Advice on flying with a bike; how to pack a bike for travel

Mefster
Mefster Posts: 54
edited February 2009 in Workshop
Off to South Africa soon and have entered the Cape Argus Tour. Was hoping to Hire/Beg/Borrow a road bike for the event but I'm struggling to sort out a bike so I having to think about plan B- taking my bike from the UK.

I've never flown with a bike before (although I will be going Mont Ventoux for the Tour in the summer so will be flying/Eurostarring again)

Any advice on fling with a bike? I remember reading that soft bags are better as the hard cases are really expensive and heavy. Also unsure whether to hire a bag from a shop or if it would be cheaper to buy a soft bag.

I'd be grateful if anyone has any particular brands of bag to recommend (or avoid!) and any tips for packing the bike to ensure it gets there and back in one piece. If anyone knows of a shop in the Cheshire/Manchester area who hires bags (or if anyone has a bag to sell in the area) than that'd be a great help as well.

Flying at the end of the week so if I'm going to buy a bag I'll be limited to fast mail order or local.

Comments

  • mrushton
    mrushton Posts: 5,182
    www.bikeboxalan.co.uk has hard cases for hire (read terms and collection details). Hard cases are good but heavier. A Well padded bag is a good alternative but no guarantees with any of them. With our bag, we remove one pedal (don't forget to put it on the bag!), remove wheels, put in wheel pockets (packed with foam. Turn handlebars and loosen front of stem and turn handlebars under tt. Wrap entire bike in bubble wrap, use a chainkeeper on the rear-mech. Foam on bottom of bag for c/rings and fork to rest on. More foam/bubble-wrap and off you go - remebering to pack allen keys,saddlepack, any spares etc
    M.Rushton
  • pneumatic
    pneumatic Posts: 1,989
    One thing to get advice on is which way up to put the bike in the bag. I think the right way is saddle down (I've seen it done that way on a maintenance video) but I suppose it depends what you want to put at risk, your levers or your rear mech.

    I put pieces of wood between the drop outs. Next time I will also stiffen the corners of my soft bag with a couple of cut out plastic milk containers; one of my rear drop-outs was bent by baggage handling last time out and these might have cushioned the blow.

    Fast and Bulbous
    Peregrinations
    Eddingtons: 80 (Metric); 60 (Imperial)
  • cougie
    cougie Posts: 22,512
    Foam is your friend.

    Use pipe insulation on every single part of the frame that you can. You need a spacer in the rear triangle to stop it getting crushed, and I turn the forks to avoid the risk there. Take off the rear mech, bubble wrap it and tape it inside the triangle. Put the chain on the big ring to stop the teeth from ripping into things.

    Once you've finished - if you are happy to throw the bag - then it should be ok.
  • NaB
    NaB Posts: 105
    IMO bike boxes aren't really worth the money unless you fly all the time with your bike. I have used old bike packaging from Halfords and had no problems. Plenty of cardboard and foam etc inside the box does the trick. Agree it has to stand up to being dropped but that isn't a problem if you pack it right. Mine went in a box with pedals off and rear wheel still attached..handlebars turned sideways and seatpost off. Managed to survive Ryanair no probs!

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