Today’s reader question:
I need a snowboard bag. Out of all the snowboard bags which one should I get? I looked at the Burton Wheelie Locker at my local shop and it’s huge and really fits everything I own (and then some!) – would you recommend it?
Honestly… no. For most people I wouldn’t recommend the Burton Wheelie Locker (or any giant snowboard bag).
Here’s why huge sized snowboard bags are usually not needed and can cost you money:
This is my snowboard bag:
This is a Dakine Low Roller and it’s a medium-ish sized bag. It fits 2 sets of snowboards (if bindings are taken off) plus my outerwear, mid-layers, base layers and any other bits and pieces I have like goggles, helmet and gloves.
When filled with the above gear it’s basically 100% full and it weighs about 22-23 kg.
The is huge sized snowboard bag:
This is a Burton Wheelie Locker and it’s a huge snowboard bag. It fits everything I mentioned earlier and the rest of your regular clothes and luggage as well. Simply put, this bag is humongous.
At first this extra space may sound awesome, but here’s the problem: The weight limit for most airlines is about 23 kg before they start charging you overweight fees. Plus just the bag alone weighs about 3 kg more than most medium sized bags.
So basically if you have this bag you can actually fit less gear inside it before you end up over 23 kg. Oh and even if you pay overweight baggage fees you still won’t be allowed to fill it over 32 kg because bags over that weight are against occupation safety rules in most airports.
There are rare situations where the clerk will be in a good mood and ignore your overweight baggage, but in almost every other case you’re going to get hit by overweight fees if you fill a mega sized bag, like the Wheelie Locker, anywhere near the brim.
I suppose you could be female and have the ability to smile your way out of overweight fees. My girlfriend somehow gets away with this, but personally I haven’t had any luck trying to get the same tactic to work for me. Trust me… I’ve tried.
This is why I usually suggest a nice medium sized bag like the Dakine Low Roller or Burton Wheelie Gig Bag for almost everyone.
A large majority of people won’t find a mega sized snowboard bag any more useful than a medium sized bag, unless you’re happy to pay overweight fees or you never travel by air.
The Dakine Low Roller would honestly be my pick as a great all-round bag, plus it’s usually a tiny bit cheaper than the similar sized Burton Wheelie Gig Bag.
– Jed