Flying with a bike

how nice is your bike and how much work are you willing to put into boxing it? also where are you flying?

Get a hard case if you can afford it. Your bike will arrive undamaged.

If you don't have the cash get a Crate Works Box. They travel well too. They have lots of padding inside. 🙄

li rider said:

I will be flying overseas in a few weeks.

When I box up the bike, should I also deflate the tires?

Any other hints, please post away.

Our team flies somewhat frequently. We have flown to several areas out in Europe and everyone uses a hardcase. The team director has always told us that it works really well if you just take off both wheels, take off rear der, but leave cable still threaded through derailleur. Keeping the cable through the rear der makes it real easy to just throw on the derailleur and ride. No need to mess with the tension or anything. Best of luck to ya

Keep the tires inflated because it will protect the rims.

Even if they were in space there would only be a 14.7 PSI net difference so they probabaly won't pop, but you can always let 14.7 PSI out just to be sure😄!

Trek 1500. Flying NYC to Tel Aviv to participate in a charity bike ride on behalf of Alyn Hospital for Children. 300 miles through the negev desert from Jerusalem to Eilat.

I need the bike to arrive as good as it is when it leaves.

thanks for any advice.

carpediemracing said:

how nice is your bike and how much work are you willing to put into boxing it? also where are you flying?

if your in the US be carefull customs dont care about your bike one bit... A person i knew flew to a race with an expensive bike... it got messed up bad (prolly around 8-9k$). 200$ bike box smashed, latches broke off because it was locked, the chain bent and moveing all over the frame it was a carbon framed bike few months old..dont look new anymore...

li rider said:

Trek 1500. Flying NYC to Tel Aviv to participate in a charity bike ride on behalf of Alyn Hospital for Children. 300 miles through the negev desert from Jerusalem to Eilat.

I need the bike to arrive as good as it is when it leaves.

thanks for any advice.

I can't say I've flown to Tel Aviv but from what I understand from friends the security will be quite impressive. for those of us used to post-9/11 security, flying to Israel has always been 100x more secure than anything I've ever experienced.

this means making sure that your bike is accessible for security searches. no locks etc. a more organized packing job is preferable to one where you toss all your stuff into the bag/box - makes it easier to confirm there isn't plastique somewhere in there.

I've flown for many years (domestically, and as recently as earlier this year) with a soft case, sometimes with an extra pair of wheels, typically putting tools, powerbars, helmet (or two), seatbag, tires, tubes, etc. probably a camelbak based on the "300 mi through a desert" description of your ride. I've never had problems - flown cannondale 2.8, specialized m2, giant tcrs. however, I wrap everything in grey foam packing stuff that movers used when moving my parent's stuff. grey padding is prob not a great idea relative to security (they'd have to unwrap it to verify what's in there) - clear or semi-clear would be better (bubble wrap?).

Once I flew to Europe with an obscenely overweight bike box (46 kilos, over 100 lbs). I had two sets of wheels, my bike, 100 powerbars, my full tool kit, all my gear for Feb/Mar training/racing in Belgium, extra rims, spokes to rebuild wheels, tires, tubes, tape, etc. It was a double boxed Cannondale bike box, with the bottom completely covered in tape. I dragged it on the airport floors/sidewalks with no problems. the box was free from the bike shop. and somehow I wasn't charged any oversize fees.

some specific tips:
1. get an extra rear axle complete with nuts/locknuts. use your rear skewer and put it in the frame. this will help prevent the rear triangle from getting squished. you may be able to get a bad rear hub from a shop which they are throwing out.
2. do the same for the front. axle or hub. helps protect the fork.
3. remove your skewers from the wheels. they stick out too much.
4. remove the rear derailleur from the dropout. wrap to protect (maybe clear wrap instead of my grey stuff) and tape it to your chainstays. will prevent the derailleur from being ripped off the dropout and hopefully remove potential "leverage points" which could damage your chainstay.
5. remove your bar/stem and tape/strap/secure to your frame/fork. I use toestraps to secure the bar and wrap the bar/stem/frame in padding. because I have a (now standard) threadless stem, I remove the stem and put a couple inches of spacers on the headtube so that the fork doesn't move in the frame.
6. in order to preserve the cables, I end up removing the front brake as well.
7. remove seatpost/seat after marking position. I actually gouge my aluminum post (lightly) as well as write down the measurement since magic marker just rubs off.

after you pack your bike, shake it to see if anything moves. if it does, then make it so it doesn't. your packing job should be able to handle standard luggage handling - tossing it onto its side through air into the back of a car, things like that.

Although I never had any problems, I take pictures of my bike, packed up, before I go to the airport, in case something happens. I can post some pics if you're interested and if I can find them.

If you want to go the hard case route and don't want to shell out the money for said case, you might be able to rent one. shops in my area will rent you a bike carrier (typically it is one of the employee's). they'll ask for a deposit and charge you some fee. might run you $50-75.

I hope this helps.
cdr

Yeah i brought a Trico hard case .. to me it was expensive, but very much worth its price in gold. I went from Newark to Seoul and it arrived just without a scratch. By the way it comes with neat frame spacers for you forks so it keeps your frame nice and solid. One thing I noticed from serving overseas is that baggage handlers in foreign airports seem to handle you baggage a lot more gently than handlers in the U.S. I have had numerous problems with my luggage traveling throughout the US when i was on leave. Those are just my experiences.

You should watch out for the airline fee as some airlines do and some airlines don't. I wasn't charged for airline fees from United Airlines because I was traveling overseas and my flight was originating from the continental U.S..

Also I deflated my tires just because. I'm no rocket scientist, but I wasn't too sure what high pressures would do to an already pressured tire. I just packed up my floor pump since I had a hard case and had plenty of room.
Come to think of it. I had a friend who was asked to make sure his tires were deflated prior to check-in.

Hope this helps.

Thanks to all. I think I'll take the easy route and rent the case from the bike shop and have them box the bike.

BYT, El Al is not charging to ship the bike for riders on this charity ride, and you are all correct about security being tight.

li rider said:

Thanks to all. I think I'll take the easy route and rent the case from the bike shop and have them box the bike.

That's probably the best way to do it. I remember reading a couple threads where readers recommended sending bikes via FedEx or UPS instead of checking them in on a flight. Much better handling. I was going to try to find the thread for you but a search for "fedex" but unfortunately came up with like 300 spam threads about Nokia cell phones and some other [censored]. Speaking of which, don't they delete the spam on this board?

OK, found one: cyclingforums.comshowthread.phpOpen ↗

thanks.

Syrio Forel said:

OK, found one: cyclingforums.comshowthread.phpOpen ↗

Syrio Forel said:

That's probably the best way to do it. I remember reading a couple threads where readers recommended sending bikes via FedEx or UPS instead of checking them in on a flight. Much better handling. I was going to try to find the thread for you but a search for "fedex" but unfortunately came up with like 300 spam threads about Nokia cell phones and some other [censored]. Speaking of which, don't they delete the spam on this board?

Several riders here have used Fed Ex / UPS shipping rather than taking the bike with them on the airplane. They made arrangements with an LBS in the destination town at the start of their tour, and then send the bikes ahead about 10 days in advance of their arrival.

Before they left on the trip, they had confirmation that the bikes had arrived, so it was one less thing to worry about on travel day....not to mention the aggrevation having to lug the bikes with them through airport check-in.