Has anyone got any tips on how to pack the bike up (i.e. box it or use a bike bag)and whether its necessary to do things like letting the air out of the suspension/tyres and whether the hydraulics are likely to be affected? Am flying with BMI Baby.
Ta loads

I used a Neil Pryde bag but padded it out with a cut up bike box! Take off your pedals, or if your using hollowtech 2’s then taking the cranks off is pretty easy! Rotors off, take off rear mech and tape it to your frame and undo your stem and turn your bars in, oh and put some spacers in your calipers and dropouts!

Good tippage – thanks!

Bike box inside a bag

http://www.epicmtbgreece.com/bikePack.pdf

Box is much better than a bag IME. Its awkward enough for the baggage handlers to make them take care. A big bike bag will get dragged around.

I agree with kinda666 about bike stripping. Ziptie any parts you remove to the frame in case the bag/box gets damaged. Use body armour for packaging

Flew with my (road) bike for the first time last month.

Soft bike bag lined on the inside with a cardboard bike box from Halfords. Pedals off, chain off, bottle cages off, skewers removed (wheels put in padded bags inside the bike bag).
Plastic axle ‘blanks’ taped into fork and rear dropouts, Seatpost removed. Bars rotated under top tube. Lots of pipe lagging and bubble wrap over everything. rear mech removed and bubble-wrapped inside rear triangle. Saddle/seatpost taped inside front triangle.

Probably over-kill but bike made it there and back in one piece.

With a mountain bike I’d probably take the rotors off so the don’t get bent or damage other components. Don’t think there’s any need to let air out of tyres, forks etc. as the hold on aircraft is usually pressurised.

And don’t forget to pack pedals, chain etc!

I have done similar to mefter on a number of occasions with the exception of not taking out seat/post, not folding bars (on mtb) and I turn my wheels so the rotors face the frame to avoid having to take them off. Worked fine flying to/from France, NZ etc.

IME it’s worth taking care. And be careful what else you pack in the bag – clothes can be good for padding but not wash bags with cans of deoderant in 🙂