New in for testing: BikeBoxAlan Triathlon Aero Easyfit Bike Box – £530
BikeBoxAlan has a reputation as one of the best hard shell bike box providers on the market. Chris Hovenden has a first look at the new BikeBoxAlan Triathlon Aero Easyfit Bike Box.
Website link: www.bikeboxalan.com
Transporting your most prized possession (your bike) to a race location or a training camp, for example, can be pretty stressful. Will it make it with a clean bill of health or will it be a very expensive holiday? There are various types of bike box or bag on the market, but it’s fair to say that BikeBoxAlan, in part thanks to its impressive videos of its bike boxes surviving some big falls, is one of the most popular brands.
Unfortunately, if you have a modern time trial bike or aero road bike, where integration is an increasing trend, there’s a good chance you aren’t equipped to dismantle the cockpit, and if you’re brave enough to do that you are likely to have difficulty when it comes to ‘operation reassembly’ – meaning finding a mechanic is often necessary.
BikeBoxAlan appears to have noticed this challenge and with the BikeBoxAlan Triathlon Aero Easyfit is looking to solve this problem.
In short, the BikeBoxAlan Triathlon Aero Easyfit has an additional rectangular/box that protrudes from the standard box profile which is designed to accommodate an aero base bar/handlebars/aero extensions etc.
BikeBoxAlan claims that if you are 178cm tall it’s likely you’ll only have to remove the wheels and the pedals – which should help quick packing/unpacking!
The Triathlon Aero Easyfit comes with a 7 year warranty and you can customise your bike box, choosing from a range of colours and selecting various stickers/decals.
Full review to come after a few trips and races. From our first look the BikeBoxAlan looks solid and fit for purpose – although a few initial queries are: it is noticeably bigger than a regular bike box, which may impact your ability to get the box in your car with other luggage; can it fit aero extensions/ski arms that are particularly steep, and can it accommodate a rear disc wheel?
I have an EasyFit Bike Box Alan bike box and I have travelled with it 4 times. I purchased this for easier transportation of my Scott Plasma 5, 54” Tri bike to take to races. I also own and have used many times the Bike Box Alan original bike box.
Although it is easier there were a few things that were disappointing. In order to get my bike in the case I have to remove the wheels (as expected), the rear derailleur, the pedals and almost fully lower the seat post and remove the rear bottle cage.
Most importantly the biggest disappointment (which I discovered the night before travelling as I was trying to pack my bike) is that, as designed, this case can not accommodate a disc wheel. This is due to the fact that the wheels are secured to the box by Velcro straps that go in between the spokes and around the rim, as well as the crush pole being positioned to go through the spokes on both front and back wheels.
I was able to make some modifications to get the disc in. This however took a lot of time and effort that shouldn’t have been necessary for an EasyFit Tri/TT specific case.
I would be very interested to hear or know of some solutions/options to resolve the issues if travelling with a disc, other than travelling with it separately. I have a few ideas of my own that could be made/offered with the box to make this easily possible.
Maybe some videos/demos on the BikeBox Alan website showing how to best pack different bikes/wheel set ups would be a good start.
Thanks