bike travel case?

[buckfifty]

have the post carry bike bag, very well thought out and can fit in the backseat of a mid sized sedan

[C40_guy]

Originally Posted by tylercheung

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

Frame only? Domestic? Ship it Fedex Ground or similar, direct or through one fo the aggregators.

You won't have to deal with getting to/from airport and you can insure it for full value.

[ocslick]

Bike Box Alan is worth every penny. Most of us have enough invested in our bikes, that it is worth piece of mind to have a well built travel case.

[mistermo]

I have the now discontinued armored Ruster Sports Hen House I'll be listing soon. I only used it a couple times before switching to a Ritchey Breakaway. It's in great shape.

With the "armor" (extra padding), it's really secure. Like this:

https://www.pinkbike.com/buysell/2618625/

[rccardr]

Full bike and stuff? EVOC for me, hands down. Bought one in 2014 and after many, many, many flights (five dozen plus) wore the poor thing out. Got a new one in January and the design has been further improved. One of the best bike accessories I’ve ever purchased.

Frame only? Bike box every time.

[XXtwindad]

Originally Posted by Pinned

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.

This seems like a great option. Anyone else use these?

[XXtwindad]

Originally Posted by rccardr

Full bike and stuff? EVOC for me, hands down. Bought one in 2014 and after many, many, many flights (five dozen plus) wore the poor thing out. Got a new one in January and the design has been further improved. One of the best bike accessories I’ve ever purchased.

Frame only? Bike box every time.

Or this …

[weisan]

Going on a trip, just packed this. Wheels with gravel tires 35/40mm won't go into pockets fully, have to leave half-way unzipped, have to re-position the frame in order to make it work.

[HamFisted]

Originally Posted by djg21

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.

I just picked up the soft-sided Thule Roundtrip on sale and would recommend it, the integrated work stand is quite handy. Regarding the weight, on a recent trip I didn't get dinged for being 2kg over the limit when flying out of Oslo, I did get dinged coming back from Frankfurt.

[iPaul]

Originally Posted by weisan

Going on a trip, just packed this. Wheels with gravel tires 35/40mm won't go into pockets fully, have to leave half-way unzipped, have to re-position the frame in order to make it work.

Odd with the tire fit. I have the same case and have been able to fit 38’s without too much issue. Yes have to take a good amount of air out and watch for the hub catching on the protector patch, but it will slide in and zip. Never tried 40’s but it is listed as max.
I’ve been happy with mine given final size. Handle placement could be better.

[weisan]

Paul pal, are those tires knobby or smooth thread?

[Duvivr6]

Originally Posted by weisan

Paul pal, are those tires knobby or smooth thread?

I fit my 38s (speci Pathfinder) and 40s(Zipp g40 and tufo speederos) on the same bag, you do have to let out most of the air for it to work. All have been gravel tires but knobby is relative they do have knobs but are small.

I leave enough air to keep the sealant inside and travel with a bottle of stans to top off on the other side. Have not had any leakage yet.

[iPaul]

Originally Posted by weisan

Paul pal, are those tires knobby or smooth thread?

I wouldn’t call them nobby like a mud tire but wouldn’t call it smooth either. More like baby bear, somewhere in the middle. . Vittoria Terreno Dry

[jadedaid]

I have a Buxumbox and cannot say enough good things about it. It's flown maybe 30 times internationally at this point (and one Amtrack adventure!) and has protected my bikes well. Functionally it's perfect and despite the mileage it has held up very well externally too. If it can handle the baggage handlers in Cairo, then it's an excellent box in my book. I have the Tourmalet version so need to take off the handlebars but compared to many other hard cases it's very easy to pack a bike into it.

When I looked at hard cases they were all roughly in the same price range and the Buxumbox just felt the best in terms of assembly ease and subsequent storage at home. I've amortized the high upfront cost by now and it's been worth the money

The reason I like a hard case is that (bar the box going missing entirely) it guarantees your bike holiday won't be ruined. I didn't like the idea of a soft case where i'd potentially arrive at my destination and see the bike has been damaged. Insurance will help you at home, not on Tenerife.

If it's just a frame then this is of course overkill. If domestic, I'd ship with Bikeflights which from my experience have been excellent and well priced.

[benadrian]

I took a bike on a one way trip to Portugal earlier this year. The bike stayed in Portugal for future use.

I packed it Rinko style into a cut-down cardboard box. Everything got there okay EXCEPT that TSA dug through it, opened the ziploc bag with the chain, and lost a quicklink.

Having flown with a bike in a well packed box and guitars in TSA approved flight cases this year, I can report nothing but good experiences and no overage fees.