Have bike. Will travel.

[onie1817]

I just started cycling. I would like to join tours around the country, if time and budget allows. Whats the best way to have a bike when your travelling, cost and convenience wise. Do you ship it? Do you fly with it? Do you rent? Or strap it to your car?

 

[drummerboy1248]

I have not flown with a bike in quite awhile, but a friend flew in to a 24 hour event we did earlier this year. I forget exactly what she said it cost, but I do remember that it was danged expensive. I guess the airlines are charging alot more for baggage and I believe the size (dim weight) of a bike box runs the bill up. If you have someone at the delivery point, UPS is reasonable. You can also have them hold it at their depot and you pick it up. Better have a decent bike box to protect your stuff though. If I drive, I take my own on a rack. I did rent a bike to do the Kona Ironman cycle route a couple of years ago. You end up with whatever they have available, and dialing the fit in was kind of up to me, but they gave me a multi tool to take along so I could make adjustments. It was a Giant TCR. So it was a quality bike anyway.

When you say "tours", I don't know if you mean one day centuries or multiple day touring. But if I was doing multi day rides, I would want my own bike. The ones I have done were minimum 75 miles/day. It was hard enough without a poor fitting bike or a saddle that didn't work well for me.

 

[Froze]

A lot depends on circumstances, I know a guy that tours all the time and when he goes to a different country he gets for free a cheap bike box from a LBS then discards it once he picks it up in the other country, then just finds another LBS there to get a box for the return trip. If you box it, cover all the frame and fork with foam pipe insulation it's cheap and works. He covers the entire frame by cutting to fit the tubes, covers the forks, covers the handle bars; wraps all loose parts like seat, the handlebars again, pedals, crank which he also ties to the chainstay, etc with bubble wrap. Places a piece of wood about 2" inches round between the fork blades at the dropouts to prevent the forks from getting bent. covers the wheels with bubble wrap and deflates the tires to about 20psi by air, seals the box with wide strapping tape and off he flies. Uses his panniers as suitcases on the plane, puts the pannier frames in a different box sometimes with a bag.

There are sites that can show you how just search.

But he has a Rivendell, and he has shipped his bike like this 5 times to other countries with no problems other then the escalating cost of doing it over the past few years.

 

[onie1817]

Thanks for the replies. I'm in the northern part of the US, I can't really ride outside during winter season, so I'm looking at tours on the other states where its warmer, a weekend thing. So, shipping is kinda expensive and cumbersome. That leaves me with two choices: Getting there early to rent and get fitted for a 1 day ride or short ride. Or drive myself there. Oh, the hassles we go through to get a fix./img/vbsmilies/smilies/smile.gif

 

[Froze]

You could package the bike up like I mentioned and go Grayhound with it? Or if your going initially to a friends or relatives house before heading out you could ground FedX it there then pick it up upon arrival and go.

 

[kdelong]

As far back as I can remember, the airlines have charged exorbitant rates for handling bikes. It got to the point where I checked the box in as "Exercise Equipment" and it was much less expensive. However, now that they either look in or x-ray every piece of checked luggage, I just ship my bike UPS or Fed Ex to my hotel. I arrange the shipment to arrive a day before I do and ask the hotel to hold the bike until I arrive. It's less expensive and easier than trying to arrange transport for my bike from the airport to my hotel.

However, if I am driving to my destination, it travels along in the truck. I have a nice locking truck bed carrier, with a cable through the wheels and frame locked to one of the cargo tie downs in the bed.