Polaris Pro Wheel Bag

The Polaris Pro Wheel Bag is hardwearing and offers good padding to keep your wheels protected when they aren't on your bike. It's not a bad price either.

If you travel a lot with your bike in the back of your car, either for recreation or racing, then a quality wheel bag is a must to protect your wheels as well as your frame.

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If you're lucky, when you bought your spanking new top-quality wheels the manufacturer threw in a wheel bag, but if they didn't – or you haven't got any top-end wheels – then something like the Polaris here is a good option.

You can pick up various branded wheel bags for a lot less than this one, but they are normally promotional offers that don't last that long and don't offer much in the way of padding.

Value

At £59.99 the Polaris is the same price as the Profile Design Padded Wheel Bag and the PRO Double Wheel Bag. It comes in cheaper than the EVOC Two Wheel Bag at £84.99.

Construction

The Polaris' 600D polyester construction is the same as they use on their cargo bags, and it's certainly standing up to some abuse.

It's been in and out of the car, scuffed around the ground on both road and gravel trails while I've put the wheels back into various bikes, and chucked unlovingly into the shed over the last couple of months.

There isn't a scratch or mark on it, bar a couple on the plastic beading than runs around the edges for protection – but then, that's how that works.

It's a roomy bag too. Some I've used can be a tight squeeze when zipping in a wheel with fully inflated 25mm tyres, but the Polaris happily swallows wide gravel wheels with 40mm treaded tyres – in fact, there's room for larger.

The outer faces have 8mm of foam padding which helps the bag keep its shape, while also stopping your wheels getting damaged if something is placed on top of them.

The bag is broken into two sections – one for each wheel, to the surprise of nobody – and there are protectors on all sides to stop damage from the axle ends.

Centre top sits a small pocket that will take a couple of quick releases or thru-axles (although I often leave them in the frame), but that's about it though. It's not very deep.

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Sometimes I like to take the discs off before travelling, so it would have been nice to have a larger pocket inside each wheel section the way some competitors do.

Both sections get double zips, and there's a choice of handles: the small ones at the top for lifting, or the shoulder strap for carrying. On the outside, there's a small pouch for your details.

Overall

The Polaris bag does everything a good wheel bag needs to do. Some bags offer internal straps and the like, but you'll pay more for that. As it stands I think the Polaris offers good value for money, and being so scuff-resistant, it's going to last too.

Verdict

Roomy, hardwearing bag that protects your wheels for a very reasonable price