Hard shell cycle case

[Lugger]

I think this is a General Discussion post and not a Classifieds post (sorry if I got it wrong). Anyone in the Northern NJ have a hard shell travel case that they're willing to rent or loan for a week this spring? I have a one-time trip planned out to visit my brother in CA (Fellow Paceliner Rubeboy) to pick up a bike he's assembling for me. I don't expect to use the case more than once so a rental or loan would be ideal. Preferably something that's solid and well used so that I don't have to worry about adding to the scuffs and such.

Anyone out there?

Here's the frame we're working on. We're going to add Athena 11 spd sliver group. Its gonna be great! :banana::banana::banana:
http://forums.thepaceline.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=1697874064&stc=1&d=1389807225

[Richard]

I have an older Serfas case -- not the highest zoot, but I used it many times for transporting bikes. It is a hard case, so bikes are protected. That said, I would rather sell it and would sell it pretty cheap, say $75 or so. I would rent it, but that seems a bit silly since I am a distance from Northern NJ and the pick up/return plus rental would be out of line with the benefit, methinks.

If you are interested, I can take some pics and send them along.

[enr1co]

If you bring a case with you to CA and then back again to NJ, the airlines will likely charge you oversize fees each way - depending on airline ~ $50-100 each way

Have you considered just shipping the bike back to your home when done building and riding it in CA?

Shipping cost of a bike from CA to NJ is ~ $90 to $125 via Fed ex ground.

[Lugger]

If you bring a case with you to CA and then back again to NJ, the airlines will likely charge you oversize fees each way - depending on airline ~ $50-100 each way


I'm Platinum on United and have travelled with golf equipment for no extra charge so I was hoping that a bike case would be treated the same way. But that's a good point. I'll have to look at current luggage polices.

thx!

[Pete Mckeon]

I tried to say they were golf clubs but they just shook head and said No


Fed ex ground has proven to be best for me in US except southwest which only in the past charged 50 each way


I'm Platinum on United and have travelled with golf equipment for no extra charge so I was hoping that a bike case would be treated the same way. But that's a good point. I'll have to look at current luggage polices.

thx!

[Lugger]

I tried to say they were golf clubs but they just shook head and said No


Fed ex ground has proven to be best for me in US except southwest which only in the past charged 50 each way

Yeah, I just checked United's baggage policy and it explicitly says golf bags are OK (as long as they're not overpacked). But for bikes, any box over 62 linear inches is oversized and incurs a $100 fee each way regardless of status. :mad:

I don't know what kind of bike you could fit into that small of a case. Maybe a foldable city bike with 16 inch wheels? :confused:

[RedRider]

Buy an AirCaddy. http://www.aircaddy.com/
when you order it have it sent directly to your Brother and then ship it back with the bike to your home via FedEx. Total cost should be about $250. You can then fly back and forth without the hassle of oversize luggage (and the cost) and you can reuse the Aircaddy at a later date. It also folds flat for easy storage.
Nice Colnago!

[ANAO]

I have a Trico Iron Case in Teaneck that I haven't used in a long time. Please take it and keep it and give me bike parts as barter :)

[FritzWhite]

Those airline fees are just brutal.

[Scooper]

Southwest charges $50 each way to check a bike in a hard case. I've traveled with my 61cm Waterford in a Thule hard case (purchased at REI) several times with zero issues. TSA always leaves a nice note inside the case saying they inspected it, and providing a toll free phone number to call if there's anything missing or broken.

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d7/k4drd/Bicycles/Waterford%20B07014/CIMG6938sm.jpg

[54ny77]

FYI, having flown across country probably a couple dozen+ times without incident (as a carry-on item), I just got "TSA-d" (which is an acronym for being completely screwed by a bunch of idiots who are barely qualified to gather shopping carts from a parking lot) for carrying on a foldable Park Tool allen wrench.

Apparently there's a 7" TSA limit for length of any tools that you can carry on. How they came up with that #, I'll leave to the imagination. Of course, when folded, a folding allen wrench is around 4" or so. But when you unfold both ends of the tool, expanding all sizes of the hex keys to be positioned in parallel, it stretches to something like 9" or 10." That means it has to get checked in as luggage, carry on not permissible.

Debating the finer points of why the tool did not exceed the limit in its regular folded configuration was not an option. The f'ing idiot interpreted his own rule right then and there, not really even knowing what the tool was. "Is this for your bike?" he asked. To which I replied, "Yes, it is." I wanted to say hey Captain Obvious, that's why it's stuffed inside a plastic bag that also contains bike gloves, bike socks, a saddle bag, bike glasses, and a Ritchey Torque key allen wrench, all placed neatly in a bike helmet...

As a result he had to inspect the whole bag, all contents, security scan again, me get back in security line for x-rays, and then I had to get to my plane--all while in a packed airport with flight leaving in short order. It was a nightmare, and I'd have missed my flight had the plane not been late departure.

Moral of story: don't travel with foldable allen tool as carry-on item if it exceeds 7" in length. Check it in with luggage , or instead don't bring one at all and just go buy one in your respective destination. It'll be worth it, even if you have to leave it behind.

[donevwil]

FYI, having flown across country probably a couple dozen+ times without incident (as a carry-on item), I just got "TSA-d" (which is an acronym for being completely screwed by a bunch of idiots who are barely qualified to gather shopping carts from a parking lot) for carrying on a foldable Park Tool allen wrench.

Apparently there's a 7" TSA limit for length of any tools that you can carry on. How they came up with that #, I'll leave to the imagination. Of course, when folded, a folding allen wrench is around 4" or so. But when you unfold both ends of the tool, expanding all sizes of the hex keys to be positioned in parallel, it stretches to something like 9" or 10." That means it has to get checked in as luggage, carry on not permissible.

Debating the finer points of why the tool did not exceed the limit in its regular folded configuration was not an option. The f'ing idiot interpreted his own rule right then and there, not really even knowing what the tool was. "Is this for your bike?" he asked. To which I replied, "Yes, it is." I wanted to say hey Captain Obvious, that's why it's stuffed inside a plastic bag that also contains bike gloves, bike socks, a saddle bag, bike glasses, and a Ritchey Torque key allen wrench, all placed neatly in a bike helmet...

As a result he had to inspect the whole bag, all contents, security scan again, me get back in security line for x-rays, and then I had to get to my plane--all while in a packed airport with flight leaving in short order. It was a nightmare, and I'd have missed my flight had the plane not been late departure.

Moral of story: don't travel with foldable allen tool as carry-on item if it exceeds 7" in length. Check it in with luggage , or instead don't bring one at all and just go buy one in your respective destination. It'll be worth it, even if you have to leave it behind.

So let me get this straight, nothing was lost, nothing was damaged, you made your flight, but a security agent, tasked with ensuring some whack job doesn’t do something crazy, wasn’t an avid cyclist or familiar with the tools of our hobby is, therefore, a f'ing idiot? On top of that you weren’t appropriately familiar with rules limiting carry-on items ?

OK, got it. Thanks for the post.

[54ny77]

you're right, i forgot to mention, thanks to the delay my luggage never made it on plane and i had no bag for 3 days into a biz trip. i made it on plane only because it was delayed, which i did not know at the time tsa man was self-educating about an allen wrench (during which the plane was boarding). i told the guy to throw out or keep the tools. since my bag passed the xray test (other than the tools) and i had to make my flight, apparently even that was not an option.

oh and before you ask, yes, i got there almost 3 hours before my flight just to be safe, but the lines were extraordinary and it took almost that long to get to security.

having flown probably 30-40 times in the past couple years with the allen wrench as a carry-on, i never knew it to be prohibited. i do now, and was the point of my last sentence.

but thanks for the cliffs notes.

:rolleyes:

So let me get this straight, nothing was lost, nothing was damaged, you made your flight, but a security agent, tasked with ensuring some whack job doesn’t do something crazy, wasn’t an avid cyclist or familiar with the tools of our hobby is, therefore, a f'ing idiot? On top of that you weren’t appropriately familiar with rules limiting carry-on items ?

OK, got it. Thanks for the post.

[OtayBW]

FYI, having flown across country probably a couple dozen+ times without incident (as a carry-on item), I just got "TSA-d" (which is an acronym for being completely screwed by a bunch of idiots who are barely qualified to gather shopping carts from a parking lot) for carrying on a foldable Park Tool allen wrench.

Apparently there's a 7" TSA limit for length of any tools that you can carry on. How they came up with that #, I'll leave to the imagination. Of course, when folded, a folding allen wrench is around 4" or so. But when you unfold both ends of the tool, expanding all sizes of the hex keys to be positioned in parallel, it stretches to something like 9" or 10." That means it has to get checked in as luggage, carry on not permissible.

Debating the finer points of why the tool did not exceed the limit in its regular folded configuration was not an option. The f'ing idiot interpreted his own rule right then and there, not really even knowing what the tool was. "Is this for your bike?" he asked. To which I replied, "Yes, it is." I wanted to say hey Captain Obvious, that's why it's stuffed inside a plastic bag that also contains bike gloves, bike socks, a saddle bag, bike glasses, and a Ritchey Torque key allen wrench, all placed neatly in a bike helmet...

As a result he had to inspect the whole bag, all contents, security scan again, me get back in security line for x-rays, and then I had to get to my plane--all while in a packed airport with flight leaving in short order. It was a nightmare, and I'd have missed my flight had the plane not been late departure.

Moral of story: don't travel with foldable allen tool as carry-on item if it exceeds 7" in length. Check it in with luggage , or instead don't bring one at all and just go buy one in your respective destination. It'll be worth it, even if you have to leave it behind.
Of course, they configured the law so that Granny can carry 16 in knitting needles on board....