I need to get a bike bag for transporting the bike whilst travelling. I am after one that has decent padding and isn't too bulky to carry. Being quite small I find they tend to drag on the ground.

I have looked on wiggle and seen the tifosi bike bag which has wheels but it is 99pounds - is it worth the money? Are the wheels going to be more of a hindrence ie is the bag going to fall over when pulling it along? What do other people use?

I use the cardboard box that the bike came in !!

I don't have one - my bikes have never come in a cardboard box :-)
And not particularly easy to carry when I have to get across Paris with it.

No way to a cardboard box if you've got to get across Paris with it! That would be a nightmare.

My other half has a DHB bag that tends to go cheap on wiggle (about 60 quid) - he says it stands for "Damn Heavy Bag" cos it is so massive. So that's a vote for one you shouldn't go for.

I have one that was more expensive (about 90 quid). I can't remember what make it is, and isn't super easy to carry, but it is better than Adrians. I can look up the make if you like, but you might be better off waiting for someone to heartily recommend one, as I wouldn't like to carry mine across Paris either!

Or maybe I could borrow yours Claire :-)

You had the big day yet???

No - this Saturday, scary!

You can definitely borrow mine if you want - but it's a matter of getting it seeing as I am up in Cambridge - when do you need it for?

How do you usually package bikes when you fly with them? Just in a cardboard box?

I have an old agu bike bag which has absolutely no padding, very heavy, very bulky to carry and was broken into last time I flew with it and the zipper ripped off. Haven't flown with a bike since then.

I'm looking to travel by train with it - taking the TGV down through France.

Oh and have a great time on saturday!!! Hope it stays dry and we want to see the photos!!!

We often try to combine a little city break to a bike holiday so i have plenty of experience in dragging wrapped up bikes across cities. Unfontunately I can't really recommend anything I've used...

I've got a flimsy bike bag, god knows what make, that has no padding at all but is also very light. I'm always struggling with the baggage allowance so in a way it's good but it obviously won't offer much protection.

Last time we flew we dismantled the bikes completely and wrapped every piece in bubble wrap and taped them to the frame. Took absolutely forever but nothing was damaged.

I have also used cardboard boxes - I ask LBS to put a couple aside for me a few weeks before departure. We have dragged the boxes across Turin in July - a rather sweaty exercise! We put some straps through to help carrying but soon discovered the boxes would have to be reinforced to do that successfully.

My top tip is to have a really thick fleece rolled on your shoulder when carrying the bag - stops the strap digging in and gives just that tiny bit more ground clearance.

I'd be interested to hear if anyone has an amazing bag they can recommend.

Mmmm good luck getting across Paris whatever you decide you use !
I've only had to move mine around at airports and I check if a bike holiday involves a change of plane I'll go somewhere else.

Carradice do a bag which weighs 2.2 kg and is around £78-£80. It is called Pro-bike case. Should be able to get from your LBS. If not I can get you one.

I have the Planet X bag, usually about £90 (prob the same as Claire's). It doesn't have wheels, for two reasons:
1) my short friends find that you need to be over 5'8" to be able to pull the bag, otherwise you're just pulling it down and it keeps falling over (there were about 50 from my club with bike bags in Lanzarote this year)
2) another friend warned me that the wheels add a lot of weight, which is not good if you're flying - espec if you have to register it as excess baggage rather than a flat rate for a bike.

It's great for packing, as it has plenty of padding (though I also use pipe lagging round the frame), and it doesn't weigh too much when empty - but I wouldn't want to carry it over any distance. I really wouldn't want to take it on the Paris Metro, most of the stations have a lot of steps, and very few have escalators. Don't think it would fit in a taxi either - the standard taxi is a Mercedes saloon - you'd need an estate or a hatchback with the back seat down.

Having examined my clubmates' bags closely(well, we had a lot of time in the airport to compare notes!), the best cases of all are the hard Monocoq cases. However, they're about £250 and I believe they're road bike only - don't know what bike you're taking? They are excellent if you have a road bike - the foam padding inside is shaped, and the whole case is the size of a large suitcase - about half the size of a bike bag.

You're welcome to borrow my bike bag if you want - I'm also in London. If you were going to drag it any distance, you'd be best off strapping those suitcase wheels to it though, but you might still struggle with the centre of gravity issue!

If you wanted to buy your own, and your budget is for a bag rather than a box, then the Planet X and the Neil Pryde ones are the best in our unofficial club poll - I believe both come in wheeled and non-wheeled versions. They're all around the £90-100 mark. Cycle Surgery have £10 off the Neil Pryde one at the moment - the wheeled one - selling it at £89.99 on their website and instore.

FWIW, many other bike bags are branded versions of the Neil Pryde or Planet X. It looks to me like your Wiggle Tifosi one is a branded Neil Pryde one - so you'd save £10 by getting it from Cycle Surgery...

There's a bike bag group test in this month's mbr, too. Haven't actually read it yet, but I think they tested eight or ten bags, so it could be worth a look...