Dakine roller bag - High Roller vs. Low Roller

[BadBrad]

I'm looking at getting a new snowboard travel bag (still using an old purple Burton floppy case from the 80's). I'd like a nice padded case with wheels, and I'm looking at the Dakine roller bags. The High Roller is bigger, but I think the Low Roller will work for me, and is cheaper, easier to shlep through airports, and takes up less space in a vehicle. My longest board is a 173, so the Low Roller 175 should work.

Anyone here have a Low Roller? Does a pair of hard boots and 2 boards with bindings fit okay?

Any other good choices besides Dakine?

[Keenan]

I've got the high roller, 2 boards and boots fit pretty well. Actually I can fit my 183 if I put it on the bottom. I would suggest finding a retailer where you can take a look at the low roller before you buy. It might be a pretty tight fit and you don't want to blow out the zipper.

[crucible]

I'm looking to buy the Hi roller for myself- I can fit 4 boards in it with the Catek bases and powerplates on three of them and a complete OS2 fitted board on top.

The low roller doesn't give me any more advantage for 2-3 boards that a non-wheeled board bag does.

George

[BadBrad]

The low roller doesn't give me any more advantage for 2-3 boards that a non-wheeled board bag does.

George

For me the main advantages would be:

1. Wheels - lugging a bag with 2 boards, bindings, boots, tools, and maybe helmet and some of my bulkier outerwear is a pain. I've done it for decades, but I'd prefer not to.

2. Padded bag - my current snowboard case is not padded and doesn't offer much protection for the stuff inside.

[crucible]

I get what you're saying now...

I used to carry boots and boards in a dakine wheeled bag, but it was too heavy and unwieldy for air travel and my stuff kept getting beat up.

Now I just carry my boards and bindings in my snowboard bag. I use foam sleeping pads to insulate the boards from each other- and then use them for crashing on when I get to my destination. I don't use thermarest pads anymore because they can get punctured too easily.

For clothing, boots, helmet, goggles and tools, I use a rolling duffle bag that is made by Patagonia called the Freightliner. I find this bag useful because it's built to take luggage handler abuse, and is divided into enough compartments to be useful for a snowboarding roadtrip.

(http://www.patagonia.com/web/us/product/outfit.jsp?OPTION=OUTFIT_DISPLAY_HANDLER&catcode=MAIN_FA_US.CLOTHING_GEAR.PACKS/TRAVEL_GEAR&style=luggage_outfit_gear)

I carry my backcountry gear (shovel, probe, beacon, emergency kit, first aid kit, H20 bottle) in a small dakine heli-pack.

[mike g.]

I bought the Dakine Concourse, which is a ski bag. It has rollers. I think they the sell, it here. I got mine at the Snowshack.com . It's I little more but it comes with three pockets inside. Instead of on the two pockets out side.

________

PowerFlite

[kjl]

I use a Sportube series 3, which fits my 173 alpine board and my wider 172 Tanker.

It has wheels, and has held up to some airline abuse OK so far. It's nice to have the hard case to put stuff you don't want to get crushed (like my knee brace, etc.)

It's sort-of padded just at the very ends, but I just do the pipe-insulation trick to protect the edges and stuff the boards in there with boots and clothing to fill the rest of the space and it works out fine.

Takes up a lot of car space though because the height cannot be changed.

[willywhit]

Any other good choices besides Dakine?

there's a wealth of knowledge here on BOL

http://www.bomberonline.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=13432&highlight=dakine+concourse&page=2

http://www.bomberonline.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=12628&highlight=dakine+concourse

the Dakine Concourse is a bombproof bag, if they run them again on SAC for $40, I'm getting another one for kite gear.

[kjl]

the Dakine Concourse is a bombproof bag, if they run them again on SAC for $40, I'm getting another one for kite gear.

My Sportube fit my kiteboard and a 12m kite (and other misc stuff, like bars) on the trip I just got back from. Needed another bag for the 9m and the wetsuit, though.

[redriver]

I bought this wheeled and padded one for trips this year. My 175 and another board with bindings fit fine, with all my clothes and hard boots in between. Seems durable so far. This one checked bag then, plus my stuff in the carry on and I'm there.

http://www.sierratradingpost.com/p/4746,1380G_High-Sierra-Wheeled-Double-Snowboard-Bag.html

[redriver]

bindings and all weighs right at 50 lbs

[philw]

Another vote for SportTube. I probably said this in those referenced threads, but here it is again...

I have a garage lined with old Burton and DaKine wheely bags. I live in a flat place with no snow, so I have to fly a lot (don't worry: I have no kids so I'm way, way in carbon credit).

The best soft case you can get can be destroyed in one flight segment. The last top-of-the-line Burton I had, the handlers tore the handle from the end on the first flight segment... to SFO where they charged you for carts. Ever tried to wheel a wheely bag without the handle on the end? How the handlers must have laughed. Ever tried to get that sucker through about 8 more flights... well it's not funny after a while.

Enter the Sport Tube, at that time a special import from Colorado. I've been using it for maybe 5 seasons and it's kind of beaten up, but it's in one piece (well, two actually..) and it still works like new. My car doors are also in good conditon thanks to all the old bags I stuck on the walls of the garage.

Some tips:

• Don't pack hard boots in a board bag. They weigh a ton, and however you try to distribute them they are hard to handle in a single long bag. It's better to put boots in a separate bag. You can crab that to the hard board bag and wheel the thing as one anyway, but this keeps your board bag under 23kgs and easy to swing around
  
• You can sit on a Sport Tube and not worry about it. The edges of the boards will not rip the case at all, but stuffing board clothing in there stops the bindings rubbing against the other boards.
  
• Don't lock the thing as the TSA still live. I replaced the lock with a simple pin fastening, and I taped a back-up pin (never used) to the inside of the bag.
  
• If you write your name (but not of course your home address) on the outside of the bag then Americans you don't know will address you by your first name in check-in queues.
  
• The disadvantage of the Sport Tube is that it's not light - I think it weighs 5 or 6kgs empty. Don't overload it; it's easy in some respects to have one bag, but a heavy bag is much harder to deal with and you have more flexibility with two bags.
  
• Like hard boots, a hard shell case works better than softies.
  

[BadBrad]

I bought this wheeled and padded one for trips this year. My 175 and another board with bindings fit fine, with all my clothes and hard boots in between. Seems durable so far. This one checked bag then, plus my stuff in the carry on and I'm there.

http://www.sierratradingpost.com/p/4746,1380G_High-Sierra-Wheeled-Double-Snowboard-Bag.html

That looks like a pretty good deal. Are there separate compartments for the boots?

[BadBrad]

philw,

Those are great tips. Thanks.

My old Burton soft case has actually been super durable. I've had it since the 80's, and have used it on airline trips about once or twice a year since then, and nothing has broken or torn. I carry 2 boards with bindings, boots, some tools, and some bulkier outerwear in it. It is awkward to carry, especially with the boots in there, and it isn't padded so it doesn't offer much protection, but my boards have never been damaged while in the bag. It has a separate small boot bag, so the boots go together in this square bag, which goes inside the larger bag. I try to put the boots in the middle of the bag to balance it out, or I put them at one end and put other stuff at the other end to try to balance the load. Either way it's still a pain to lug through an airport, especially as my beard gets grayer, so I'm looking for something with wheels.

[redriver]

no separate comp. for boots in my bag, and I tend to agree with PhilW that packing boots with boards overloads the bag. Thinking next time I'll shift more soft stuff to the board bag, and get a semi-hard-side, carry on wheeled bag for boots. I'm trying to avoid the outrageous 2nd bag charges on trips. United and Frontier want $15 for the first checked bag, and I can live with that since it's mildly oversized anyway.

[LeeW]

as for boots, you might want to look into Spyder's "Government Camp" backpack which carries boots on the sides, which is nice.

[Dan]

[*]If you write your name (but not of course your home address) on the outside of the bag then Americans you don't know will address you by your first name in check-in queues.

:lol::lol::lol:

On the plus side, we gave the world Bomber, Donek and Catek.

[philw]

;-) absolutely, I was kind of joking about how friendly Americans are compared with most people.

I'm excluding the TSA from that obviously. Although a little chat with a Nigerian immigration official can make the TSA seem quite cuddily.

[willywhit]

That looks like a pretty good deal. Are there separate compartments for the boots?

gotta say, Dakine makes the best all around bags for gear.

I scored one of these for christmas a few years ago, love it. Not good for travelling long distance on planes but great for weekends etc. Boots in the bottom, everything else up top.

the Dakine Boot Locker also includes a tarp liner inside the boot compartment that doubles as a changing mat.

http://www.altrec.com/dakine/boot-locker-bag?cm_mmc=Mercent-_-NexTag-_-DaKine-_-26556-B&mr:referralID=7e780bf3-c1fa-11dd-a8aa-000423bb4e95