Bike Racks and Boxes – pedalnorth

Bike Box Alan EasyFit on Team Training Camp

Pedalnorth Website — Thu, 23 Feb 2023 12:29:50 +0000

Bike Box Alan Easy Fit

Sicilian Adventures

Team Training camp in delightful Sicily, Italy

by Alex Sabin, Bike Expert Team, Romania

Us cyclists like to travel and specially to explore new routes and trails by bike. However, it can be difficult to transport the bike. It’s precious and important, our bike, and we don’t want it damaged . It’s often very difficult and inconvenient to disassemble the entire bike into pieces, and then to put it in a cardboard bike box. It’s not very well protected, and complicated to transport and takes up a lot of unnecessary space.

Easy Fit Box & MTB

With the opportunity to use a BikeBoxAlan recently, everything became much easier. I’d simply been talking with Larisa, an ambassador for them, having seen her bike box, and I was intrigued.; especially since you can also fit a Mtb into their Easy Fit box. For a road bike it’s even simpler. You just remove the pedals, wheels and lower the saddle and viola!

Yes, when Larisa offered her BBA Easy Fit for me to try, I found it much easier to transport, much simpler to pack the bike, and it’s very safe – especially in case of an accident. They’re the strongest boxes in the world, and they look indestructible.

Travel to Train – Sicily

When it’s cold in your home country and you are fed up with the low temperatures, you can – and you ought to – pack your bags and your bike, and “fly to warmer lands”. Just like that. As Nike say:,”Just do it!” It can be quite accessible and very easy, and with the warm sun to look forward, or a competitive race, it’ll also warm your cycling heart! Fly from Bucharest to Palermo, then with the bus Trapani and then with the car to San Vito Lo Capo – done.

San Vito Lo Capo is a small seaside town in northwestern Sicily, Italy. It’s known for its beach, which is on a sheltered bay overlooked by Mount Monaco. The small town is located in a valley between mountains; and, the mountain itself is home to numerous caves, most of which are inaccessible without professional climbing gear. A cave, accessible by foot at the southern base of the mountain, was named “Caverna della Capra Guasto,” or “Cave of the Dead Goat” by explorers Christian D’Angelo and William Spears. San Vito Lo Capo is a well-known rock climbing destination. Along the coast on the west side of San Vito lo Capo is a coastal cliff nearly 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) long featuring as many as 1600 bolted climbing routes. Anyway, you get the picture – it’s a great destination.

Palermo-Trapani proves to be a real paradise for mountain biking, but also for the road. Single-trail paths without number, along with descents to Enduro, all in a tropical background, and with cycling climbs of all categories. Untraveled paved roads, where you sometimes forget you’re pedaling. I don’t know if it’s the excitement of the training, the place, the fact that I can train in the heat while it’s cold in the country… The fact is that everything goes according to the book and I think that can help a lot on the mental side as well.

Winter Warm Training

For the second part of the team training course in Sicily, we chose to change accommodation; thus to benefit from a new area of training and exploration. I think this can also be a good way to prepare for the upcoming season. Always have something new and always be able to make decisions. Train on as many types of surfaces and conditions as possible. For the Mtb marathon, at least, it’s very important to always be prepared. So, Cefalu is our new choice.

The landscape is changing quite a bit there, these days. We leave the somewhat tropical image of San Vito and find a more Mediterranean air, with a more clayey soil on the coast, but stony and technical in the high area. Also, the altitude is definitely increasing. With peaks of 1900, where there is installed snow from 1500m. We only have the climbs from 0m to 1200m. Gentle, drastic, brutal climbs… All kinds. Mostly paved. But also many forest roads and paths just waiting to be explored. And a very good recovery flat on the coast.

All in all, Sicily… you are delightful!

This destination of the training camp came out of the blue. I was looking for a good mtb place, a less popular area, but also warm enough. In the end it turned out to be the coolest camp I’ve ever been to. Maybe because of the landscape, the people, the ridge, the extraordinary Cannoli or… Who knows, I’ll leave it to you to discover However, there is a big difference between the Catania area and Palermo. The first is much more cramped and arid. While in the western part everything is already more tropical, more Hawaiian

The Best Bike Box in the World

And, best of all, I had no concerns or worries about transporting my bike – thanks to BikeBoxAlan. It’s a great relief being able to simply concentrate on having fun, and preparing for the season ahead. I’m a big fan of the BBA Easy Fit now, and I’ll be telling everyone about it – and, hopefully using it again on my competitive travels this year

Visit Bike Box Alan

Click Here

Take a trip to Romania

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ALE Ladies Cold Weather Accessories 2023

Bike Box Alan Premium

Pedalnorth Website — Wed, 13 Jul 2022 10:18:01 +0000

Bike Box Alan Premium

by Robert Thorpe

BIKE BOX ALAN ORIGINAL
If Heineken made bike boxes…

Bike Box Alan Premium – Safety & Strength

When you look at most bike boxes, the design, even of the newest models, often seems to follow the classic design from our own favourite brand – Bike Box Alan. Now, we’re based in Yorkshire too, so let’s get this out of the way immediately; yes, we see BBA as a partner, now and into the future. Why – well, simply because they cannot be beaten in terms of looking after your precious bike. So yes, we tend to use them all the time and we truly do believe that you should too. After all, if others are trying to copy them, that has to be good recognition. Now onto the review.

The BBA Original Premium is still going strong and is a favourite across the cycling world. I was recently in London visiting my son at his bike shop, when he showed me their stock of hire bike boxes in the cellar – all Bike Box Alan. It was a pleasure to tell him that I already knew how fantastic that they were, as I had 2 at home (the Original and the Easy Fit) – he’d simply not noticed them, as they’d been loaned out to our writers for a couple of years. It’s also the only box that comes with a 7 year guarantee. Personally, having seen how luggage handlers throw bikes around at airports, I’m chuffed to bits that my bikes are always looked after by Alan and the team.

Ease of Packing

Weighing in at only 11.2kg, it’s also surprising light for its strength, coming in a one piece molded plastic shell that simply slots together. I want to dispute one important thing with Alan and the team though – sorry guys. Their website says that it takes only 20 minutes to load it up. Nope, I’ve got it down to about 10 to 15 minutes now. It’s simply a case of having a few small bags handy for accessories – I use those net bags that you can buy at Sainsburys for vegetables – yes, they’re spot on; some foam tube insulation from a diy store, and you’re away. The box already comes with two layers of custom cut padding, and the extra tube padding on the frame allows me to put my clothing, shoes and accessories in and around the frame – hence the small net bags from the supermarket

It’s then simply a case of pedals off, wrap them; wheels off and fit them into the lid with skewers; handlebars and seatpost off, wrap the post and fasten them down with the numerous tough Velcro straps inside the box. Just make sure that you’ve changed the gearing down and that the frame is laid down correctly, and before you know it, it’s all safely placed inside the ample box. It also comes with an anti-crush bar, that fits neatly between the two lids and adds that extra protection.

Accessibility & Ease

Due to its size, it’s also really easy to fit into any car and any taxi when you arrive. The wheels are strong and multidirectional, meaning that even when you’re wheeling it along cobbles, as I was recently, they won’t break. You can even get a string strap from BBA to help pulling things along.

I added a few airport friendly TSA locks to the box, making sure that the security team can easily access the contents if required. In terms of space inside the box, I got in all of my kit, along with several items from our photographer too, and the box was still within weight. Nothing moved around inside, due to the ample number of well thought out straps. And when it was being thrown around on minibuses on arrival, everything inside was safe. Storing the box is easy too, as it’s no bigger than a large suitcase.

It you’ve paid lots of money for your own special bike, and you plan on doing lots of travelling, in our eyes the best option that we can recommend is a Bike Box Alan. It’s a simple design, but well thought out and extremely well made – which is why others are still trying to copy it. Don’t risk lookalike boxes though. It’s like the Elvis impersonator singing at a festival. Eventually, you’ll realise that the catsuit doesn’t really fit, and he’s actually only 5’6” and looks like Derek from Hackney. There really only was one Elvis – and there’s only 1 Bike Box Alan.

Bike Box Alan Easy Fit

Pedalnorth Website — Tue, 12 Apr 2022 14:41:04 +0000

Bike Box Alan Easy Fit

by Larisa Chinces, Executive Editor (Reviews)

Travelling Time
Larisa takes her Red Chili WR1 on a trip

The Technical Issues of Modern Bikes

Robert Thorpe – Editor in Chief

The more technical that modern bikes become, the better our riding experience. However, this all comes at a price, and not simply the actual cost of the bike. Looking after the bike and travelling safely with it can be problematic. For example, the drive towards integrated handlebars and stems for high performance bikes, and aero seat posts mean that it’s not always simple to remove these items for travelling. Cables are set to a certain level, and there’s very little room for movement.

Thankfully, Alan and his Yorkshire based team at Bike Box Alan work with the best cyclists around the world, and through this knowledge and experience, they’ve developed the ultra secure and strong Easy Fit bike box. It’s probably the most widely usable bike box in the world, fitting every known bike and it’s certainly among the strongest of boxes. We wanted to take a detailed look at the Easy Fit, especially post-pandemic, now that we’ll be travelling more once again. I’ve been looking awkwardly at the Easy Fit, wanting to use it for some time, and so it was nice to finally get into the workshop and look at it in some detail finally. Then of course, it was down to my colleague, Larisa to take it on her travels and test it out on the airlines.

Pack & Go

The only items that you need to remove for the integrated handlebars or TT bars are the pedals and wheels, and there’s ample room in the box to store these. Even the saddle and seatpost can remain in place, and if your saddle height is average, you won’t even need to lower it. The Easy Fit box comes with two layers of high quality foam padding, each with laser cut out areas to allow straps attached to the box to be fitted around the bike frame, holding it secure.

Once you’ve fastened the bike into the preformed areas of the Easy Fit, it’s then simply a case of fastening it up and wheeling it along, using the handles and strap provided. As an empty unit, the Bike Box Alan Easy Fit weighs only 13 kg, meaning that there’s ample weight left for your bike, as most airlines allow for 32 kg. Alan and the team also provide great name badges and flag stickers, to personalise the box for you. We had ours set up for Larisa, with awesome Romania flag stickers and her name emblazoned on the Easy Fit. Time then to hand it over to to our Transylvania traveller for a few adventures…

Larisa Chinces – Travelling Thoughts

Larisa Chinces – Executive Editor (reviews)

Knowing that Robert has taken a detailed look at the Easy Fit, I was ready to take a look myself and to see how it worked for me on my own travels. My immediate thoughts on seeing the Easy Fit was to confirm from the first moment that the BikeBoxAlan looked strong and solid, and to my surprise it’s also a lot lighter than I expected. The last thing that you need as a woman, is a huge and heavy bike box. No, the Easy Fit is light and has grab handles on the sides too. So, it’s a perfect protective shell for my lovely RedChilli new bike <3

It’s super easy to pack the bike, just remove the wheels and pedals put the wheels behind the pads and secure them with straps, put over the frame between the two pads and secure it with the straps and Voila! Inside you can put the pedals, axles and some tools in a small bag. There is still enough room for other stuff like: helmet, cycling kit+ accesories, shoes etc.

I appreciate the hard shell of this case, as it assures me that the bike has maximum protection and like Robert said previously, I agree with it’s most imoortant asset: the bike fits already whithout the need to tilt the handlebars. With integrated handlebars, it’s crucial to have this with your bike box, as cables and settings can be problematic to adjust. Beside all of this, the box has wheels underneath, to make travelling super easy and safe. It also has the grab handles I mentioned above, on each side and a strap which you can pull the box along with easily. And, when you close the box up, it’s secured with metal clips along the sides and top, to which I was able to easily fit padlocks – matching of course .

All that was left was a ride to the airport. The Easy Fit is light enough to lift into a car boot, and fits in most large hatchbacks with the seats down, and easily into an estate car or SUV. And, if packed correctly, you’ll fit two Easy Fit boxes, meaning that you and your partner can travel knowing that Bike Box Alan is looking after things for you. Collecting the Easy Fit at the other end, yes my beautiful carbon Red Chilli was a happy bike, safe and secure and undamaged, despite the attempts of airport baggage handlers. Even the numerous banging together with other cases on the conveyor belt hadn’t affected the Easy Fit, and once home, all I had to do was smile and fit the wheels and pedals!

If you love traveling and cycling like me, this box is a must have item. It makes traveling so easy peasy lemon sqeezy! I’ll be using the BikeBoxAlan Easy Fit as my chosen travel companion from now on, and I’m super pleased to announce that I’ll be a brand ambassador. If you’re after a recomendation, that’s about as good as it gets – a bike box that’s strong, light and ‘easy peasy lemon squeezy!’

Larisa Chinces

Visit Bike Box Alan

Click Here

Yakima High Road Tyre Hold Bike Carrier

Pedalnorth Website — Sun, 14 Nov 2021 15:48:56 +0000

Yakima High Road Tyre Hold Carrier

by Robert Thorpe, Executive Editor

YAKIMA HIGH ROAD TYRE HOLD
The Ultimate Bike Carrier

Modern mountains bikes can be large and cumbersome beasts. They way in which we tackle trails has evolved from the 26” wheel to the 27.5” and 29” wheel sizes. Bikes no longer sit quietly beneath us, but they roar like beasts as we hit the forests and mountains. In terms of transporting these bikes to the trailhead, bike carriers have had to evolve too.

Add to this the plethora of carbon frames, and you have another issue to address – holding the bike securely without actually touching the frame. Yes, the frame needs protecting until we arrive at the mountains, and only then can we unleash the fire… and ride it into a tree – hopefully not, but you get the idea. Both modern road bikes and mountain bikes are precious and expensive items. They’re delicate pieces of engineered excellence in many ways and that means that bike carriers have adapted too. Nobody knows this better than Roofbox Company, which is why we were delighted to test out their latest rooftop bike carriers, including the Yakima High Road Tyre Hold.

The Yakima High Road is a top of the range heavy duty piece of engineering, designed with typical Japanese effectiveness. The front wheel is locked into place by a moveable set of hoops that wrap around the wheel. Simply lift the bike up and place the front wheel into the front hoop, bring the second hoop in towards the wheel and tighten things up with a calibrated ratchet that clicks when the correct tension is applied. Then, simply wrap the ratcheted strap around the rear wheel and tighten this. We’ve driven this around the Dales and Moors of North Yorkshire all summer, with both 27.5” and 29” wheeled bikes and they’ve not moved at all, despite the twisting and winding lanes of the National Parks.

In terms of road bikes, those expensive and very delicate carbon race machines, the High Road is the ideal carrier for them, with the locking hoop system wrapping itself around the front wheel and leaving the frame untouched. The hoops are designed to adapt to a number of wheel options, and even the delicate and narrow 700 x 25mm wheel fits neatly and securely within the carrier.

This smoothly finished and stylish looking bike carrier is also very simple to attach to just about any set of bars. Yakima provide a T-bar adaptor kit if required, but in its absence, the carrier comes fitted with a simple but highly effective locking system that wraps around most bars, then slots into a housing before being securely clipped and locked into place – viola. We like this system, as it takes no more than 30 seconds to fit the carrier to your car, meaning that it can be stored safely when not in use. It’s a heavy carrier, but this makes it robust and long lasting. The Yakima High Road Tyre Hold isn’t the cheapest of carriers, but it’s easily amongst the very best, and is clearly made with a highly technical design and well engineered finish, to ensure that it does its job – looking after your bike.

It’s up to you how much that value your bike, but we certainly believe that this bike carrier is well worth the invest and that it’ll be transporting our bikes to adventures for us for many years to come.

VISIT THE ROOFBOX COMPANY WEBSITE

Bike Box Alan

Pedalnorth Website — Sat, 07 Dec 2019 20:01:34 +0000

Made in Yorkshire – Bike Box Alan

They keep things plain and simple in Yorkshire; nowt is wasted, including unnecessary words or titles. It’s a bike box and guess what … it’s made by Alan. Oh, it’s tough too. In fact it’s probably the toughest bike box in the world, passing a scientifically developed test recently – it was dropped over 30 metres from a railway viaduct! Now I’d say that this is as good a test as it gets, because I’ve never seen an aircraft hold as high as that.

Based in Rotherham, on the edge of the Peak District and with some of the finest road cycling anywhere, Bike Box Alan has been making their indestructible boxes for over 16 years. This area of Yorkshire is famous for its engineering heritage and Alan has been a part of that for his whole working life, being an engineer and designer by trade. The company came about after cycling friends would bring Alan their badly built bike boxes from other brands, all needing either the wheels, the castors, the base or the straps and fasteners fixing and of course Alan would not only repair them, but his repairs improved the quality of the boxes themselves. Through word of mouth his reputation grew, until this unassuming and quiet Yorkshireman realised that his skills made it possible for him to design and manufacture his own bike boxes and to make them far superior to anything else available.

Like most great designs, the first bike box Alan has remained almost unchanged in their range, save for a few upgrades to the internal Velcro strapping and anti crush pole. They now offer a carbon anti crush pole as well as a steel one. The distinctive shape of the Bike Box Alan original is formed by two specially designed moulded sides, with extra strength built into the design at key areas, such as where the rear mech fits. Unlike other brands, there’s no need to wrap the mech or to add a cover, as it simply fits neatly against the box frame. The boxes come with a 7 year warranty and fits 95% of known bikes, with a few minutes spent removing the wheels, seat post and handlebars, all of which have specific areas and straps inside the box for safe storage. There’s even Velcro straps intelligently placed for wheel skewers and pedals. Best of all, this impressive guardian of your carbon bike weighs in at only 11.2 kg, meaning it’s well within airline limits. It’s a neat size box too, easily fitting 2 boxes into most hatchbacks, meaning you can share your Bikecation adventures.

Now, every well travelled person loves a sticker and the boxes come customisable too, with an array of awesome bike stickers to adorn it. You’ll look and feel like a pro as you walk through departures and arrivals towing your Bike Box Alan behind you with the custom strap in hand. Many of the worlds top teams use these made in Yorkshire bike protectors and cyclists such as Chris Froome, Sir Chris Hoy and Laura Kenny trust their own two wheeled steeds to them. Add to this the Wheel Box and this enterprising engineering brand have got you covered – literally

Chatting to Alan, he’s a man who is always thinking and despite having designed what was seen as the ultimate bike transporter, he’s widened the range to include the new Triathlon Aero Easy Fit. Bikes have developed immeasurably in recent years, with marginal gains from all areas, especially at the cockpit end of things as riders try to fight the wind. Many high tech bikes have integrated seat posts and handlebars formed as part of the stem, with cables hidden away totally inside the frame. Bikes like this mean that removing the handlebars is virtually impossible. The Bike Box Alan Aero Easy Fit is designed so that both the seat post and handlebars can remain in place. Five minutes it all that it takes, removing the wheels, pedals and letting some air out of the tyres before fitting the wheels into the interior moulded sides and you’re ready to go.

The clasps are also able to take secure locks and your precious handlebar and seat settings can remain in place, because how many riders actually know their ideal saddle height. Even hydration systems can generally stay in place too. This new addition is designed for all Road bikes, the larger Enduro Mountain Bikes, Gravel, Cyclocross bikes plus some types of Touring bikes. We managed to fit an Easy Fit and a Premium Bike Box Alan into the boot of our Audi A4 easily, with room to spare for bags. At the top of the range you can get GPRS tracking too, so that should the worst happen, you’ll be able to locate your expensive bike, even if it ends upon the wrong aircraft!

When you look at the soft sided alternatives on the market, it’s hard to comprehend the mind that thinks it’ll look after your pride and joy. My own current favourite bike is my custom built Bianchi, finished with 3T and Vittoria, and there’s no way that I’d trust it to something that in essence in no more protective than wrapping a 15 tog quilt around your frame and attending church each Sunday in the hope that the cycling gods will look kindly on you and deliver the baggage handlers of the world from evil. Truth is guys that it just won’t happen, because they’re often on minimum wage, working to pressurised timeframes and limits and haven’t got the time to carefully and delicately place you’re bike down. No, air transport is a rough game and all too often bikes in poor quality bags and boxes get damaged beyond repair.

Yes, cheaply made boxes are just as vulnerable. That made in China bargain on the Internet might well leave you with enough money to splash out on a new dropper post, but you’ll have no carbon mtb to fit it to if your box simply falls apart at the airport Olympics, where box throwing is the main attraction. When Alan and his team did their drop test from the viaduct, they also dropped a Chinese made alternative … I won’t go into detail, but it wasn’t pretty!

Alan and the team in Yorkshire are proud of the boxes that they make. Visiting the workshop and speaking with the team of artisans that put the boxes together, I was in awe of their professionalism, skill and care as they refined each element to ensure that every Bike Box Alan has their hallmark of quality, strength and performance.

Yorkshire is the home of cycling within the U.K. and is widely respected as one of the greatest cycling locations globally. It makes perfect sense that this proud county also makes the worlds best bike boxes, drawing on the engineering heritage of this industrial heartland to produce the Bikecation protection that the worlds greatest riders trust.

We’ll be testing the Bike Box Alan range into 2020 and beyond, travelling the world with our own bikes, all safely ensconced in this guardian of the gears.

Visit Bike Box Alan

Bike Racks and Boxes – pedalnorth

Bike Box Alan EasyFit on Team Training Camp

Team Training camp in delightful Sicily, Italy

by Alex Sabin, Bike Expert Team, Romania

Easy Fit Box & MTB

Travel to Train – Sicily

Winter Warm Training

All in all, Sicily… you are delightful!

The Best Bike Box in the World

Bike Box Alan Premium

Bike Box Alan Premium

BIKE BOX ALAN ORIGINAL

Bike Box Alan Premium – Safety & Strength

Ease of Packing

Accessibility & Ease

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