It’s been said before, but the downside of travelling with your bike is often travelling with your bike. But if you have trained for an event, or saved up to ride the grand passes of Europe, or alongside the Tour Down Under – you don’t want the experience tarnished by having to do it on a hire bike. Chances are you want to enjoy the highs and lows of your cycling adventure on your own bike – the one you’ve put the work into, and that has got you ready to set off.

And that means transporting your beloved machine. But not all bike bags are created equal – and the Scicon AeroComfort Road 3.0 TSA confirms that. Hands down, it is the easiest bike bag I have ever used. Most of the hassle with travelling with a bike can come from packing the bike, transporting the packed bike, and building your bike again. This bike travel bag nails it on all three fronts.

Packing your bike

This is as simple as removing your wheels and placing the bike into the support frame in the base of the bag. Your pedals can stay on, you can leave your quick releases in the wheels, your handlebars stay put, and if your seat height is less than 800mm your saddle can probably stay in place too.

The frame will take 12mm through-axles as well, making it useful for modern all-road bikes, disc-equipped road bikes, and cyclocross bikes. There’s a different model that’s best for MTBs - longer to suit the extended wheelbase of dedicated off-road bikes. There is an optional derailleur protector to fit too – which I highly recommend.

Your bike is strapped in with supplied padding for the bars, top tube and saddle. Your wheels have their own internal padded bags (with protection to allow disc rotors to stay on) and there’s a pouch for storing your helmet and shoes in the base of the bag – plus a small pocket for your on-bike spares. Zip up, and you’re done. The bag comes with a TSA approved padlock, removing the risk of damaged luggage in safety inspections.

If you have used one of these bags before you’ll be pleased to hear the base is now wider for greater stability, and Scicon have trimmed about 1kg from the bag weight itself. This one tipped the scales at 9.28kg, with the included quick-released levers and all adaptors. So most road bikes packed into this bag, even with some kit alongside, will still easily comply with most airline weight regulations.