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I'm planning to visit my brother in Australia soon (flying with Emirates hopefully) and I quite fancy giving some of the trails a go over there. Before I've just used an empty cardboard bike box when taking my bike to europe but I feel I should invest in something a bit more sturdy if its going all that way...
Any recommendations? i can't have anything too heavy, similarly, i don't want something super lightweight that will crumble. My bike is an 18" full suss.
Cheers,
Andy
err, a box, made out of cardboard. get to LBS, they will have loads they want getting rid. Just ask 'em for a bike box. You take bike apart and stick in box.
I always use my serfas case now. 23kg with my Tallboy in it. Have had too many bikes squashed and prefer to know it will get there in one piece. Depends on luggage allowance - we just flew nz to europe with a bike each and a 20kg bag (air nz and ba)
Rent one when you get there, or see if he can get you one 'borrowed'?
+1 for rent or borrow a bike when you get there. Too much expense and faff for what I'm assuming would be a day or two riding.
Failing that I'd recommend BikeBoxAlan, I bought one of these for my fancy road bike but have used it for MTB also. They're a little pricey but worth it if you'll re-use.
You can rent them too.
Check your luggage allowance first ! If you are flying Emirates, last time I looked via Asia its only 25Kg each, for everything. So unless you fancy running about in Grut Togs and Jandals for a few weeks you might want to look more closely at the bike box option. I came back with a bike on Malaysian once, it was a road bike in a cardboard box just snuck under the limit but airlines weren't such weenuses about it all then.
I took my santa cruz superlight out in a planet x bike bag; complete with bivy bag, sleeping bag and clothes for a 16 day outback tour in South Australia. I phoned quantas and told them that i was doing a charity event and my bag weighed 32kg (and i weighed 10 stone) and the made sure that i wasn't charged excess baggage. the was in 2002.
MAKE SURE YOUR BIKE IS CLEANER THAN A SHOWROOM MODEL, otherwise customs will give you a lot of grief.
Just backing up what farmer giles has said, "MAKE SURE YOUR BIKE IS CLEANER THAN A SHOWROOM MODEL". He's not kidding. There needs to be zero dirt visable anywhere on the bike, in your bike bags, on any of your gear. Oz and NZ are the strictest countries I know for this sort of thing.