Hi, Just how much hassle is it really?

I’m thinking of doing this rather than hiring as they seem to only be charging £20 extra each way, or borrowing something crap which is what I usually end up doing. specifically monarch airlines to Spain if anyone has experience?

How badly are they handled, do I need a hard case or is a well packed bike retail box ok?

I understand I might have to remove the wheels twist the bar so it’s inline with the frame?

How do you protect the derailleur, or is it best removing that too?

Thanks for any advice!

Used a box to go to Whistler last year – worked great. No damage at all to the bike or wheels etc.
Mech off & taped to swingarm, front/rear axles refitted with plastic tube to act as spacers, bars off and taped to top tube, brake spacers to stop pads getting pushed out. Lots of foam/bubble wrap.

I’ve done both the cardboard box and dedicated bike box methods, bikes have survived fine with both. No experience of Monarch but the baggage handling is all done by the same service company at an airport anyway.

How much you have to dismantle the bike depends on the size of the bike/box in relation to the bike. I usually remove the handlebars from the stem for example. Rear mech is best undone and taped up inside the frame, no need to break the chain. You’ll need to put spacers between the drop-outs to protect forks and rear from crush damage. Pipe insulation is good for extra protection.

Plenty of videos online – the things you want to avoid are crush and impact damage. Plenty of lightweight padding, no sticky-out bits and use the wheels strapped to the frame to help protect it. Remove pedals, chainrings, rear mech and detach bars from stem / cable tie to frame.

Bike in hard cases are heavier, are more likely to be dropped and they hit the ground harder – my experience of a hard case was it got trashed pretty quickly. Whilst soft bike bags aren’t indestructible, they might get gashes and scrapes but never had a bike damaged in one.

Lots of videos online of baggage staff treating bike bags with not much care, never had an issue myself though.
I guy I know flys regularly (12 times a year) with a road bike. Packs it in a thick clear polythene sheet with duct tape – Never had an issue. This kind of method with the front wheel off and no other changes:

He works on the theory that the baggage guys can see its value, and he can spot damage at the airport and hold them to account. He can also pack spare duct tape and fold the sheet up and store it in his hotel room. It’s titanium road/touring bike though, and I wouldn’t be willing to go down that route if it were carbon.

I have a bike bag but tbh it’s all about the cardboard box I put inside it. Funnily enough bike companies have put a bit of effort into transporting bikes. So for me the bag gives it handles and convenience and a bit of weatherproofing, but the box is doing all the actual work. If my bag was lost or desytroyed I wouldn’t replace it, I’d just get another box from Halfords, wrap it thickly in packing tape, add some handles…

For packing inside I find it easier to take the bike apart a little bit more than most folks do, then I fill the space with those big air bubble things-not bubble wrap, the big aircap bubbles that are like crisp bags. They weigh nowt and they’re very tough and give the whole thing a lot of bounce and soft crush resistance.

It’s not as convenient as some but massively protective, and costs almost nothing. I’d far rather use my scabby box than an Evoc soft bag or similar.

I took my bike with monarch all ok. I actually booked it online as an oversize bag as it was cheaper then, packed it all up left it at oversize luggage desk. Went to plane…security came to my seat as it would not fit through the x ray so were asking permission to manually check it.

Had some spare weight allowance so put a tent and camping gear in the box too.

Took a bus at the other end, just put it in the locker underneath

Flown Monarch to Spain with bikes twice recently, once using cardboard box and once using a bike bag.
Pro’s and cons to both.
Bag easier to transport around the airport etc (box too long / wide to lie flat on trolley so had it vertically, made it tricky!).
Box allowed me to pack with more protection and was lighter so more kit could fit in.

No issues with damage either time.

only advice would be to at least test pack it well in advance so you can solve any problems without the stress of a looming deadline!

Si

Oh yeah, MC told me “pack it like it’s going to get thrown down a flight of stairs” which seems like a good start, but I’ve upgraded that to “pack it like it’s going to get thrown out of an upstairs window”

I’ve never had a problem just doing this:

1. Cycle to airport.
2. Remove pedals.
3. Rotate bars.
4. Pretend to let some air out of the tyres very noisily at the checkin desk.
5. Wheel bike into giant plastic bag.

I recently flew to Atlanta with a soft bag. Aside from spacers in the frame I popped to b&q and picked up some polystyrene loft insulation. I then reinforced the bag with spacers I’d made from the polystyrene and taped to stop it snowing everyone I went near it.
On returning home I found a search note in the bottom of the bag and the bike packed as well, if not better than I did.

Top tip if travelling with others, if you can drop the luggage off with them. The transfer busses can be rammed.

Very disappointing thread title.

The box theory may way work but it’s a pain in the arse and if you have ever seen a bike delivered from distributor in a box the level of packing goes way beyond most folk.
I use a proper bag (evoc) and maybe a towel as an extra around the bars. It gets used about 10 times a year and on and off about 40-50 planes with no incident. If you can borrow a decent bag do that.

Apart from the above, I like to put a block of wood I between my drop outs and forks.

I also remove the rear mech, only from the frame and tuck it inside the rear triangle and pop some spacers in the calipers. I always take the rotors off too.

Got an old Drb bag you can have if you can collect it. Wigan.

Use an Evoc now. It’s ace.

Taken bike to spajn twice now one with monarch and once with ryan air. Used a bike bag both times (borrowed evoc on) and wouldn’t like to use a cardboard box they are not treated gentally.
The rear mech was cable tied to the frame and as above test pack everything weigh it and chuck as much riding gear in to get to the max weight.
I ended up taking a photo of it pack for referance on the return trip. At the desk they will ask if tyres are still inflated and if you have packed any co2 cartridges, never checked though.

Whats the deal with CO2 cartridges? Are you not allowed to travel with them at all, or how do you get around traveling with them?

Airline dependant for CO2, check the terms and the airport goods rules. I normally leave mine in the bike bag but that is mostly Aus/NZ

I’ve use a clear plastic bad and just left both wheels on to avoid issues with the dropouts. No problems at all

I’m pretty sure you can’t take co2 cartridges, you would have to buy them at far end

I’ve no experience with Monarch, but I recently took my Solaris to Tenerife, on a Thomson flight, in a case I rented from the LBS (Garage Bikes, Morley).
Wheels, pedals, rear mech and stem/bars off, forks have to be turned 180 degrees (due to it being a 29er). All the biking gear goes in the case, too.
No problems, except for the fact you’ve got an extra **** big bag/case to wheel about.
Edit;
The bike case was a Biknd Jetpack.

Other stuff also rotors off or they will get bent even in a bag. A good T handles T25 is worth having (reminds me to replace mine) and proper allen keys for anything you remove (if your pedals need a pedal spanner buy new pedals 😉 )

[/url]Arrived safe in Tenerife by Chip & Manda, on Flickr[/img]

Oh yes, I’d to let all the air out of the fork, to get it to fit in the case. (large Cotic Solaris with 120mm Pikes.)

I use one of the Crateworks plasticised boxes regularly and it’s brilliant. Lighter than a full-on hardcase, but seriously tough and really well designed. In the past I’ve used a full-on hardcase (mad heavy and bulky), cardboard box (disintegrates when wet) a soft case (limited crush protection) and a soft case with cardboard box inside (works pretty well as per Northwotsit’s post above).

They’re all bulky-ish to store, whereas the Crateworks folds flat for storage and while it’s not cheap, people spend more on a set of cranks or a waterproof jacket. It’s designed primarily for road bikes but mtbs fit too.

Anyway, other thing to be aware of is the overall weight of the bike plus case / bag / box. There’s an upper limit beyond which H&S dictates it’s too much, erm, 32kg from memory, which sounds a look, but if you have a 10kg + case it’s easy to exceed.

The two schools of through seem to be:

1. Pack it as if Northwind is going to throw it out of an upstairs window, leaving no room for damage.

2. Pack it in as little as possible, leaving the airport and airline with no option but to treat it gently.

Option 1 could be split in to

1a. Spacious/Hard bike bag – like an Evoc or a hard shell bike box. Downsides are weight and expense.
1.b Minimal/lightweight bag and loads of padding. Downsides are more time spent disassembling the bike to pack it and you’ll need to obtain spacer for crush protection.

Jon Taylor – Member

2. Pack it in as little as possible, leaving the airport and airline to treat it gently.

I really like this approach but it’d make it harder to hide all the other crap I put in with the bike 😆 “Is that stuffed marmot part of the bike?” “Of course”

bigdean – Member

wouldn’t like to use a cardboard box they are not treated gentally.

That’s kind of the point though, I don’t need it to be treated gently.

That’s kind of the point though, I don’t need it to be treated gently

until it rains, or something inside moves, or the cardboard gives in.

When we went to Finland in February the airline (Finnair) stated that bikes had to be in hard cases. We used ChanReaction soft bike bags and were fine but I suspect that the plastic bag type packing above wouldn’t have been.

Once you’ve done it a couple of times, stripping down/rebuilding a bike for air transport is half an hour or so. Hardly onerous.

mikewsmith – Member

until it rains, or something inside moves, or the cardboard gives in.

Rain isn’t a problem, just wrap the box. If something moves badly inside, that’s just bad packing- you can pack badly in anything. And the box’s tougher than most “proper” bags including evoc so if it “gives in” then so would most others.

The only downside is that it’s a bit more hassle- if I was a journo or a jetsetting pro flying every couple of weeks it’d drive me mad. (then again, if someone else paid for my bike I’d probably worry less about damage)

But as it is, it’s about an extra 20 minutes hassle each time I fly in return for the peace of mind of excellent protection- it’ll take a lot more than 20 minutes to sort out any damage. For the less frequent flier sacrificing protection for convenience seems mental tbf.

Probably true in some ways but I have the evoc down to a good 15 to 20 mins tops these days and no issues in 4 years and what feels like a gazillion air miles.

Thanks all, some food for thought there.
I’ve a 26er but xl frame and 120mm forks, so letting air out is a good shout, the wheelbase is quite long though.

It’s 12.5kg when saddle baggage, lock etc removed so weight shouldn’t be too much of an issue but I’ll have to take shock pump, and tools for whatever I need for reassembly, although most of it is Allen keys which I can borrow at the other end.

I’ve done it loads. Bike bag, rear mech off and ziptied, frame spacers, pedals off, bars off done.

I use a strap to hold the frame spacer in place; I also cut a piece of electrical conduit pipe to the length of my front axle to install between the fork dropouts, to prevent the legs being squashed in.

Hi, What do you mean by frame spacer?
I get that with the wheels off I’ll need to put a makeshift brace between the front and rear dropouts.

Mind you I was wondering if I could get away with leaving the wheels on, and just rotating the handle bar.

Cheers

I’ve seen what happens with stuff wrapped in plastic bags as they come out of a chute on the plane. I wouldn’t go that route myself.

If at all possible I’d prefer to drive and be able to take loads of kit and not have to reassemble the bike the night before riding when tired and just want a beer, but it’s not always possible.

Frame spacer is the little plastic widget that goes in place of the rear axle so that the stays don’t get squashed together if something lays on top of it. Without the wheel there they are not well supported.

Frames are shipped with them in so bike shops should have a pile I’d have thought.

The CRC bags come with a range of frame spacers to suit the various standard axle sizes. Don’t (currently) have any for the fat bike spacings so I made some up from some aluminium tubing.