Designed to provide reliable protection during transport, Bud Sports’ Roll Bag Pro does exactly what it says on the tin. It’s easy to use after a browse of the somewhat hidden instructions; it comes with all you need to keep your bike safe, and provides handy storage for other bike-related bits and bobs. However, its aim to please both road and mountain bike riders ends up excluding riders of larger modern MTBs.
- How to pack bikepacking bags – carry everything you need and more
- Blackburn Outpost HB Roll & Dry Bag review
- 10 of the best bikepacking frame bags for gravel bikes – tried and tested packs that are the best you can buy
Buds Sports Rollbag Pro – Technical details
Thanks to its wheels-off design (with pockets built in for them), the Rollbag Pro is a rather compact unit that’s built to carry road, gravel, and mountain bikes. With that, the brand says that it can be used to transport bikes by plane, car, and bus. Then, as it complies with SNCF luggage rules by measuring in at 130 x 90cm, it can be thrown onto trains across France and Europe.
As well as a pair of offset wheels, the Rollbag Pro boasts a range of handles across its upper with another at the corner opposite the wheels, so there’s plenty of grabbing opportunities. On top of the bag itself, Buds also includes five extra accessories that boost its protective qualities.
Those are a bar wrap, a bottom bracket stabilising slab of foam, a derailleur protector, a fork wrap, and a wrap-around protector for the top and down tube. Additionally, there are also a pair of corrugated plastic panels that slip into external pockets on the bag to add rigidity and another hint of protection.
The plastic panels come in handy, too, as the Rollbag Pro is mostly of a soft design that uses a high-density foam throughout. That is, apart from the floor panel, however, which is stiff and equipped with shock-resistant and tear-resistant bumpers, says the brand.
The bag comes equipped with a few pockets – the aforementioned pockets for the rigid plastic panels, a set of interior pockets for the wheels, and another zipped pocket for any accessories. Also inside are a bunch of velcro straps that help keep the bike stable and in place.
Finally, the bag weighs around 7.5kg, so there’s plenty of extra weight capacity for a bike, and anything else you’d like to throw in there without reaching a flight’s weight limit.
Buds Sports Rollbag Pro – Performance
I used the Rollbag Pro to transport a large Lauf Elja to Iceland for a race, and generally, my experience was pleasant, but it wasn’t completely trouble-free.
Of course, packing the bike is the first hurdle, and while not completely straightforward, it’s a manageable task. First off, there are no instructions included in the pack at all. Having begun packing the bike outside and away from a computer, it would have been great to have some kind of written instructions available, or at least a QR code that I could scan with my phone to learn exactly what each accessory is for without having to trawl Google.
That said, it’s merely a task of removing the wheels, strapping on the bottom bracket support, throwing a wheel into one pocket, and getting on with the job. However, with a wheel and bike in place, the bag wouldn’t stay upright, often falling onto me as I was trying to pack and protect other areas of the bike. That was until I realised that the two plastic panels were meant to be put in the pockets at either end of the bag’s exterior. Then, it stood up by itself, making the whole job much simpler. Additionally, the bag’s included derailleur protector didn’t really fit my bike, mainly because its rear end is so wide. I’ll let Buds off for this.
The bag isn’t without size issues, though. Where the Lauf Elja and its 1,218mm wheelbase fit rather snugly, I’ve had to remove the derailleur of my large Canyon Spectral that has a 1,251 mm wheelbase. No harm done there, but those who ride more modern bikes with longer wheelbases, or just extra-large sizes, might want to look elsewhere.
But with a bike in place, and secured better using the hook and loop tabs, there was plenty of extra room to store a hydration pack, consumables, and pedals, some of which went into the little zipped pocket inside.
Then, rolling the bag at the airport was a doddle. The wheels rolled smoothly, and the bag isn’t so large that it becomes especially cumbersome. It’s stable, too, unless some tired folk drive their luggage trolley into it… Thanks Heathrow…
On the other side, once landed, I unwrapped the bike to find it in the same condition as I had packed it. So its protection has proven to be fairly solid, given that it’s a soft bag.
But with my trip done and dusted, I’d like to clean the bag out properly. However, it’s all a textile interior, so it’s not exactly a wipe-and-clean task.
Buds Sports Rollbag Pro – Verdict
With a price tag of £550, it’s up there with some more established brands, like Evoc and its Bike Travel Bag. It’ll set you back £500 and it gets a wipe-clean interior, external wheel pockets and a built-in bike block. Those wheel pockets boast protective strips that should stop brake rotors from bending. It can also accommodate up to a 1,260mm wheelbase.
Thule’s RoundTrip bike bag brings the price up to £700, but it gets three wheels, so there’s no lifting involved when rolling it about, and it doubles as a work stand, which is super useful when packing and unpacking a bike. However, its wheel storage isn’t as refined.
The Buds Sports Rollbag Pro is by no means a bad entry into the travel bag market, as it does what it’s designed to do. It could do with a little more refinement to make life with the bag a little more straightforward, and instructions included in the bag itself would help when away from a screen. Just double-check the dimensions because space is limited for those who ride larger bikes.
You might also like:
- Gravel bike vs mountain bike: what are the differences?
- Will your next bike be a gravel bike?
- Best mountain bikes 2025 – top options from cross-country to Enduro
Product purpose:
Build extra:
Product construction
Product construction extra:
Product performance
Product performance extra:
Product durability
Product durability extra:
Product weight
Product weight extra:
product value
All the deals displayed on our review pages are pulled from a constantly updating database feed of the best affiliate deals available. The criteria for deciding on what are the best deals is who is offering the lowest, delivered price. In most cases we will be showing the very best deal available online, but sometimes you may be able to find an item cheaper. If you can please feel free to post a link in the comments box below. To find out more about affiliate links on road.cc click here.
