Travel Bike Lifestyle Question

[BikeNY]

Easiest answer is to make the coupled bike your only bike! My coupled bike is my only (road) bike! I sold off a custom Quiring coupled frame in the fall, mostly because it didn't fit my needs anymore, not because I didn't travel a lot with it. I wasn't set on a coupled bike as a replacement, I was looking for the features I wanted (disc, 650x48mm, upright position), and ended up finding a used Salsa Vaya travel, which clicked all my boxes, and happens to have S&S couplers as well.

Packing can be a bit of a chore, and for a short trip often not worth it. When my wallet recovers, I'd love to set it up with Etap, but not an option right now.

Anyway, I say either keep it, or sell another bike that's similar.

[BrianE]

Saab - After our "Spring Ttraining" adventures over in So France in 2011, I opted to ask TK if he'd retrofit my Spectrum with S&S couplers so as to make for easier transport by plane. TK did a masterful job and my Spectrum steel continues as my daily ride to this day. If I have a regret, it's that Bikeflights.com wasn't around (or at least I didn't know of them) back in 2012 when the retrofit occurred. Shipping via Bikeflights, FedEx to FedEx using my Tricor Iron Case has proven to be cost effective enough such that I often wonder if I did the right thing. Still, the couplers have never been an issue reliability wise so in the end, it's nice to have the option should Bikeflights success, out pace my willingness to pay.

Originally Posted by saab2000

So I'm trying to thin the fleet and the Serotta may be next to go. It's my S&S coupled bike and is nearly perfect in every way. It also almost never gets ridden and it's probably been four years since I packed it up for an airplane ride.

Curious about those of you who own coupled bikes. How often do you fly with them? Do people just ship a bike around the US nowadays with a bike shipping service? It's affordable with these services and I own a Trico Iron hard case.

This is the bike in question and sadly, it just isn't in my regular rotation. I think I've mentally moved on from it though it would be sad to see it go because there will never be another Serotta like it and many of us know this forum was the Serotta Forum in its origins.

Not sure if I should hang onto it or let it go. Not really asking for that advice but I'm curious about people who travel with a bike. Do you? Or do you ship it? Or do we own these bikes hoping to travel with them but never really doing it.

I'd be surprised if I've ridden this one more than 500 miles in the past three years and I haven't travelled with it a single time during that timeframe.

[saab2000]

Originally Posted by BrianE

Saab - After our "Spring Ttraining" adventures over in So France in 2011, I opted to ask TK if he'd retrofit my Spectrum with S&S couplers so as to make for easier transport by plane. TK did a masterful job and my Spectrum steel continues as my daily ride to this day. If I have a regret, it's that Bikeflights.com wasn't around (or at least I didn't know of them) back in 2012 when the retrofit occurred. Shipping via Bikeflights, FedEx to FedEx using my Tricor Iron Case has proven to be cost effective enough such that I often wonder if I did the right thing. Still, the couplers have never been an issue reliability wise so in the end, it's nice to have the option should Bikeflights success, out pace my willingness to pay.

I don't think I had this bike at the time of that trip or if I did it wasn't yet converted to the couplers. No question the couplers are a no-compromise design. They're fantastic and have been reliable.

Nothing is imminent WRT this bike. It's really international travel where I wonder about it. That's where having the bike case is a much larger pain in the butt and this smaller case is way more manageable.

This would really be the ideal bike for the France trip, which I would LOVE to repeat! What an adventure that was!

[Bob Ross]

Originally Posted by saab2000

Curious about those of you who own coupled bikes. How often do you fly with them?

The missus & I fly with our coupled bikes 2 or 3 times per year.

But we ride those bike 4 or 5 times per week; they are absolutely our "daily drivers"

[PaMtbRider]

My wife and I both have S&S bikes. We haven't flown with them in a couple of years. We both have other bikes but still ride the S&S bikes every couple of weeks.

Part of the reason we haven't flown with them lately was the purchase of an Airstream trailer. The last couple of years our vacations have been centered around the camper instead of flying to a destination. Hopefully not in the too distant future we will be able to retire and have time for both camping and air travel.

With the current resale value of bikes it's hard to let anything go.

[PacNW2Ford]

If I had a coupled bike for travel and space limitations, I would leave the bike packed in its box to save space.

[thunderworks]

If travel plans include trips to Europe, keeping a coupled bike makes sense. Full size Trico style cases barely fit in European rental cars. A coupled bike, as a daily driver, makes sense to me. My coupled Moots is a daily ride, and has been lots of fun places.

[muz]

I travel with my Seven a couple times a year, but also use it on local rides. It rides as well as any of my bikes, goes on gravel, takes large tires, fenders. Just did a 24-hour ride last month, will probably use it on a 1200K in a few months.

[Kirk007]

Originally Posted by thunderworks

If travel plans include trips to Europe, keeping a coupled bike makes sense. Full size Trico style cases barely fit in European rental cars. A coupled bike, as a daily driver, makes sense to me. My coupled Moots is a daily ride, and has been lots of fun places.

I think it depends on the trip. When I traveled with my coupled bike and the co-motion soft case I still ended up renting pretty large cars with fold down back seats to fit the case and the bike (without having to break the bike apart every time I changed locations) so its still not easy if you are road tripping after the flight unless you want to figure out traveling with a bike rack as well. If your going on tour, chances are the tour operator will be able to stow your bike box until the end of the trip.

I do at times continue to think about a travel bike though. If I was to do it again though I think it would be (1) ti, no paint (2) maybe etap or maybe single chainring, wide range cassette (3) disc (maybe mechanical); (4) designed for 650b or 700c (that's why it would be disc, centerlock). Would be tempted to explore using a pika bag or something though that would pack easier at destination (I thought I saw a soft side bag that looked like the co-motions soft side bag but you could pull out the side supports so it folded down flat, but now I can't find it).

[auto_rock]

I've been wrestling with the same issue, and this kind of came up once already, but what I figured I'd do is just take the couple'd bike (in my case an older canti CX bike) and rather than sell it for a few hundred bucks, I'm just going to pack it ready-to-travel and leave it somewhere out of the way.

Next time I'm taking a trip and I think "it'd be nice to have my bike" it's just shoes and kit in a carry-on and roll the pre-packed bike out the door... save the stress of packing the bike the night before the trip.

[93KgBike]

My kids have made all my bikes (except the Bullit) like tattoos from my "rocker days". I'm not getting rid of any of them, unless I absolutely must (the S&S will be last if I do).

You upgraded the gruppo on there, right? So find a spot for it, for when you have time to sit and stare.

[Hakkalugi]

My wife and I have traveled a fair amount with regular bikes in cases, and it’s always a bit of a hassle. I got a Serfas hardshell wedged between two buildings in Venice, almost tore my arm off. I turned around to see my wife collapsed in paroxysms of laughter at my plight. Since then, we’ve tried smaller cases where I remove the fork (like Orucase), and most recently, I got us coupled frames and CoMotion cases. The coupled bikes are also daily use bikes, and I can’t imagine replacing them for a long time. Plus, it gives us an excuse to travel somewhere new, and that’s always a good thing.

[11.4]

I travel almost monthly, at least half of it internationally, and for most trips include my bike. I had a S&S Serotta Legend for a long time, but I sold it for several reasons:

1. Bikes have evolved a lot and you can be a lot more versatile in a foreign country or strange town if you can accommodate gravel tires. Part of why your bike isn't getting used more is likely that it just doesn't have the features you like today -- tire clearance, Di2, possibly discs.

2. A travel bike needs to be sturdy to handle all the crap that it faces in shipment, regardless of whether it's coupled or not. That's more of a dedicated bike. It doesn't have to be super-expensive -- a straight gauge ti frame for S&S or a good alloy frame is all it takes. Equip it with Ultegra Di2 and it's easy to pack whether it's S&S or not.

3. Discs have some advantages but you do need to know how to repair them. When you travel you have to carry a repair kit -- spare brake cables and housing or spare hydraulic cable pre-cut and terminated to length, oil, filling hardware, spare pads, and clean-up materials such as rubbing alcohol. If everything is ready to go for repairs, it's easy. Be sure everything is prepped, sized, ready to go. I don't like tubeless for travel because you can have trouble getting a seal and it'll drive you nuts.

4. When it comes down to it, it's become pretty easy to ship a complete bike in a sturdy cardboard box and have the box serve you for a round trip, whether with your flight or by Fedex. S&S cases are a viable solution but the cost of couplers plus case and the hassles with those cases can pay for a lot of Bikeflights. I've had too many instances when security has opened an S&S case and not been able to get it all back in properly. I arrive to find a case that's half closed with a few inches of gap, the frame components crushing each other, and a ton of tape holding it closed. There are good and bad bike boxes. Santa Cruz makes a superb box. One of the best around is Comotion. High-end Trek bikes come in ok boxes, but other Treks come in crappy ones. Make friends with a mechanic in a shop that carries the range of bikes with boxes you're looking for and have them open the box without slicing the top off and then accumulate the boxes for when you need them.

5. The less you have to worry about your bike while traveling, the more fun it is and the more you'll use it. That means leave the Super Record or Dura Ace at home, don't bring your ultralight Crumpton, make it a bike you can even lose without extreme pain. I'm thinking of getting a Gaulzetti or an alloy Zanc for future travel. No couplers. Sturdy tubing. Welded bottle fittings instead of RivNuts. Hydraulic cables held by saddles with tiptoes so I have the option of pulling the hydraulics off the frame for shipping, or doing a fast replacement if something gets kinked or leaks. Alloy bars and stem (avoid any carbon you can). And so on. I can go out in the rain, go out on farm trails or gravel walking trails, ride crappy city streets, ride where someone might stop me and take the bike. I had an All City Nature Boy steel fixie, with the rear spaced to 120 mm and set up with a double sided fixed gear, and it made a superb travel bike. Super cheap, invincible, easiest thing to pack, and a fun ride anywhere short of a mountainside. Simple is always good. Think a 1x11 just to save front derailleur problems if you want to be geared. Again, the theme is always to keep it simple and invincible.

In short, take your bike for travel but don't expect a 15-20 year vintage frame to give you the features and peace of mind that you can get by selling it and finding something new. You can sell the bike and get a good alloy frame with Ultegra and be ahead financially. With Ultegra Di2 you can further minimize your problems and it'll work a bit better, without much cost. Travel is a good time to just enjoy where you're riding and not show up with a super-bling bike to worry about. Especially one that can't take you on the roads you might want to ride.

[AngryScientist]

coupled Serotta?

let me tell you saab - i'm rounding off a two week trip with mine, and i'm thankful to have it every time i ride it away from home. i rode it on everything these past two weeks and it's performed flawlessly. dont sell it. you'll regret it. mine travels very regularly these days, and has plenty of chips and scratches courtesy of TSA, but it always is ready to answer the call.

don't sell it.

book a trip tomorrow out to Sonoma County and ride a few metric centuries on it through wine country. make your decision after that.

mine is waiting for just such a ride tomorrow morning....

[happycampyer]

I’ve been meaning to post to this thread, and in the meantime a couple of folks have already voiced some of my thoughts.

If space is a premium and the coupled bike isn’t the bike you’d choose as your everyday bike, pack it up in its case so it’s ready to go. It won’t take up any more space than another suitcase. Iirc you paid to have the couplers installed, so you will take something of a financial beating by selling the bike. Of course, if you’d rather travel with a different bike, or just rent at your destination, then fine, sell it and move on.

For me a coupled bike has advantages in certain situations. If I’m traveling someplace where a full-sized case would be a nuisance (e.g., transport, space at the hotel, etc.), I’ll take the coupled bike. If transport and space aren’t an issue (e.g., on a bike tour), I’ll might take a full case with a different (non-coupled) bike. But if the only case I had was the S&S case, I would definitely take it.

Just reading 11.4’s description of what to do to travel with a bike with disc brakes has convinced to never travel with a disc brake bike. Calipers work fine for me for enough of the riding I do, I’ll survive without on a trip. If I wanted wider tires, I would probably have couplers added to my Strada Bianca ti.

I haven’t traveled with it yet, but I switched to e-Tap on my coupled bike. On the one hand, it is consistent with 11.4’s rule to KISS in terms of ease of assembly/disassembly, and on the other it violates the rule by adding another thing that could go wrong (battery malfunction, etc.). I’ll take spare batteries just in case. I generally travel to places where there are mechanics who could deal with a more complicated e-Tap problem, but if that’s a serious concern, I would have to decide whether to bring another bike in a full case, rent, etc.