hi. I am going on a bus/train trip from NYC to western Massachusetts,
and I am bringing my bike. I have a beautiful Independent Fabrications bike, so I would be devestated
if something happened to it. Anyway, I figured I would buy one of these travel
cases for my bike, because I can't take it on the bus unless it's in something,
and I don't trust people throwing the bike around on the bottom of the bus.
Does anyone have any suggestions for a good case? Do you think there is much of a difference between any of them? Is there something specific that I should be looking for?
Thank you.

There are better ones out there, in that some are easier to pack than others, some may allow you to avoid the oversize baggage fees while others are soft cases and stuff. I have the very common Trico Iron Case which is a hardshell with foam inserts. It has protected my road bike on a trip to and back from Alaska from NJ, shipped to France last year to see the tour.

And the thing is that you can typically find these used from bike shops that rent them.

I would say that the Trico is about a 6.6 for ease of packing, it's not terribly difficult but there are some soft cases that are easier to pack but might offer less protection. I'm sure protection is a bigger issue than ease of packing but consider all the options.

Some of the nicer soft and hard shell cases out there are also very costly, like $100-$150 more than the Trico one...

jay