Bike Bags

Duncanandthemachine

Folks,

Just booked 10 days on a training camp (with Stephen Roche) in Majorca next month, very excited!

Can people share their experience of taking their pride and joy on a plane to be man handled by baggage handlers...

Any recommendations of good bike bags and general packing techniques etc greatly appreciated!

Cheers

hopper1

I haver a CRC bike bag, nothing special.
Go to your LBS and ask for some of the plastic braces that fit in between the front and rear drop outs, these stop your frame being damaged if squeezed under heavier baggage.
Remove pedals. Remove H/Bars and tie wrap them to the top tube. Deflate tyres. Remove rear derailleur and tie wrap up to the rear brake. Loosen your stem, turn your forks sideways, then align the stem with the top tube.
Pack some of your cycling kit with the bike, it'll help pad the bag out.
Don't forget your Track pump and tools, chuck them all in the bag, too.
Enjoy your trip.

Mister W

I have an On-One bag. My top tip is to put your bike in upside down. Then it rests on the seat and bars rather than the chainring and dropouts. I also used foam pipe insulation and bubble wrap to protect the frame as well as doing everything hopper suggests.

Mad Roadie

hopper1 wrote:

I haver a CRC bike bag, nothing special.
Go to your LBS and ask for some of the plastic braces that fit in between the front and rear drop outs, these stop your frame being damaged if squeezed under heavier baggage.
Remove pedals. Remove H/Bars and tie wrap them to the top tube. Deflate tyres. Remove rear derailleur and tie wrap up to the rear brake. Loosen your stem, turn your forks sideways, then align the stem with the top tube.
Pack some of your cycling kit with the bike, it'll help pad the bag out.
Don't forget your Track pump and tools, chuck them all in the bag, too.
Enjoy your trip.

I also take the spindles out of the heels as it reduces their width and point loads. No too sure deflating the tyre is that essential as I just knock them back to 80 (holds are pressurised too on modern planes otherwise how would animals survive - or Harrison Ford on Airforce One?)

to the OP - I tried the CRC bag, and used to have a hard case until the purchase of an ISP frame made both useless - now, and I have an EVOC bag - brilliant, expensive yes, but compare that to the price of the bike, and frequency of transportation. I fly my bikes regularly, but find the bags far more forgiving for back seat of the car journeys too. The bag is well designed too - lots of little zip pockets for pedals, spare cleats, tools and a roll of kitchen tissue etc

hopper1

Oh yes... Forgot ...
As above, pipe lagging and bubble wrap. Remove skewers and put them in the pockets in the wheel bags.
Nitrile gloves for the reassembly.

rc856

It's all been covered in the above posts but if you want a visual guide, have a
look on the Condor Cycles website. Go to their blog from June 2010.
From my own experience, me and a mate flew to Provence a few years ago.
I had a plastic case, quite thin and no padding and my mate used a bag which was really just thick canvas, no padding.
Bikes were adjusted/padded as already suggested and both survived fine!