I’m taking a trail bike on a plane for the 1st time next month. Flying to Tenerife with Thomson. Any tips on packing the bike to minimise the risk of damage? Which bags would people recommend for a 26″ single pivot bike? Thanks.

Cardboard box is better than a bag. More protection, less likely to get dragged around and cheaper. Stick a bit of wood between the dropouts, undo rear mech and zip tie to chainstay, undo stem faceplate and ziptie bars to crossbar, take off brake disks. Use body armour for padding.

Bike bag with an old bike box inside for extra strength, pedals off handlebars turned, spacers in forks and rear droputs (with QR holding in place.) packer in brake calipers and riding pads wrapped round frame for extra protection.

I used to say box every time after dealing with cheap bags, even air freighted 7 bikes to Oz in cardboard boxes all fine.

I now own an Evoc bag and the missus has one on order. The only thing is I do fly with my bike about 8-10 times per year and haul it through a lot of airports.

It’s much better than a box for carrying, moving and protecting a bike. The wheels provide the vertical bracing (ignore them when they tell you to let the tyres down) the rest of the bag holds the bike in the right place.

Remove rotors & bars, use frame spacers and take pedals off, I find old towels and pillow cases are quite good put anything loose in your camelback (tools etc.) and do it up.

Check your airline weight restriction for sporting goods. If you have a 23kg limit then you will struggle to put too much extra in. Unless you have a rigid hard case helmet is hand luggage (a hat).

Cardboard boxes are great until the time its left on the tarmac in the rain and turns into a soggy mess. Seen this happen a few times and makes me feel superior for having a well packed bike bag!

Bags are great until they get put at the bottom of the luggage pile as they are the biggest bag, then dragged out by one of the handlers. Makes me feel superior for having a free cardboard box (wrapped in gaffa tape so it stays in one piece if it rains) 🙂

(awaits Jamie to sort it out properly but)
What would George do?

Thanks – didn’t realise there was such a big bag v box debate. Anyone used a hard case? They seem a tad pricey for what they are.

Hard cases generally take up most of your weight allowance and budget!

Sorry for the hijack – what about letting air out of forks? Any issues with brakes?

Cheers!

Malaysia airlines might be a bit suss at the mo, nowt to do with baggage handling but you takes the risk

kitebikeski – Member
Sorry for the hijack – what about letting air out of forks? Any issues with brakes?

Great choice of words….
Forks never had an issue, i might let some out of I was 5psi off max pressure just to be safe. Brakes no issue (bike did 4 flights this month -Qantas & Virgin and fine)

No. 1 – Don’t go on a 777

ha ha yes spotted that as I pressed the Send button.

If the Inverness to Gatwick flight disappears I will be the prime suspect. Now where is the gps switch………..

Took the plunge today and ordered an evoc bag. Looked at some others but they seemed a bit flimsy to offer any real protection.

Worth checking airport allowances, quite a few bags on the market are bigger than quite a few airline limits, which is genius.

Mine is an inexpensive soft bag with a bike box inside. Not too heavy, easy to manoeuvre, very strong. If I was starting over I’d get a really good box (Halfords Apollo boxes are bombproof incidentally) and about a mile of packing tape and completely wrap it for water and tear resistance, add a couple of handles, and just not bother with the bag.

Good rule of thumb is, pack it til you’d be happy to throw it out of a first floor window.

I used to use boxes which were great and you felt smug coz they were cheap and made the baggage guys sweat a bit.

I flew to NZ a couple of years ago with an Evoc bag and wouldn’t use anything else now. much easier to pack, more space and easy to carry round an airport without giving yourself a hernia.

IMHO obviously!

Take your time packing the bike in properly … especially on the way back when you might be a bit more rushed and knackered. Rear cassette needs padding/wrapping as it can cause quite a bit of damage if it makes its way towards your downtube … 😥

bubble wrap and pipe lagging ( from BNQ maybe ) are your friend. Just remember to take extra and some duct tape for the return journey. Pipe lagging on the shock, rear mech, frame and more importantly the fork stanctions is always a winning combo.

Bars off and turned and maybe lower against the frame, rear mech, pedals off maybe, wheels off maybe, rear mech off and taped tight to frame. Just don’t leave anything sticking out.

Just tell them it’s an enduro bike ..that way it is guaranteed to get better treatment.( joking )

also worth being careful with the wheels so the rotors do not get pressure put on them and get bent.

being careful with rotors in called taking them off. Wrap in cardboard if you want them secure.
Old pillow cases are good for bars and seat posts etc. and are useful to but dirty stuff in as the trip goes on.

Yeah, I pack the rotors and rear mech inside the rear triangle, keeps them nicely protected. (also, take the mech hanger off!)

Much less bother than the last time I tried to take some snakes with me.

Last time I flew with my bike, as well as all the above, I took off the crankset and put it in my other hold bag. Easy enough to do with HT2. Taped a suitable chunk of wood under the BB too.

Zip tie the rotors together as well, makes a stiffer object that should be harder to bend. I flew my bike to/from Canada in a bike bag lined with card and it was fine. Forks and wheels off, pipe lagging everywhere itd fit and if you don’t have a removable mech hanger then cut a hole in a tennis ball and put that over it and tape it on 🙂