Travel Bike Case Review: Thule Round Trip Transition Hard Case

ThuleBikeCaseKatie.jpg

I personally know more people than I can count on all my fingers and toes that would prefer to break a bone rather than break their expensive bike investments. If you spent the money on a fast bike, light bike, or the “cool colored bike,” it is time to start thinking about how you can protect that bike when you travel. I had to make this choice for myself last race season (2018) when I decided to compete in IRONMAN Canada 70.3 Whistler. Riding the bike all the way there from Los Angeles was nixed by my travel companions, so flying was the second option.

 

I ride a Quintana Roo PRFive TT bike with a frame size that would keep Paul Bunyan comfortable. So I needed to find a bike case that fit the following criteria:

  1. Big enough for time trial bikes. Aero bars are a killer here if the case isn’t designed to accommodate that extra component

  2. Fits up to a 58.5 frame size (HI…..#legsfordays).

  3. Durable enough to protect my precious, EXPENSIVE baby bike friend. We have all seen the videos of what TSA does to the bags coming on and off the planes. Might as well be a game of shot put. Even then, those athletes take better care of their cargo.

So I took to the internet to see what case met these needs. There are surprisingly very few reviews of travel cases, period. ESPECIALLY for triathletes. Most articles I read just pushed you to use bike transport services.

By the way, transport services are not a bad idea. It was going to be $400 USD to get my bike from LA to Whistler and back. I decided that I would rather spend the money on my own case as I will be traveling with it a lot and am now no stranger to taking my bike apart.

The Thule Round Trip Transition Hard Case was something I thought might have all the features I was looking for. And because I leave so many things last-minute………I needed this case ASAP. My trip was three days away. Ooops. Bad Katie.

I drove to an REI in Burbank (NOT close to my house *sigh*) only to find that I had left my bike IN MY CAR. This case is a big boy. I had no idea how I was going to fit it in my Volkswagen Golf hatchback PLUS my TT bike. Major face palm moment here. And I was over an hour away from home. 3 days out from a major trip. Oooops. BAD BAD KATIE.

Katie Godec