Bike Box for a 10000mile flight

remy martin

Hi guys.
I am flying to Oz in a few months and am considering buying a hard case bike box like the one in the link below to ship my carbon framed bike:
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/ProductDetail.a ... 5300002584

The box is reasonable priced given the options and more importantly doesn't weigh a ton!

I did consider buying a padded bike bag and placing a cardboard box inside it to get some structure to the bag but am really paranoid of how a baggage handler may deal with it. The flight is direct to Oz so there shouldn't be any need to unload the plane until I reach my destination.

My question is twofold. Has anyone else flown that long a distance with a bike in tow and what steps did you take to protect your bike / Will a good padded bag and box within it do? To the credit of the airline I'm flying, they have noted that I'll be flying with a bike which I'm hoping is a good thing in terms of how they'll handle it.

Your views are much appreciated and thanks in advance.

schlepcycling

I've flown to both Oz and South Africa with my bike and I've used both a hard case and a bike bag. If you're going to use a bag then my advice would be to buy a load of pipe lagging tubes from any DIY store and wrap each bike tube with a piece (I even covered the brake levers) then remove the rear mech and wrap it in as much bubble wrap as you can then tape the whole thing between the rear chain or seat stays to guard against it getting crushed. I've also been known to remove the chain rings and wrap them in buddle wrap and again tape them somewhere on the frame to stop them getting bent, you'll also need to turn the bars round. You can buy bags with a frame built in that you clamp the bike frame to, so that it doesn't move about inside the bag.

Having said all that I've heard advice that says don't bother doing anything just remove the pedals and take turn the bars round, the reasoning is that the baggage handlers can see that it's a bike and so take more care!!!!.

Oh, and just in case make sure your bike is covered on your travel insurance.

jibi

I flew to Santiago, Chile, with a change in Madrid.and back change in Paris
Just had my bike in a LBS cardboard box, along with helmet, tent etc.

No problems.

It was BA, Iberia out and Air France back.

But it's not the airline its the airport handlers that load unload planes :-

I have flown with a bike several times, Ryanair, Easyjet, and from many different airports, and never had a problem with the cardboard box routine.


good Luck

keith57

I'd get one of these:

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/ProductDetail.a ... 5300002583

A lot more expensive - but no taking apart required at all - except for taking the wheels off. I used a hard case recently to fly to Spain and while it was fine - I found assembly and disassembly a bit of a pain at each end.