Transporting to South Africa

Noel PT

Hi Guys,

I will be travelling to South Africa end of the year and wanted to take my bike with me. What is the best way to transport it. I presume I already know the answer. But was hoping someone had done this previously and had a few tips.

I was planning on taking wheels and rear deraileur off and putting it in a bike bag? Is this the best way? Or does anyone know what it would cost to ship it a few weeks or a month earlier as I have a second bike I could use?

My biggest concern is the baggage handlers!!!! I have seen what my bag looks like after a long trip and it scares me to death to think what they would do with my bike!!!!

Any ideas or tips would be great appreciated.

BenS999

A bike bag is fine, and a very good idea to remove the RD. When i travel i get a load of bubble wrap in and wrap some around each part of the bike (all the tubes/components etc), i basically just go bubble wrap mad in the front room for about 2 hours! Once thats done i put it in the bag and fill every spare place in the bag with more bubble wrap.

Always worked ok for me....

Noel PT

Cheers mate, gonna go bubble wrap mad!!!!! Its so hard to let somebody else handle my pride and joy!!! I really wish I could just wheel it on the plane and leave it in the isle next to me!!!

BenS999

Thats a much better idea - next time i go i will ask if i can setup my bike and turbo trainer by the bulk head seats, never mind a baby keeping everyone awake wait till that fan spins up! lol
I'm from SA (living London) - where are you going riding?

Noel PT

I contacted the guys from Giba Gorge in Maritzbug and then, I am planning on finding some routes around Richards Bay. I am gonna be staying with family out there for a few weeks. I am also going to Cape Town for a wedding and planned on squeezing in a ride there if possible (might be a little optomistic).

The riding looks fantastic in SA at the moment!! Its really seems to have taken off. Its not as big as here, but the guys that are involved seem to be super dedicated!

Wooliferkins

Foam pipe lagging is good for protecting your tubes etc in a bag and less time consuming. There are the hardshell cases like the one from Polaris. My soft bag has a frame inside that holds the bike in place wth QR skewers. If your bag hasn't got these then your LBS should have loads of the plastic braces that frames and forks come fitted with to protect dropouts. The times I've used my bag with commercial airlines I poly bagged my clothes and used them as buffers around the bike.

Noel PT

I like the idea of putting my clothes in with the bike! I am gonna have to take ect riding kit, that I normally wouldn't take so I wasn't sure how to take it. But thats a good idea! I will go have a chat with the lbs and see what they have cheers mate

The Northern Monkey

See if you can get a "hardcase" bike bag. less likely to get bent wheels etc that way.
like this > http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... elID=18012

rbonegio

Are you road or MTB? If you have disc brakes, you might want to take the rotors off, as mine got badly bent on a recent flight (those baggage handlers again!). I had also put the bike up-side down in the bag and had suspension fork oil leak all over the place - this might have been down to faulty seals, though best to check with your bike shop on this. Forgive me for stating the obvoius, but you should deflate your tyres or they may burst in the hold, and again if MTB, keep an eye on weight as you'll probably need to fit all your luggage, including the bike and bag, under the total limit (usually about 25kg). Not sure if this is the same with all airlines, but I think most allow 10kg for golf bags but 0kg for other sports equipment - ridiculous!