Preparing bike for bike bag and flying with 2 panniers...

KnightOfTheLongTights

1. Please could someone give me an idiot's guide / list on what I need to do with my bike to put it into an EVOC bike bag.

2. I will have two panniers as take-on luggage and am flying with Ryanair / easyJet : I was thinking of just strapping them together to make them 'one bag'. Will I get away with this? Is it better to stash one in the bike bag if there is room?

Ta.

andymiller

It might be worth googling for how-tos on packing for a flight. But as a starter protect any bit that's exposed and could be damaged if subject to impact etc: eg the rear mech.

I rarely fly but I thought there was a 23 kg limit on any single item: if you strap two panniers together, and there's no risk they will come apart, and the combined weight is less than 23kgs then I'd have thought you might be OK (I say 'might' - we're talking about Ryanair here). Putting a pannier into the bike bag probably isn't practical.

KnightOfTheLongTights

thanks Andy - yeah of course those youtube guides can be pretty handy for this sort of thing...

andrew@snowrace

Have flown with Ryan air and easy jet no problems with paniers with iether if you can fly fly monarch only £25 for the bike and no wieght isues if you put paniers in with the bike

andymiller

A quick thought: would a single pannier fit into the Ryanair hand luggage size checker? Stuffed full I very much doubt it, but half full possibly. Could be worthwhile checking - or someone on here may know.

biped

Hi. I've flown a bit with bikes, so I hope I can be of some help. I don't know what a EVOC bike bag is but unless it is a bag moulded to fit round a specific sized bike then I'd advise packing the bike in a cardboard box (free from your local LBS) and sticking the panniers and as much bulk as you can get away with in there with the bike to act as padding. Also: take the rear mech off and tape/cable tie it to the frame, tape any loose bits like the saddle and handlebars so they don't damage the frame. Get plastic braces for the drop-outs, (again free from your LBS) and tape them in place. When you get to your destination, ditch the box and get another one for the return trip from the nearest bike shop.
We did this last year: flew to Toulouse, binned the boxes in a nearby skip, went round the Pyrenees for 18 days, came back to Toulouse and salvaged one of the boxes from the skip, and got another from a bike shop we had rung in advance.
Good luck and have a good trip.