Originally Posted by
mattm
Yeah I had these big plans to scam them, but it didn't happen.. the "ninja" cases require you to take off the cranks, fork, more than I wanted to deal with.
minor correction: with the 2 cases i now use, you only have to remove the pedals, fork, and post/saddle; cranks stay on, and stem stays attached to the bars. with larger cases you wind up removing the pedals, bars and post/saddle; stem and fork stay on
the interesting thing is that i thought the new cases i have which require me to remove the fork would be more of a pain, but as it turns out they are less of a pain. it is super fast to drop the fork out, and when reassembling there is less risk of things slipping when you clamp the stem to the bars vs reattaching the bars to a stem. also, it makes the bags smaller.
my bags are discreet; about 50% of the time i am asked if it is a bike. i say 'nope' and things continue on their way. with other cases? i got asked every time and if you deny it they absolutely know what is up.
with the smaller bags, they simply don't look like they can fit a bicycle, so denying it does not raise any concern. in fact, a buddy (a cyclist) picked me up to take me to the airport a few weeks ago, and he asked me where my bikes were--they're that stealth.
i have a
pika pack and
scicon aerocomfort (tt/tri) [zero disassembly on that one] that have their pros; i'm thinking of selling them, if anyone is interested.