Drive By :: Rimowa Salsa Deluxe Cabin Multiwheel

For anyone looking at wheeled luggage, Rimowa should be on your list. For some the price will be too high, but for all it will give a benchmark for engineering, build and style. The Rimowa Salsa Deluxe Cabin Multiwheel is no exception, with nice details, typical Rimowa build quality, and refined aesthetics. There are things we’d do differently, but it’s a solid Cabin wheelie.

How’d we test it? Business trips, a bunch of them: 3 x China and 1 x South East Asia.

Who It Suits

So who should use a wheeled carry-on? To start, the only places you’ll look appropriate are going to, at, or on the way home from an airport or business hotel. They are the only natural environments for wheeled carry-ons.

But that compromise is worth it if you travel in a suit (and don’t want to crease the shoulders), are not athletic (and don’t want to crease your energy), or need to do a two-bag stack (for which spinners can bear the load).

So now that you know our opinion on this category overall, how about the Rimowa specifically? This case is for a very organized person, someone who wants to control their space rather than throw things in. If you generally don’t struggle with baggage weight allowance and/or you’re business class and they’re a bit more generous on it then you should have no problems with this bag.

“This case is for a very organized person, someone who wants to control their space rather than throw things in.”

We’d generally recommend it in black so you’d look a bit more stealth and pimped.

Who It Doesn’t

If you’re not a business flyer or non-athletic type, there are probably better bags for you. But that’s more about this format than this particular bag.

For carry-on spinners, there are both lighter and cheaper cases (which trade durability and organizing). If you’re traveling on economy airlines, you’ll probably want one of those lighter cases.

And while this case has some of the best organizing for shirts, all that organizing doesn’t deal as well with irregular loads. If you’re trying to take a helmet places it’s a bit more awkward to fit it into something like this.

The Good

The best aspects of the case are excellent organizing, the Rimowa brand name and reasonable looks (although not as attractive as many of their other bags).

The security code is fine with a fixed lock, but as with all spiral zips this is only partly useful, as you can win entry to the case very quickly just by pushing a pen through the spiral. The good side to having the fixed lock is that if someone has entered it, at least they can’t just run the zips over to hide the fact that they have. But heck, this is a carry-on bag, so it’s generally not about security because it should be with you most of the time.

The Cabin also plays really well with other bags you may be carrying. There’s the vertical aspect to spinners that means you can stack bags on top and push them around without having to support them.

“The Cabin also plays really well with other bags you may be carrying.”

There’s also a gear loop to hang additional bags from, though this feature works better in larger cases where you actually have clearance to make the most of it.

The castors themselves are made by TENTE, one of the world’s best castor makers, and are a good German-engineered product. The tyres are reasonably soft and the wheels are fairly large for this size of bag. They work well and spin pretty freely.

The hardware is fairly solid, with only a small amount of play, and we think it will age fairly well. The hardware does start to invade your useable space a bit but that’s the nature of this size of bag, and it’s quite hard to design a bag that doesn’t do that. It can be done but it’s hard.

The Not So Good

This is one of the most attractive luggage makers out there making vertical carry-on wheeled spinners. However, as mentioned above, this bag doesn’t quite carry it off as well as most. Rimowa are perhaps cramming a little too much of their standard hardware into such a small bag. That means it’s not as cohesive or beautiful as some of Rimowa’s larger bags, where the hardware is more in proportion to their size.

“Rimowa are perhaps cramming a little too much of their standard hardware into such a small bag.”

In terms of internal organizing, it’s a very attractive internal set. The features are lovely, it comes with a great manual and there’s loads of sections. The downside to it is it’s all a little bit heavy.

The organizers have a bit of a frame in them which is useful for shirts and suits and stuff like that but if you take them out you’re left with straps that you’ve also got to take out and then they don’t really nest well. So you basically have to use these or the bag is not quite as good.

“The features are lovely, it comes with a great manual and there’s loads of sections. The downside to it is it’s all a little bit heavy.”

The zip is only okay quality as a spiral. It’s fine, it’s just not really strong. It feels like a PVC piping around the zip housing, which we know can chunk out a little bit with use. But again, a carry-on is not going to get particularly abused because it’s with you most of the time.

Others to consider

LOTS of other Cabin Spinners have wheels that are too small, and jam on every carpet or ripple strip. Stay away from those.

Samsonite is the most obvious contender, also getting the larger wheels and better builds right. You’ll find them generally a little lighter for a little less cachet.

Victorinox is worth a look. eBags if you’re after cheap. And DELSEY if you want some extra personality.

Verdict

Spinners are great for a number of reasons: you can put extra load on them, they navigate tight spaces well, and you don’t have to hold them up the way you do a wheelbarrow style two-wheeler because they bear their own weight.

If you’re looking for more versatility, or if you’re traveling beyond just work, this is not the format to choose. However, if you really are living on a plane, and traveling with ironed clothes, the Rimowa Salsa Deluxe Cabin Multiwheel makes great sense. It will live up to its promise, keep your attire crisp, jump over small bumps and look sharp in the business lounges. It’s certainly not cheap, but that’s probably okay if this is your life.