Bicycle Travel Case

Has anyone purchased a case for your bicycle for airline travel? Did a quick search and did not find anything...

They are VERY expensive and am unsure exactly what I should be looking for other than a hard case with wheels. I have traveled with my bike packed in a cardboard bike box, but need something more durable. Although, I like the idea of putting a bike box in the recycling bin rather than finding storage space for a bike case...

This case is for travel to Europe by plane, train, and ferry!

Thanks for any advice you can share.
sarah

I saw in a post that DebW was packing her bike for travel. She may be traveling now, but I'm sure she would know.

I think I have commented extensively somewhere on this forum about my experience with a bike bag (soft, padded). I don't have the time to make a search right now but if you search for my name and messages with the word "bag" you'll probably find other relevant discussions...

http://forums.teamestrogen.com/showthread.php?t=14364

Hey Grog,

I found your post really useful...a hard case won't work for me but cardboard makes me nervous...I was wondering what type of bag you got?

Thanks,
Anne

Thanks everyone. I knew it would have been discussed before.

They are darned $$ and a bulky item. Being a flyer out of Denver, the soft cases seem a little too risky. I have taken kayaks, paddles, and paddling gear up and down the Americas which is a pain. A self contained bike bag/case will seem like a breeze!

sarah

Hey Sarah,

I didn't see that you were from the Ft. earlier... I live in Boulder. I know what you mean about luggage out of Denver, I am way more afraid of the handlers at DIA than I am the handlers in South America!

I am going to be flying into N. Patagonia and cycling down to Tierra del Fuego, then flying back to Santiago, so ideally I want something that I can ship within Argentina for less than the cost of the case, but I'd like a case because I'm not sure how much luck I'll have packing it up safely for the flight back otherwise...

Anne

I just flew with my bike. It has S&S Couplers and I have the 29"x29" hard case they sell for coupled bikes that avoids extra baggage charges. I watched the person behind the airline counter take my bike, put it on the conveyor belt, and then give it a shove so it fell over. Seems to have survived that (though I haven't ridden it since so my fingers are still crossed). The S&S coupled bikes get packed with padding on every tube and anti-crush posts inside the case and bridges in the forks and dropouts.

I can't say enough good things about my Pika Pack. Just remember all bags get searched from time to time, and to wrap your components in rags/towels/bubblewrap/whatnot to avoid cosmetic damage. My bag is a softside, lightweight, often mistaken for a massage table or conference equipment (escaping the additional fee), and it's not as tough to get it from place to place. Good luck!

not only are the boxes expensive, but the airlines will charge you for it being over-sized and over weight. I've heard of it costing anywhere from $50 to $160 EACH way! There seems to be little consistency in when and how much they charge.

You might look for a bike shop at your destination and ship the bike to them via FedEx or UPS.

Just a thought....if you want to ship your bike in a hard case, but do not want to spend that kind of money on investing in your own case...check with your LBS. they may rent them out. That's what I did when flying with my bike from London to San Fransico last summer. The cost of the box rental for three weeks pluss the $25 charge for oversized luggage still came out cheaper than shipping with UPS or anthing similar and still cheaper than buying the box myself and saves me the trouble of finding storage space for the box.