Can you hire a bike case for travel

Walrus said:

A mate of mine is flying to Noosa from Melbourne, but doesn't have a
bike case. Does anyone know of a shop that hires cases? Any other
ideas?

--
Walrus

I have two points and will extrapolate from there...

Steven carefully packed his bike in a hard case with the recommended
foam and it came back with the carbon fibre cracked. New frame required.
He borrowed this case but it was worth several hundred dollars.

I put my bike in a Qantas bike box and only removed the seat & post, the
front wheel, and turned the handlebars (because of tri bars on there) -
even left the pedals on - and had nil damage. This case cost me about
$15.

Tam

quote='Tamyka Bell'Walrus said:

A mate of mine is flying to Noosa from Melbourne, but doesn't have a
bike case. Does anyone know of a shop that hires cases? Any other
ideas?

--
Walrus

I have two points and will extrapolate from there...

Steven carefully packed his bike in a hard case with the recommended
foam and it came back with the carbon fibre cracked. New frame required.
He borrowed this case but it was worth several hundred dollars.

I put my bike in a Qantas bike box and only removed the seat & post, the
front wheel, and turned the handlebars (because of tri bars on there) -
even left the pedals on - and had nil damage. This case cost me about
$15.

Tam[/QUOTE]Thanks Tam...did you have to add lots of padding inside the box?

Walrus said:

Tamyka Bell said:

Walrus said:

A mate of mine is flying to Noosa from Melbourne, but doesn't have a
bike case. Does anyone know of a shop that hires cases? Any other
ideas?

--
Walrus

I have two points and will extrapolate from there...

Steven carefully packed his bike in a hard case with the recommended
foam and it came back with the carbon fibre cracked. New frame
required.
He borrowed this case but it was worth several hundred dollars.

I put my bike in a Qantas bike box and only removed the seat & post,
the
front wheel, and turned the handlebars (because of tri bars on there) -
even left the pedals on - and had nil damage. This case cost me about
$15.

TamThanks Tam...did you have to add lots of padding inside the box?

--
Walrus

I still had cut foam cylinders for the tubes, from when I bought my
bike, and a fork protector (empty skewer does the trick) and just added
a little bubble wrap around the pedals and wrapped the front wheel in a
towel so it wouldn't shift too much.

Tam

Walrus said:

A mate of mine is flying to Noosa from Melbourne, but doesn't have a
bike case. Does anyone know of a shop that hires cases? Any other
ideas?

I took my mtb from Sydney to Cairns recently, without problems.

I went to my friendly LBS and picked up a used bike box for free.
Bought some packing tape and restored it to box shape (it was squashed
flat for storage).

I took off the front wheel, pedals, rear derailleur, chain, seat and
post, and handlebars. The bars I wrapped in bubblewrap and taped to the
forks - I didn't remove any cables or hoses at all. I'd heard that
swimming pool noodles (the hollow ones) were good for wrapping around
frames, so I got hold of one, sliced it down the middle and taped it to
the frame. I also had some old handgrip tube I sliced and wrapped
around the rear shock. But I still wasn't happy. I found an old camping
sleep mat - the compressed foam thingies - bewdiful. I cut this stuff
up and covered the bits I'd missed - forks, bits of frame, and over the
rear end. I also used some small bits over the axle ends so they
wouldn't punch through the box. Then I taped all the other bits I
wanted to the wrapped frame - pumps, toolkit, QR skewers, spare tube,
shoes seat and post, etc. I taped the deailleur to the inside of the
swingarm.

It was a real PITA to cart around, and wouldn't fit properly in the
taxi we hired from the airport (he just didn't shut the boot, holding
it down with occy straps), but it worked well. The box arrived in
Cairns undamaged, and suffered the most damage in the bloody taxi
(boofheaded, ham fisted cabbie), but the bike was completely undamaged.

On the return trip (both Virgin), there was a hole punched in the box,
but nothing was missing, and again, the bike was undamaged. I think
good padding and taping was the key. Of course, a Kona Coiler has a
*slightly* more solid frame [1] than a carbon roadie ;^) - that
probably helped too.

Tony F
[1] read as very solid and heavy, suitable for freeriding duties

thefathippy said:

Walrus said:

A mate of mine is flying to Noosa from Melbourne, but doesn't have a
bike case. Does anyone know of a shop that hires cases? Any other
ideas?

I took my mtb from Sydney to Cairns recently, without problems.

I went to my friendly LBS and picked up a used bike box for free.
Bought some packing tape and restored it to box shape (it was squashed
flat for storage).

I took off the front wheel, pedals, rear derailleur, chain, seat and
post, and handlebars. The bars I wrapped in bubblewrap and taped to the
forks - I didn't remove any cables or hoses at all. I'd heard that
swimming pool noodles (the hollow ones) were good for wrapping around
frames, so I got hold of one, sliced it down the middle and taped it to
the frame. I also had some old handgrip tube I sliced and wrapped
around the rear shock. But I still wasn't happy. I found an old camping
sleep mat - the compressed foam thingies - bewdiful. I cut this stuff
up and covered the bits I'd missed - forks, bits of frame, and over the
rear end. I also used some small bits over the axle ends so they
wouldn't punch through the box. Then I taped all the other bits I
wanted to the wrapped frame - pumps, toolkit, QR skewers, spare tube,
shoes seat and post, etc. I taped the deailleur to the inside of the
swingarm.

It was a real PITA to cart around, and wouldn't fit properly in the
taxi we hired from the airport (he just didn't shut the boot, holding
it down with occy straps), but it worked well. The box arrived in
Cairns undamaged, and suffered the most damage in the bloody taxi
(boofheaded, ham fisted cabbie), but the bike was completely undamaged.

On the return trip (both Virgin), there was a hole punched in the box,
but nothing was missing, and again, the bike was undamaged. I think
good padding and taping was the key. Of course, a Kona Coiler has a
*slightly* more solid frame [1] than a carbon roadie ;^) - that
probably helped too.

Tony F
[1] read as very solid and heavy, suitable for freeriding duties

The Qantas bike box comes with free handles for easy management,
especially if you're a short@rse lightweight like me ;-)

Tam

Tamyka Bell said:

thefathippy said:

Walrus said:

A mate of mine is flying to Noosa from Melbourne, but doesn't have a
bike case. Does anyone know of a shop that hires cases? Any other
ideas?

I took my mtb from Sydney to Cairns recently, without problems.

I went to my friendly LBS and picked up a used bike box for free.
Bought some packing tape and restored it to box shape (it was squashed
flat for storage).

I took off the front wheel, pedals, rear derailleur, chain, seat and
post, and handlebars. The bars I wrapped in bubblewrap and taped to the
forks - I didn't remove any cables or hoses at all. I'd heard that
swimming pool noodles (the hollow ones) were good for wrapping around
frames, so I got hold of one, sliced it down the middle and taped it to
the frame. I also had some old handgrip tube I sliced and wrapped
around the rear shock. But I still wasn't happy. I found an old camping
sleep mat - the compressed foam thingies - bewdiful. I cut this stuff
up and covered the bits I'd missed - forks, bits of frame, and over the
rear end. I also used some small bits over the axle ends so they
wouldn't punch through the box. Then I taped all the other bits I
wanted to the wrapped frame - pumps, toolkit, QR skewers, spare tube,
shoes seat and post, etc. I taped the deailleur to the inside of the
swingarm.

It was a real PITA to cart around, and wouldn't fit properly in the
taxi we hired from the airport (he just didn't shut the boot, holding
it down with occy straps), but it worked well. The box arrived in
Cairns undamaged, and suffered the most damage in the bloody taxi
(boofheaded, ham fisted cabbie), but the bike was completely undamaged.

On the return trip (both Virgin), there was a hole punched in the box,
but nothing was missing, and again, the bike was undamaged. I think
good padding and taping was the key. Of course, a Kona Coiler has a
*slightly* more solid frame [1] than a carbon roadie ;^) - that
probably helped too.

Tony F
[1] read as very solid and heavy, suitable for freeriding duties

The Qantas bike box comes with free handles for easy management,
especially if you're a short@rse lightweight like me ;-)

Tam

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