I’m heading to Malaga on Saturday for a weeks mtb. I haven’t flown with a bike for about 12 years so I’m well out of the loop on what to do. Myths swirling around my head include
No CO2 cartridges and taking air out of shocks and tyres.
Are these still true, and is there anything else i need to know?

I don’t remember taking air out of shocks, and only let some air out of tyres to get into wheel bags OK.  For me the main things are ensuring compliance with the baggage policy and packing the bike well in its bag.  I also take my helmet as carry on.

Not sure about CO2, best to check the airline policy on it.

Flying with your bike? If all the air is out of your shocks & tyres you’ll have a very hard landing.

…

Sorry. Nothing helpful to add.

Flew with my bike for first time ever 2 weeks ago. As above no need to let air out of shocks. I read the difference in pressure between ear and stratosphere is 14psi. I think your shocks can take that. Had to deflate my tyres to get into wheel bags. Don’t carry co2 but as you can put aerosol cans in hold baggage I can’t see it being an issue.
Biggest headache was getting g a modern lls 29er in a bike bag
For the record my 1240mm wheelbase bike just went in the cheapest wiggle/CRC bag that is about £50 to buy. Had to remove rear mech and front calliper and spin forks round to get it in.

Mods – thread duplicate of the ‘I can’t jump’ one?

Take disc rotors off and package them in between the frame, usually I zip tie them on the inside of a seat stay in a special cardboard / duct tape envelope I made. Folded up old credit cards make good brake pad retaining tools.

Fit a rigid spacer between the fork and rear dropouts. A mate of mine machined up some ally tube for this, but plumbing waste pipe also works well.

Pedals in the wheel bag pouches if you’ve got them.

Bars off and zip tied to frame side.

Scaffolding bump protectors are far better than bubble wrap / pipe lagging. Zip tie them in place. Chuck a load of zip ties in the bike bag, along with the tools you used to take it all apart, spare and more duct tape.

I normally sneak GT85, lube and some stans in there, in an old dry bag as well, but make sure the lube and stans are depressurised & gt85 has its lid on.

The riding around malaga is amazing. You doing switchbacks or ciclo?

No issue with Co2 when I flew to Girona a couple of weeks ago with Ryanair. Got asked at the excess luggage desk in Bristol if I had Co2, I answered yes and she acknowledged my answer and sent my bike box on its way. I think max for most airline is 2 cannisters generally.

Hot Flat – SierraMTB, going with mates who’ve been with them before and loved it, but they’ve never ridden elsewhere outside the UK so how good it will be…I’ll find out. I’ve ridden Andalucía many many moons ago when Freeride Spain were on the go (2006ish IIRC). It seemed amazing then, I’ve mostly been to the Alps since, and always driven down, so im intrigued to see how the hills above Fuengirola compare.
Im off the Alps in September anyhow for a return trip to WhiteRoom MTB – after a 10 year hiatus thanks to work, kids and of course Covid.

Cheers Sowler, i’ll sneak a couple in to the bike bag.

I flew with jet2 with a bike last month. You have a 32kg limit so I packed out box with other stuff. If booked in as bike you go to check in who print label, then send you to excess baggage channel at the end. That was Manchester. Box is handled better than normal luggage.

At alicante my bike was on the normal carousel. No problems at all, it’s q a walk from carousel to car so I made a rucsac type harness with ratchet straps. Also wrapped box in a wheely bin bag from wilkos so noone knew contents, it’s a Brompton I didn’t want to advertise.

V pleased with service

flew about a month ago, carbon road bike in Evoc bag.
not a lot to add, no Co2 and deflate the tyres (don’t have to be completely flat).
removal of rotors isnt a bad idea as long as you have the tool to reattach at the other end.
wrapped everything in lagging and bubblewrap attached with some velcro stamps from amazon.
rotors off on the way out but left them on coming back