Bike shipping or packing for plane?

[joenali]

I'm going out of town for two weeks. I was going to rent a bike for those two weeks and just use a rental. Two things I'm concerned about 1: not my bike, 2: expensive.

I called a local shop where they ship bikes and he kept putting prices on everything: bike box, or cardboard box, shipping cost, taking the bike apart cost, then shipping box back, blah, blah, blah. Expensive.

I think I might just have them pack in a cardboard box (the box is free as opposed to renting a bike box). They take the bike apart and then I or another bike shop has to put it back together. About $100 to take on plane.

Anyone ever shipped or taken their bike on a plane? Were you able to put your bike back together or did you take it to a LBS to have them do it?

[theoriginalbean]

We looked into this for our CO vacation later this month and it ended up being totally cost-prohibitive for us to both bring our bikes. If we had, I know my H would have just reassembled them on his own. Out of curiosity, what airline are you flying?

[joenali]

I really should know which airline, but alas, I do not!

[sadlebred]

Shipping will be MUCH less expensive. Fees for bike bags can range from $50-150 on the plane.

I want a Ritchey Breakaway Bike to avoid such fees. It breaks down into a regular luggage size box.

Having said that, I've flown with my bike tons of times. I use a soft sided bag:
www.competitivecyclist.com/product-accessories/2012-Pika-Packworks-EEP-Standard-Bicycle-Travel-Bag-7932.2836.1.html

The only bad thing is that it doesn't have wheels. DH has a hard sided bike case with wheels. I take the bike apart myself. For bike bags, you take off the handlebars and sort of put them under the frame. Take off the wheels, and take the skewers out from the wheels. Also, take off the pedals and rear derailleur. That's about it. I can break it down in about 15 minutes and put it back together in about 25-30.

[trigal]

Last year, my husband had his bike shipped (FedEx) from NY to CA for a race. He shipped it to his brother's house, where he built it back up. It was pretty expensive to ship the bike both ways.

When he flew to Vegas for 70.3 Worlds, he flew on Southwest and they only charged him $50 to put the bike on the plane.

He used a cardboard bike box both times and had no issues.

[katinthehat]

I have no experience, I'll lead out with that.

But, I would think if you can take apart and build your bike back yourself at home, you won't need an LBS unless the airline damages something.

I know one of our local tri clubs has free bike box rental if you are a member. You should ask around about that.

Frontier airlines charges just normal oversized luggage fees for a bike, no special bike pricing. So you pay the same for golf clubs or a bike.

Also, you might look into something like Tri Bike Transport - www.tribiketransport.com/

[joenali]

Jun 10, 2012 20:44:29 GMT -5 trigal said:

Last year, my husband had his bike shipped (FedEx) from NY to CA for a race. He shipped it to his brother's house, where he built it back up. It was pretty expensive to ship the bike both ways.

When he flew to Vegas for 70.3 Worlds, he flew on Southwest and they only charged him $50 to put the bike on the plane.

He used a cardboard bike box both times and had no issues.

Yeah, I think I'm going to do the cardboard bike box and put it on the plane.

[mrsmac]

We took our bikes on our honeymoon to Ireland almost 9 years ago. DH disassembled them and got boxes from our LBS. When we landed, he reassembled them and off we went.

Of course this story would be better had he put my bike together tight enough that my front wheel didn't come off and cause me to wipe out on a busy street in Dublin........but it's all good, we're still married and it gives me a great story to tell!

[HiC]

Can your bike shop contact a bike shop where you are going and see if there is some kind of UPS or FedEx business to business shipping rate they can use?

My sister shipped her bikes from Minneapolis to Leadville and it cost about $100. Her bike shop disassembled her bike and shipped it and the shop in Leadville reassembled it when they got it, and vice versa. The actual shipping cost in all of it was only $20-ish.

[joenali]

I decided to rent a bike. Not exactly what i wanted to do but this option was much cheaper. I'm renting for a week and the shop I'm renting from does a Tuesday evening women's ride that I
Might try.