Tern Link D8 Generic Case vs. Bike Friday TravelCase


Bike Friday World Tourist Folding Bikes have this awesome ability to fold up their bike into a suitcase and be checked as normal luggage.

No issues with oversize luggage
No extra fees
Pretty easy setup after landing.


I wanted this ability with my Tern Link D8 but I didn't want to buy an expensive $1000+ bike and an expensive trailer ~$500. So I bought a Tern Link D8 for about the same price as the Bike Friday Trailer.

I paid $550 used for the bike in 2013, and decided to figure out how to make the functionality that I wanted. I ended up spending $70 for check bag worthy case.

More on the Bike Friday Case, and the solution I came up with:



A case for the Bike Friday comes in at about $460 dollars, it's got this nifty way of becoming trailer, after it's been used as a flight case because for $460 dollar you don't want to lose it. The verdict is out if this is a good thing or not, it all depends on the type of touring you are doing. If you are on cramped roads you might be in for a surprise as the case has a much larger wheelbase than the bike and might not fit on that tiny no shoulder edge of the road where you want to be. The thing is you most likely have no idea what the road will look like and that is why you are going to bike there, so keep that in mind. But if you want you can carry stuff which is awesome, but may not actually that useful on a bike tour.



Enter the $70 Generic Case for $70 you can afford to leave it at the airport if you are going on a tour and if you need another one on the opposite end of you tour buy a new one when you get there.

So the first trip would cost you $70 for the flight out and $70 flight home, and every trip after would just cost $70 for the flight back.

Two other ideas that would work with either the Generic Case or the Bike Friday.
  • Stash it somewhere and tour in a loop and come back
  • Send it to the next location that you intend on leaving from, and pick it up when you get there.

The total time it takes me to but my bike together is about 30 minutes, about the same to break it down. In the video above the owner of the BF claims 11 minutes. I think I could manage 11 minutes. Maybe I'll try it one day...


1 comments:

  1. Hi Paul. Can't see a way to contact you on your site so I'm just commenting. I'd curious how you have found your tern to tour on compared to a full size touring bike?

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