Anyone got any good / bad experiences to share or better still advice ?

I am putting together a very short visit to Genoa, Italy to climb a couple of mountain passes near there that I drove on recently while on holiday.

My biggest concern is whether my treasured P7 will get there in one piece, and how I can best protect it (for next to nothing ?).

Secondary to this is how much fun it will turn out to be trying to keep up with my mates on road bikes – all I've got is slick tyres ! I have tried riding short distances with them (to work etc – about 16 miles ) and I can keep up, but I presume I'll be at a bigger disadvantage climbing for 9 miles up the first pass (800m climb!) – time to buy a road bike ? Any useful tips please…

Just flown mine with me to USA. I bubble wrapped everything, which worked well for the components but at points of impact – the fork arch for example, the bubble wrap had burst all its bubbles from repeated hits and became useless. So I'm going for layers of cardboard on the most exposed bits next time.

I stripped the bike pretty much entirely (SS, so not that much). Old rear hub to brace the back end, forks removed and taped alongside frame. Brakes removed both ends etc. All pressure removed from air forks and tyres.

Only damage was where the edge of a hub rubbed up against the seatstay and chewed through the bubble wrap.

Done it a few times – it gets easier with practice. Personally I generally go for a bike bag (for getting it through the airport), with cardboard reinforcement (about 50% of a bike box inside to maintain rigidity).
Remove the bars, bubblewrap them;
remove the wheels, personally I take the skewers and discs off them, but it's not necessarily necessary
REmove the pedals
I unscrew the rear mech, and bubble wrap it
Put bracing bits (cardboard rolled up or similar) between the dropouts, front and rear
Put thick cardboard between the disc brake pistons; ziptie the brake levers to the bar. Then just go nuts with bubblewrap really.
Easyjet (twice) and DHL haven't managed to smash through that, despite their best efforts! And for the enjoyment of riding your own bike wherever it is you go to, rather than hiring one, it's worth the hassle IMHO

As above and take your rotors off.

Just packed mine up for Ibiza.
Got a cheap avenir bike bag off eBay £35 and have used a double sleeping bag to wrap the frame and forks up for some extra protection and used old foam camping mats to wrap the wheels. Rotors and skewers removed, brake caliper removed at the front and rear mech off , plus spacers put it the callipers.- the mech and caliper got wrapped in bubble wrap as well for good measure. I also took the cranks out and wrapped them up as I didn't want them getting bent or to rip through the bottom of the bag .
Hopefully this is enough – I'll know on Wednesday!

This may also useful http://www.ottmountainbike.co.uk/resources/OTT$2BPacking$2Ba$2BBike$2BBag.pdf

Use pipe lagging to protect frame etc from B&Q its a lot stronger than bubble wrap and already in handy pipe covering shape. Also reusable and very cheap. If your doing a trip a year consider this one its the DB

http://www.evocsports.com/index.php/en/EVOC-Bike/Bike-Travelbag.html

You get 30kg sports bag weight allowance on Easyjet so you can fill the space with gear and save £36 on bag every trip. Looked at hire, Polaris pod = £70 so will pay for itself after about 3 trips.

Take the rear mech off, bars (tape to top tube, seatpost and wheels. Never botthered taking rotors off. Shoved in a bike bad with wheel bags and padded out with pipe lagging and bibble rap. No problems at all. Didn't take air out of forks as it mucks up the oil and takes a day or so to sort out and left air in tyres as I'm running tubeless so didn't want a latex covered bag!

I've just packed my bike for a trip to usa next week

Take rotors and qr's off wheels – put plastic end caps on hub cones – bike shops should have them spare – and put in wheel bags

Take off crank set & chain

Remove rear mech – put in jiffy bag and attach to inside of frame

Remove rear hanger

Turn handle bars to one side

Rotate brakes & gears downwards on bars – dont tighten up too much

put spacer's in between disk pads

put plastic protectors in front and rear dropout – bike shops will have those spare from bikes they have assembled

Make sure you put plenty of protection round rear of frame, and bottom of forks and BB

Put pipe lagging and all tubes on bike – then wrap in bubble wrap

dont let air out of tyres of shocks – but say you did if asked at check in counter

wrap bike in bubble wrap – then tie down in your bike bag

I've done this on loads of trips to states with no issues