Bikes on planes

I am fortunate enough to be going to whistler for 2 weeks very soon. However one question is bugging me. I will put my bike in a box, now how do I get this box to the airport, amongst other luggage?! Will it fit in a 6 seater taxi? I don’t want to wait for the taxi to turn up and find out it doesn’t!

Any suggestions welcome.

Also what tyres for whistler…….?

Call the taxi company. Thew WILL have done this before. If they haven’t, choose another company! 🙂

I’m sick of all these muthaf*^king bikes on this muthaf*^king plane!

Sorry. Couldn’t resist, have been studying with a cold. The bright spot of my day… 😉

Yeah, get a big cab. We did it few years back with 4 of us in one big ass cab.

I hired the Thule box from our lbs when we went to Florida. The Thule box is massive, it weighs 16kg on its own and my thoughts were would it fit in the back of our van. (VW 9 seat T5)…. Yes it went in, on top of everything else, it layed horizontally across where the windows are. (It being a few inches wider there).

However… The enormous 15 seat Chevey bus thing we had over there was allmost useless. I only just got it squezed in throught he side door and it took an entire row of seats up.

Ed,

I had a similar dilemma when we went to Spain in May. I booked a mini bus taxi and warned them about the bike….a Octavia Estate arrived. After a fair bit of swearing we got the bike (road bike in a bag) a pushchair, the luggage and the 3 of us in but it was tight.

Just book a mini bus and warn them in advance. Hope the legs weren’t too heavy after that windy drag over the Isle of Skye on Saturday!

We got our two stood up in the back of a Passat estate (Evoc bags).

Just ask for a big old MPV, and put one side of the rear seats down & it should slide right in.

As for tyres – if you’re out of the park EXO Maxxis should be good, in the park, dual ply’s, as it’s smashed to bits & rough as hell.

Surely this a ‘Bikes in taxis’ thread?!

Don’t want be a smart arse! But, when I read the title, I instantly through a new movie staring Samuel L. Jackson….

A bike box fits easily in a standard taxi or the back of an estate car with the seats folded.

Don’t let any idiot tell you to deflate the tyres. The ‘plane is pressurised to 10,000 feet so as to give the occupants enough oxygen to breathe. Would your tyres explode if you rode over a 10,000 foot Alp? Would they heck.

The enormous 15 seat Chevey bus thing we had over there was allmost useless.

Really? We can get 7 passengers, 7 bagged/boxed bikes and 7 sets of luggage inside ours!

As above, prewarn the taxi company what you have. Even my 2002 focus estate will fit 2 evoc bags, luggage and 3 people.

If you have a bike bag, it will fit across the back seats in most cars, certainly taxis, leaving you free to sit in the front seat (assuming you are alone).

A cardboard box should be similarly sized, but I recommend a bag if you can afford one.

Don’t let any idiot tell you to deflate the tyres.

Some things just aren’t worth arguing about, when they only take a minute! They are happy if you partially deflate them so no need to worry about losing sealant etc.

Ride to the airport holding the box in your teeth

I always book with a black cab firm, takes away any chance that they send a bubble car or something but most cars can take a bike box.

BearBack…… OK, perhaps not useless…But the Thule bike box only just went in, i mean only just as i had to tip it slightly on its side, while pushing it up onto the second row of seats and them sit it vertical. Also NOT one set of seats folded flat…….

My T5 swallowed it no problem!