The Evoc Bike Cover offers a range of solutions for bike travel and storage. It's perfect for keeping hotel rooms clean right down to fitting into the back of your car or onto a train, and it's packable too, but I can't help thinking it's a little bit jack of all trades, master of none.
- Pros: Plenty of packing options
- Cons: Not the easiest to pack, not the most comfortable to carry
The Evoc's easiest and best attributes is its ability to take a complete bike, ideal for quickly storing a dirty bike in the home or keeping a hotel receptionist's nerves calm when you ask to take it to your room.
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To do this, you literally drop the bike into the bag and do the zips up, job done. You get a padded shoulder strap to carry it as well.
The second option is to drop the front wheel out and turn the bar. This keeps the length shorter if you have a small car or limited storage space. The bag has internal sleeves for the wheels, plus a pocket for pedals, quick releases, thru-axles and so on.
For robustness, the Evoc comes with a small panel that can be stuck under the fork dropouts using Velcro, so when you lift it the small cross-sectional area of the dropouts don't poke though the bag.
The third option is to take both wheels out, drop the saddle and remove the handlebar from the stem. Both ends of the bag can then be folded in to reduce the overall size, and it makes for quite a compact package.
With the bag being really flexible, though, it can be a faff to fit as you try to hold it upright while trying to drop the bike in.
There is no padding at all in the bag, so apart from not being any use for airline trips, it isn't the most comfortable to carry about. There are no wheels to drag it along so it's always going to be resting against your body as you move it around, which with a bike frame digging into you, can become a little tedious.
My main issue with the Evoc, though, is its price. We've reviewed the B'Twin 1-Bike Transport Cover in the past and although it doesn't offer all of the options of the Evoc, it'll take a bike with the wheels out and packed away for just £49.99 (it's gone up a tenner since the review).
Another option is the Tifosi Lightweight Bike Bag for £45.99. Again, it's a bag that requires you to take the wheels off the bike, but it looks to be great value against the Evoc's £114.95.
Yes, the Evoc Bike Cover allows you to drag a complete bike into a hotel room or car, but so does its Bike Rug for nearly half the price.
> How to fly with your bike
On the whole, I can see the Evoc being a good storage solution but for travelling there are many others out there that'll do the same job for a lot less money.
Verdict
A neat, quick solution for bunging a bike in the car or hotel room but for transport there are cheaper options
Make and model: Evoc Bike Cover
Size tested: 190 x 75 x 25cm
Tell us what the product is for
Evoc says, "The EVOC BIKE COVER is the number one transport bag for your bike. It's multifunctional and foldable, and protects your bicycle as well as the surrounding area from the dirt marks of your last tour. (And it's also perfect for any kind of bike storage)."
Tell us some more about the technical aspects of the product?
SPECIFICATIONS
360 l, 2200 g, 190 x 75 x 25 cm
Fits: road bike, triathlon bike, XC-, FR-, downhill, 29'' bike
Wheel compartments
3 packing options
Rate the product for quality of construction:
8/10
Rate the product for performance:
6/10
Rate the product for durability:
7/10
Rate the product for weight (if applicable)
7/10
Rate the product for comfort (if applicable)
6/10
Rate the product for value:
4/10
Tell us how the product performed overall when used for its designed purpose
It offers a decent amount of storage solutions, but for travel there are better, cheaper options.
Tell us what you particularly liked about the product
Being able to accommodate a whole bike.
Tell us what you particularly disliked about the product
Pricey against other bags.
Did you enjoy using the product? It had its benefits.
Would you consider buying the product? No
Would you recommend the product to a friend? No
Use this box to explain your overall score
The Evoc Bike Bag has plenty of versatility when it comes to storage, but for travel there are much cheaper options on the market like those I've mentioned in the review. It's not bad, so 6 overall seems right.
Age: 39 Height: 180cm Weight: 76kg
I usually ride: This month's test bike My best bike is:
I've been riding for: 10-20 years I ride: Every day I would class myself as: Expert
I regularly do the following types of riding: time trialling, commuting, club rides, sportives, fixed/singlespeed
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