Taking Your Bike on a Flight

Holty74

Hi,

I've signed up to do the Barcelona Triathlon, however rather foolishy I hadnt considered how to get my bike there and back?

Has anyone done this before? if so could you give me some tips please?

Thanks

Steve

nicklouse

talk to the carrier as to what they require you to do.

generally the minimum is rotate the bars, remove the pedals and let the air out of the tyres.

Bags and/or boxes may be required by the carrier or by your insurer and if you wish to protect the bike.

Holty74

thanks!!!

Bronzie

Perhaps a bit of overkill for a single trip but I got a cheapish bike bag (£100) and built a wooden frame using ply and timber that just fits inside the bag. It has a couple of threaded rods to hold front and rear dropouts of the frame and solid ply sides which protect the important bits (rear mech, chainset). The wheels go either side of the frame in padded wheel bags (came with the main bag) further protecting the top of the frame.

To get the bike in the bag I need to:
1. remove pedals
2. remove wheels
3. remove bars from stem
4. spin the stem 180° so it's facing backwards

Don't bother to let air out of the tyres unless you take a track pump with you as you won't get back to decent pressure with a mini-pump.

I'll post a pick of my home-brew frame when I get home.

nicklouse

Don't bother to let air out of the tyres unless you take a track pump with you as you won't get back to decent pressure with a mini-pump.

the carriers can refuse to take the bike if the tyres are not deflated.

if you managed to get your bike on the flight someone was not doing there job or they did not know it was a bike.

mrushton

You can hire hard cases. Sigma do them and ALan do I think. of course it depends where you live.

For my partners bike, she has on On-One bag and she swathes the frame in bubble wrap after using pipe lagging on the tubes and on the bottom of the chainset. the handlebars and fork are turned but not undone and the fork end sits in a block of polystyrene. She leaves the seatpost and saddle in place. the wheels go in the pockets in the bag and polyeurathane foam is in their to protect the wheels. I have considered getting some kind of poly block to put over the rear mech. her cycling kit then goes in the bag. Remember you can take heavier items if you are paying and foam/bubble wrap weigh almost nothing.

keef66

having seen how a sealed packet of crisps inflates at 35,000 ft, I'd recommend deflating the tyres before handing over to the baggage handlers

Holty74

thanks for all your help people

shmo

Bronzie wrote:

To get the bike in the bag I need to:
1. remove pedals
2. remove wheels
3. remove bars from stem
4. spin the stem 180° so it's facing backwards.

When you take off the bars do you pull out the cables too or just hang them somehow? Read in another post that people recommended taking off the rear derailleur and wrapping it seperately, would the cable need to come out of that too? I spend ages getting my bikes shifting right would really put me off having to do it after transport.

Also how easy is it to get a bike bag of that size into your average hatchback? Would it be a all the backseats down job?

Bronzie

No - the bars fit vertically under/between the forks with the cables still attached. If you can't protect the rear mech just unscew it from the rear hanger and zip-tie it to the rear triangle so the gear hanger doesn't get damaged - no need to undo the cable clamp.

Takes me 10-15 mins to pack / re-assemble.

cougie

I have a chain reaction/neil pryde soft bike bag.

What i need to do is :

Put some foam in the bottom of the bag for the bike to rest on.

Put the bike on the big ring - so the chainset is less 'spiky'.

Remove seatpost and saddle. (after taping the height first).

QR skewers out.

Wheels off.

Rear Mech off.

Spacer for the rear triangle.

Loosen and turn fork 90% so it cant be compressed easily - (no need if you have a spacer.

Wrap all the tubes/levers/bars/everything in foam padding - and tape them on.

Let a little bit of air out of the tyres. Not too much as its protection - but the max increase you would ever get is 15PSI extra - so allow for that.

Tape the rear mech to the chainstay padding.

Put the wheels down alongside the frame.

Add as much packing as you can - in the form of clothes, or water bottles in the side pocket.

There will be track pumps at the tri - so dont worry about that.
Co2 canisters arent allowed - so smuggle them at your peril.

Remember to pack all the bits, and take the relevant allen keys with you.

Sorted !

Bronzie

Here's my home-brew bag frame - cheaper than the £80 metal ones and protects the bottom of the frame better IMO:

vermooten

I go to Europe by car. Hate flying.

(sorry this isn't very helpful I know)

attica

Worth checking your LBS - some hire out hard cases.

Having seen the damage that the outside of my borrowed-from-a-friend case suffered flying to Mallorca and back (bike was undamaged), I'd thoroughly recommend getting your hands on a hard case with lots of bubble wrap and pipe lagging

Parsnip49

Its down to luck - i packed my bike as well as possible - even had my sleepingbag in with it, and they still managed to crack the carbon steerer.

On the plus side, im getting 300 quid from insurance for a new fork - make sure your insurance covers you and make sure you have a plan incase it does get damaged - check out lbs websites before you go etc.

synchronicity

Bronzie wrote:

Here's my home-brew bag frame - cheaper than the £80 metal ones and protects the bottom of the frame better IMO:

Awesome!

That certainly beats spending £200-600 on a plastic case...

Bronzie

Shmo wrote:

Also how easy is it to get a bike bag of that size into your average hatchback? Would it be a all the backseats down job?

Yes - I've got a Passat Saloon and need to lay the rear seats down to get it in - certainly not as flexible as just having the bike loose in the bag, but because the frame and bike fit tight in the bag, not only does it stand upright on it's own but the bike is less likely to get damaged moving around in the bag.

Bronzie

synchronicity wrote:

That certainly beats spending £200-600 on a plastic case...

If I could justify spending that sort of money on a hard case then I probably would, but not for the handful of flights I've taken my bike on