bike travel case?
 

Just wanted to see what people were using for airplane checked-in luggage. I might have to take a bike frame with me in a month or two...

Dedicated hard case? Soft case? just use a bike box?

If just frame/fork I would go box for sure.

Full bike with wheels we use Dakine Bike Roller Bag & traveled internationally a few times no problems...But then again we don't have carbon bikes ;) If we did I would probably go hard case?

I've packed an alloy Trek Checkpoint, a carbon Stigmata, and a carbon Pivot Switchblade (undo the shock mounting bolt so the rear swingarm folds forward) into a soft-sided Post Transfer case. Love that thing. It's made work travel much more tolerable and saved me tons in bike rental fees and time. If you're not planning on frequent use though, I think shipping with a box is probably the more efficient option especially if just a frame/fork.

+1 on the Dakine
 

Love mine. Also works well as a carrier to ship in. Almost no instructions though, although YouTube was helpful!

Thule Roundtrip Transfer
 

I picked up a Thule Roundtrip Transfer case second hand. It’s a great case and protects the bike nicely. From experience, if you overload it with gear and clothing (which fits — there is a lot of room), watch the airline weight limits, or you pay a surcharge for an overweight bag on top of the oversize luggage fee.


https://www.thule.com/en-us/bike-pac...tion-_-1683469

Would not even consider a soft bag for air travel, used many cardboard boxes for years, now own a hard case, Premium model Bike Box Alan.


Adding this, as an un-knowledgeable poster below suggested they "would not want to deal with a hard case, too heavy, too hard to put in back of car, etc.".

Some actual weights, Bike Box Alan 12 lbs, vs Post Transfer Soft Case 12lbs, vs Orucase Soft Case 15lbs, vs Scicon Aerocomfort 3.0 soft case 23lbs. Pika Packworks soft cases are so poorly spec'd online they don't even document the size or weight.

I had great luck over the last 6 years with my Orucase, and have a few friends who picked them up. If you're a half decent mechanic, you can have the bike in and out in 30 minutes and it's a decent size for travel being a "standard size" bag as well as fitting in most cars easily.

I've since been traveling more, and have a coupled Hampsten and BuxomBox S&S sized case on the way for this summer and beyond.

I have taken my wife's Roubaix to and from Europe probably 10 plus times in a Pika case, never any damage, but I pull the pedals, bars and stem, and seat Post, as well as remove the rear derailleur. We had this case before Orucase and others existed, I might change now to not have to do so much wrenching, but it is about 30-45 mins each way. Bike is rim brake DI2 so I do not have to do much tuning. I would not want to deal with a hard case, too heavy, too hard to put in back of car, etc. She has aluminum wheels and it is a 48 or 50cm frame, so fits pretty easily. I use foam insulation to pad all the frame with tie wraps securing the foam. The loose parts are also all secured and the drop outs have spacers put in to avoid crushing. It is a bit of a pain, but never a real problem.

Hard case to Europe twice. Never a problem.

bike box or hard case. Absolutely no soft cases for a carbon bike. one luggage thrown on top of your laid down soft bike case will snap your bike in half.

Do customs people flag cardboard boxes tho?

For what it’s worth, soft cases will pretty much never go on the bottom of a stack of luggage, but hard shells certainly will. The ramp agent has about 10-15 minutes to stack all the bags and they want solid squares to make a fast stack. Think about the last moving van you loaded, you ideally put like-sized boxes together in stacks because it’s tighter and more efficient.

Soft cases and larger hardshells will often end up against a wall or on top of the pile. This doesn’t mean a bagalanche can’t happen, they do, and bags could fall onto a bike case. These tend to happen more on lightly-loaded flights, and the shape of the pit (cargo hold) matters as well. Most widebody overseas flights have baggage loaded in containers that are then loaded on the airplane, so the risk of belt or collapsing piles is lower.

More damage and risk happens on bag belts inside the airport or belt loaders into the airplane. Bags fall off, get caught, etc. Avoid long loose straps, and if you have a hard plastic case put stair tread/grip tape on it so it sticks to belts better. Many airlines will make you sign a waiver for soft cases as well.

Keep these points in mind when shopping for cases and packing. They apply to all case styles, from S&S to soft SciCon-style and everything in between. Dealing with the size and shape of the cases for taxis, buses, trains, rental cars, and small hotel rooms is another discussion.

Pika Packworks soft case. I used a cumbersome hard case for many years and then shifted to soft when my son was born and we needed more arms. The soft case is so much easier and has worked flawlessly for my fragile carbon bikes.

I have been using Scicon Aerocomfort 3.0s for the last year and a half. They don't require the bars to come off or the saddle to come out on most bikes and they're quite light. Also very fast to pack / unpack.

I actually have 3 of these and regularly travel with 3 bikes. They're soft sided but seem to work pretty darn well and have reasonable padding. I add pipe insulation on all frame tubes (only takes about a minute to do this) to give a little extra protection.

If you travel frequently with bikes, these cases are the way to go. Easy to wheel around, easy to pack and unpack, store relatively small, etc.

Came here to note that almost every time I can watch the plane being loaded from the terminal, my soft case goes in last, on top of everything else. Same with golf clubs, skis, child seats. They sit on top.