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Welcome to Velo’s Sea Otter Classic coverage, where we share our favorite things we’ve seen at the 2025 show. Bikes, components, everything racing, and more: if we think it’s cool, you’ll see it. See the rest of our Sea Otter coverage here.
Instead of flying to Sea Otter, I drove. The reason for that 22-hour round trip drive came down to the availability of bike travel cases.
What I’m talking about is that I didn’t drive all the way to the Sea Otter show. Instead I drove to San Francisco then rode a very special bike south to the show. That bike is a custom painted beauty that you’ll be seeing a lot more about but it’s also got a one-piece integrated handlebar system that’s impossible to get off to pack in a bike travel case.
That means I need a bike travel case that accommodates leaving the handlebars attached. I’m also not alone.
More and more bikes are running cables internally with one-piece bar systems. If you travel you need something that is going to keep those bikes safe from baggage handlers and there are very few options on the market. Walking around Sea Otter I found two new entries into this growing market.
(Photo Josh Ross/Velo)
Orucase Sentinel
Orucase first made headlines for designing a case that let you pack a complete bike into a backpack. There was even a tag on it that marked the bag as something other than a bike to dodge airline fees. Things have come a long way since then.
The Orucase B2 is the current bread and butter of the company and it offers some of those early design features but it’s bigger. You’ll have to remove the handlebars but you can leave the fork in place and it still packs small when not in use plus lets you carry it as a backpack.
Now the Sentinel is hitting the market as the next generation. The core concept is still a lightweight design that’s easy to store and transport when not in use. What’s different is now there’s a full aluminum cage on the interior with enough room to keep the handlebar in place.
The idea is that you take the frame, with groupset and handlebar attached, then attach it to the frame system. It’s now locked in place and the combination of padding, wheels in wheel bags, and a rigid support bar (genius solution) that goes through the bars do the rest of the work to protect the bike.
If you are interested in the idea then check out the Orucase website for more information and purchase.
more images below
(Photo Josh Ross/Velo)
B&W International Bike Shield
One of the things that’s always been important to Orucase is the ability to carry a bag in a car easily and store it at a later date. That has always meant soft cases. If you don’t mind giving up that flexibility then you might be interested in a hard case and that’s where the B&W Bike Shield comes into play.
The Bike Shield is a hard case made of plastic. Given that this is a hard case, the structure is slightly different than the Orucase. Instead of a complete internal frame the Bike Shield only needs two metal uprights plus the base of the case. In this case you flip the bike frame upside down to attach it and B&W claims it will handle “road bikes, mountain bikes, and triathlon bikes.” With enough room that “the case easily packs bicycles with integrated cockpits.” There’s also room for two sets of wheels inside as well.
I’m told that this case is so new it’s not even on the B&W website yet so if you are interested in pre-ordering then for now you’ll need to check out a Walmart product page.
more images below
Additional bike travel case images
(Photo Josh Ross/Velo)
(Photo Josh Ross/Velo)
(Photo Josh Ross/Velo)
(Photo Josh Ross/Velo)
(Photo Josh Ross/Velo)
(Photo Josh Ross/Velo)
(Photo Josh Ross/Velo)
(Photo Josh Ross/Velo)
(Photo Josh Ross/Velo)
(Photo Josh Ross/Velo)
(Photo Josh Ross/Velo)
(Photo Josh Ross/Velo)