The best bike travel bags in 2025 for road and gravel

Riding in a new place is one of the most fun things you can do on a bike, made even better if you are able to take your own bike, dialed to your preference. But getting your precious steed there and back in one piece can be a fraught experience.

For this round up, we’ve focused on bike travel bags and cases suitable for drop bar bikes. Notably absent from this list are any hard case options. While hard cases can provide better protection, we’ve found them to be more difficult to pack into cars, heavier and just more cumbersome in general. In our testing we did not find the marginally improved protection they offer to be worth the added inconvenience, size and weight of hard cases.

After an extensive test period with a variety of different bags and cases, we’ve settled on these three options as the best currently available.

Table of Contents

Packing the Elite Borson.

The Elite Borson will fit two sets of wheels.

Elite Borson

Pros:

Relatively light weight, folds up easily when empty
Ability to store two sets of wheels
Minimal bike disassembly required, compatible with bikes with integrated cable routing

Cons:

Could use more and better placed handles for easier maneuverability
Handlebars more vulnerable to damage compared to other options
Wheel covers not ideal for thru axle wheels

Heading to the Sea Otter Classic this year, I was faced with a minor dilemma. We had planned a few days of superb road riding around San Francisco, before heading to Monterey where Sea Otter takes place. However, many of the rides at Sea Otter are of the gravel variety. Do I take the gravel bike and swap tires mid trip (and deal with the sealant mess in a cramped hotel room)? Or go with the roadie for speed and just under bike the gravel rides? With the Elite Borson bag’s ability to carry a second set of wheels (one road, one gravel), my troubles were solved.

This feature is not just useful for the indecisive among us, any rider facing uncertain conditions or terrain at their destination will appreciate the flexibility. I was able to stuff 700c wheels with 45mm wide tires into the nicely padded double wheel bags, but doubt anything bigger will fit. Oddly, the hub protectors that ships with the Borson fit more securely on QR than thru axle wheels. However I didn’t experience any bent rotors in my use, so they did their job.,

Packing the Borson requires minimal disassembly of your bike, removing the pedals and wheels is about the extent of it. Handlebars, saddle and even rear derailleur can all stay on. Being a mostly soft bag, the Borson is reasonably lightweight, giving more margins to pack extras (kit, helmet, etc) without going over the weight limit. The trade off is that you are largely reliant on padding to protect your bike, there is not much structure aside from the aluminum base that the frame sits on to help protect against impact. I worried about the handlebars (which is the most vulnerable since it sticks out past the rest of the bike) every time I flew with it. Luckily I never once experienced any issues with the Borson, but it’s always at the back of my mind.

With a good balance between weight and protection, the ability to carry two wheelsets and compatibility with modern bikes featuring integrated cabling, Elite’s Borson strikes the best compromise between competing demands, it should be a top choice for anyone looking to travel with their bike.

Best for: Racers who want to bring a spare set of wheels or travelers who can’t decide between gravel and road.

$850 elite-it.com

EVOC’s Road BIke Bag Pro’s combination of soft and hard construction provides solid protection.

Minimal disassembly required.

EVOC Road Bike Bag Pro

Pros:

Minimal bike disassembly required
Excellent protection from damage, rivaling hard cases
Well placed handles and wheels offers good maneuverability at airports

Cons:

Overall size
It can be collapsed between use, but requires significant disassembly compared to other options

As its name suggests, Evoc’s Road Bike Bag Pro is made for road bikes, but any drop bar bike including most gravel bikes should fit. Evoc made the Road Bike Bag Pro to address the challenge presented by bikes with integrated cabling and/or one piece bar stems, where removing the bar and stem, as many traditional bike bags require, is difficult to near impossible.

Packing the Road Bike Bag Pro is about as easy as it gets, remove pedals and wheels, secure the bike to the base, wheels in wheel bags, zip it up and go. If you don’t have a particularly high saddle height, you don’t even have to push it down. The combination of hard molded plastic top, and tough fabric lower reinforced with metal struts provides excellent protection that rivals hard cases. I am confident Evoc’s Road Bike Bag Pro can stand up to the worst abuse from baggage handlers, short of being run over.

The cost of all that convenience and protection though is size. The Road Bike Bag Pro is notably bigger than the other two options in this round up. Forget about any form of public transportation, fitting it into a compact car or even a regular sedan at your destination. You will definitely need an Uber XL. Storing the Road Bike Bag Pro is another challenge. The extensive system of metal struts which provides such good protection is also time consuming to put together and take apart, and it still doesn’t pack up all that small when removed, making it less likely you will do so at your destination, making those small hotel rooms feel even smaller. Despite its size, the Road Bike Bag Pro is pretty easy to wheel around airports. Though after a dozen trips or so, the wheels mounting points are showing some premature signs of wear.

Aside from its size, there is also the matter of cost, the Road Bike Bag Pro is the most expensive bag in this round up. But if you demand the absolute best protection, and can absorb the higher price of the bag and added car rental/Uber charges, Evoc’s Road Bike Bag Pro delivers.

Best for: Anyone looking for maximum protection for their bike.

$1,300 evocsports.com

The built in work stand is useful even in cramp hotel rooms.

Once packed, Thule’s Roundtrip will keep your bike well protected.

Thule Roundtrip

Pros:

Very well thought out protection
Unique built in work stand
Easily folds up into very compact form factor between travel
Well placed handles and wheels offers good maneuverability at airports

Cons:

Requires removal of handlebars, not ideal for bikes with integrated cable routing
Disc rotor protection could be better

Traveling with your bike usually means re-building it in less than ideal conditions. Multi tools instead of shop quality tools, cramped hotel rooms instead of proper workshops. God forbid if you have to troubleshoot a mechanical problem. Thule’s Round Trip fixes or at least alleviates a lot of the headache (and back ache) by incorporating a full size work stand into the base of the bag, that makes it easy to re-assemble your bike, or work on any issues that arise. By adding tripod legs to the Round Trip’s detachable base,Thule’s designers enabled the metal frame that supports the bike in the bag to double as a work stand. The three legs double as added protection when stored in the bag in travel mode. Clever stuff.

Aside from the work stand, Thule’s Round trip offers well thought out protection with a combination of hard panels and soft padding, usable pockets for organizing the tools you’ll need, and quality wheels that makes it easy to maneuver to and from your destination. If you go by Thule’s instructions, rotor removal is not needed, but I got the tell tale ting ting of a slightly bent rotor after one trip. Lesson learned, I removed the rotors for subsequent trips.

The one major downside of the Thule Round Trip, is the need to disassemble the stem/handlebar to fit. Which is a no go for the increasing number of bikes with integrated cabling. If you have one of these bikes, where removing the handlebar and stem is a majore undertaking, Thule’s Round Trip is not for you. For everyone else, it’s a near perfect travel solution.

Best for: If you have a bike without integrated cables.

$1,000 thule.com

Orucase’s Disc Rotor Protector is a worthwhile accessory for anyone traveling with a disc brake bike.

Orucase Disc Rotor Protector Set

This isn’t a bag, but if you are traveling with a disc brake bike, this accessory is one of the best additions to any travel case I’ve come across. Orucase’s handy plastic cover will ensure your rotors stay true during transit, eliminating the need to carry a cassette lock ring tool and the hassle of removing the disc rotors from your wheels.

$68 orucase.com

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