If like us, you’ve had your bike damaged during transit, then the range of products from Bopworx may be what you have been looking for. The product range from the new Irish company has been developed to protect your bicycle and its surroundings while transporting a bike on a car rack, in a car, in a bike bag/box and even during storage.
It’s a Kickstarter run by two Irish founders and for those who do make pledges, they can save over 30% on the manufacturer’s suggested retail price.
The company was founded by Paul and Ciara McGriskin who found that their bikes were getting damaged during transit and that there was no available solution to prevent this damage. So after a number of years going through various revisions of their designs, they’re ready to launch.
We trialled their products and we have to say, we were very impressed. Prior to now, we would have used a combination of bubble wrap, polyethylene pipe insulation and cardboard when travelling with a bike by car or plane, but the Bopworx products are so much better.
We reviewed four of the six products which are available on their Kickstarter page, the bike bumper, double bumper, rear derailleur guard and fork guard. These four products will be available in November or December. The two other products, the fork stand and bop wraps, will be available in January or February 2016.
Bike Bumper
The purpose of the bike bumper (shown below) is to protect your bicycle frame from damage in transit or storage. We found that the product was very easy to fit. It’s made from a hard rubber with a rubber strap which fits around the fork or tube. The rubber strap was really easy to use and it could be tightened within seconds. It’s sturdy enough to provide us with the confidence that it would withstand any impact the bike is likely to take.
Double Bumper
The double bumper is basically a double version of the bike bumper, which has been specially designed to protect multiple bikes mounted on a rear or hitch car rack. You just fit the double bumper around the parts of the bikes which you feel are vulnerable and likely to hit off each other during transit. Once again, it was very easy to fit.
Fork Guard
The fork guard protects your forks from damage in transit or storage, and it also protects your vehicle interior from fork tips. Once again, the product feels really strong and is very easy to fit. Another benefit of this product is that it prevents your forks from touching the ground if you’re assembling your bike or doing work on it.
A nice touch with this product is that a detachable caliper spacer keeps your disc brake pistons from closing if you have disc brakes, yet snaps cleanly out of the way if you have conventional brakes. As disc brakes become more common, this is a nice bonus feature which will appeal more as time goes on.
Rear derailleur guard
The rear derailleur guard protects your rear derailleur and hanger while in transit or storage. Once again, this was easy to use. We just had to open the quick release, insert the guard and close the quick release. It guards against any impacts to a particularly vulnerable part of the bike.
Bopworx are currently looking for pledges on Kickstarter and for those who do make pledges, they can save over 30% on the manufacturer’s suggested retail price. The link to the Kickstart page is:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/bopworx/bopworx-bicycle-protection-where-you-need-it
