Starting point logistics - advice please!

[shootingstar]

Apologies for bike box..that is what certain rail companies provide..only at certain city points and for certain scheduled train times.

My partner has flown several times with his bike via Air Canada over the past 10 yrs. In terms of AC staff, they were quite good and well informed about the bike policy.

I was with him on several occasions when he and I were flying together, but I didn't take my bike along because I had a bike to borrow from someone at destination or due to my work schedule at time, not enough time to bike to justify shipping my bike.

[Grog]

My partner has flown several times with his bike via Air Canada over the past 10 yrs. In terms of AC staff, they were quite good and well informed about the bike policy.

I'm happy it's worked well for him. My experience has been rather mixed myself, but never better than "passable." We never had mechanical damage from carrying a bike on AC but my husband had an expensive wheel ruined on a trip to Australia transiting through the USA.

Recently, in both France and Hawai'i we've had conversations with bike shops that say the bike rental business is booming. Their fleets are booming as well, so I think on my next trip I'll rent-a-bike.

Let us know how it turns out!!

[NbyNW]

Thanks for sharing your experiences -- very helpful, I'll let you know what we decide.

[Veronica]

We've flown with our bikes to Maine (3 times), Hawaii (twice) and Thom took his to Australia when he was there for a month on business. All with various airlines. We bought a Velo safe case and have been happy with it. Yes, it costs extra, yes you have to really disassemble your bike...

For me, it's about how much time do I plan to ride. We've also rented bikes in Hawaii when we only had one day to ride.

Veronica

[NadiaMac]

For such a short tour, you may want to try and rent bikes. It's a pretty big hassle to travel by plane with a bike, plus lots of added charges at various points for oversized luggage. But, it is always nice to have your own equipment..

I did a point to point loaded tour a few years ago in the Canadian Rockies, and here's how I handled the logistics:
1) flew air canada, with my bike packed into a cardboard bike box that I got from my bike shop (free). No problems with Air Canada either way, as an aside, and the bike was fine. $50 fee each way.

2) I packed the bike, and put soft luggage (sleeping bag, clothes) into the bike box (making certain to stay below luggage weight limit, 50 pounds I think but might have been 40). I carried my rear panniers & helmet onto the flight (see note above about not putting tools/lubes, etc in your carry-on) and packed surplus gear in a cardboard box, which I checked as checked luggage. Heavy gear (tools) and anything that could damage the bike went into my cardboard box "suitcase".

3) I took a cab to hotel at the other end (as we had further travel by bus to our start in Jasper). You could consider cabbing or taking a shuttle (if there is one) to a hotel or to the ferry building, then building bikes there rather than building bikes in the airport. Warning, there can be a surcharge for oversized luggage in cabs/shuttles. I paid about 15 bucks for the bike for this type of transit.

4) do you have somewhere to store the bike boxes? (in a friend's car?) If so, store the boxes. If not, recycle the boxes (you then need to figure out where to get new boxes)

5) On the return, procure boxes if necessary (I had prearranged with a bike shop at my terminating town to get a bike box, and I grabbed a cardboard box for my "suitcase" at a supermarket). You will also need packing tape, of course. You could also arrange to have the shop pack your bike.

6) re packing and rebuilding the bikes: I had never done this before, but it was very easy to learn. My BF supervised my packing of the bike and I rebuilt it myself at the starting city. the handlebars and pedals are very easy. The derailleuer was a bit trickier to reinstall for me (i removed it for shipping, which I think is a good idea). Note that when you box up the bike, your rack(s), if any, generally need to be removed, so you have to be set up with the appropriate tools to reinstall them.

have fun!

[NadiaMac]

As an aside, on the "giant plastic bag" packing approach (where you just wrap your bike in a huge plastic bag and it is placed on a plane): I went on a riding trip in Thailand and Laos and it blew my mind to see that riders on the trip had shipped their bikes from the UK to Thailand *and* on intermediate flights on tiny Thai airlines, like this. No box at all, though they did have their derailleurs off and securely taped to the frame. Apparently, they had travelled internationally many many times like this. I wasn't even aware it was an option (and don't think I've ever seen someone manage this in the US).

[OakLeaf]

I have a Thule hard case. I've never flown with my bike - simply too much hassle schlepping it around airports. FedEx costs about the same as flying with it, and is so much more convenient (within the US, anyway). You can have them pick it up at your house or drop it off at a FedEx store; you can ship it right to your destination (if it's a hotel, just let the desk know that it will be coming), or have it held for pickup at a FedEx depot.

Very little disassembly is needed for my case, which is pretty standard. Wheels, pedals, seatpost with saddle still attached, handlebars (with or without the stem), rear derailleur. If I leave the stem on the steerer tube, I have to disconnect the front brake cable; someone with a longer head tube or a different case might not have that issue. All the other cables stay attached. Don't forget to let some air out of your tires and remove any CO2 canisters from your luggage - they're not allowed to fly even as cargo. Buy some new ones at your destination, or you might even find a simpatico LBS that'll let you borrow some and return them if you don't need them.

If you can fix a flat, adjust cables and tweak your fit, you've already done everything you need to reassemble a bike after shipping, with the exception of removing the RD - which is basically nothing. You don't touch the adjustment screws that position it, so you just unscrew the bolt to remove it and screw it in to put it back on.

Disassembly and packing takes a little while (especially the first time, when you'll want to mark the seatpost, stem/steerer tube and handlebars with inconspicuous dots so you'll know where to position them; and when everything takes longer just because of unfamiliarity), but reassembly can be done in 15-20 minutes, with a handful of tools that you can ship in the box with your bike. Literally. I've done it in the FedEx parking lot.