases. So, let's talk about the wheels on this as well as there different handles, so that we can see if it's easy to transport or not. In the back, we have our two main wheels. So these are gonna stay on your case itself. You have an easy used handle here. What I like about the handles is that the way that their stitch has padding on the inside, giving it support but it's also really well stitched onto the side so that even if you're carrying around a slightly heavier bike, you're not ripping the handle off. On the other end, you have your pivot wheel. So this wheel is actually removable and you can keep it inside for when you do check your bags in. So remember, if you do have this pivot wheel on make sure to use the handles, you have 1, 2, 3, 4. These can be used as handholds to make it easier to just walk away. You get these two large over sized zippers and this helps secure your case. Another cool thing about this is that the zippers are large enough that you could actually fit a small padlock through there to secure it, while it's in the plane. So we talked about specs, we talked about dimensions, we talked about how this works as a case itself. Now, let's show you how to put the bike inside. Before you disassemble your bike to pack it up, there's actually a repair stand on the inside of your bag. So, we're gonna open this up to get access to that. You can loosen those straps, kick it out of their hoops and find that repair stand. You can also see here how there's a bunch of different pockets for your different parts of your bike. So we'll talk about that in a bit, once we have our bike assembled, or I guess disassembled. So first, let's take this out and set it up. Once you've disassembled your bikes, and remember that is gonna be a different process depending on your different types of bikes, different sizes, different frames, different through axles or quick release wheels. But once you've gotten pretty much everything unassembled and you use the pads included with your bike case to cover everything. You're ready to take this off of the stand and into the bag. So you're gonna have that lever right over here, we wanna make sure that lever is up in order to release. You're also gonna pull on this and then you can lift this up off of that stand and then drop it right into the bag itself. So I already took measurements for like my derailleur and things. So it should just click in cause I have plenty of space. Just double check that everything is tightened down as well as everything is secured with your straps and your different bolts. So now I'm gonna show you how to put the different parts away into your case, because this is where the Thule case really shines. You have a bunch of different pockets, a bunch of different straps that just make it a bit easier and safer for your bike. So for example, we have a pouch for the derailleur, we have a special strap for your seat, you even have a strap for your front and your handlebar. So all of those work together to make sure every part has its own special place. So you finished using your bike repair stand, now put those tripod feet away into the case. So, With those stands, or I guess those legs up, you're just gonna wrap them over your bike and go ahead and use those hook and loop patches to secure it. Then go ahead and cover the front of your bike, and you also have these hook and loop patches in the front, just to secure that front flap. Then you're gonna put your front and your rear wheel, you're gonna have labels telling you which side goes where. Don't forget, for your rear wheel to have your gears facing out. You're gonna have two straps on the side and one on top for securing your wheels. If you have your disc brakes, you also have a little bit of a cushion there for those style of a wheel. Two cool things about the lid is, once you have them folded down, you can use them to kneel on, but also the front lid or where your front wheel is gonna be has these zippered pockets. So you can go ahead and put your pedals as well as your skewer into the zippered pockets, pack them in there and then zip them right back up. There's also going to be a wheel right here in the center and this is gonna be an easy access wheel because once you have this checked in, so when you get to the airport and you bring your case, you're gonna wanna take that wheel off from underneath and pop that right back in, so it doesn't roll around in the plane. But when you're ready to cart it away, go ahead and install the wheel underneath to make it easier for you. Once everything is packed up and you feel confident that everything is secure and nice and safe, go ahead and zip up your case, then you're ready to go. And that was a look here at our Thule RoundTrip road bike travel case here at etrailer. My name is Evangeline and I hope you enjoyed the journey..