Germany_chris

I知 in the process of moving from Germany back to the states since I won稚 have a car my plan was to bring my DD bike.



have you guys been able to get a bike with racks, full fenders, and lights in a 280cm total package? The reason I知 concerned is I知 not going to be able to delay and my household goods with all my other bikes will have already shipped.

My other options are my Karate Monkey or my other CC but it痴 got carbon wheels.

Tourist in MSN

Are you allowed to split parts into two pieces of luggage, one oversize and one not oversize? If you are allowed to do that and if they both are allowed to have a 23kg limit, you could put a lot of personal gear into each package, besides the bike parts. The wheels in a non-oversize package and the frame, handlebars and fork in the other oversize luggage?

I am just asking here, those are the questions I would ask. And if you can get a written answer that says yes, you may need to show that later at the airport.

Germany_chris

The site says you池e allowed 32kg which will be OK I think though I値l have to throw the bike on the scale. If I can pack enough crap in one big suitcase a separate wheel box with some tools thrown in might work.

Maybe the right answer is a wheel swap and throw a small rack and small panniers in my suitcase and pick up some race blades since it doesn稚 look like it get wet there in the fall.

Calsun

Need to consider the weight of the various bike cases in deciding which to buy. An alternative is to sell your bike in Germany and then buy another bike in the states.

Yan 

A full sized cardboard bike box is under 280cm. Any bicycle shop wil have them. That's how they get the bicycle from the factory.

https://shop.bikeflights.com/new-bikeflights-large-box.html
https://www.clcycle.ca/en/bassi-bike-box-60x32x10-1m53x81cmx25cm.html

L134 

Last summer I packed my bike in an electric bike box which just met Alaska Airlines dimension limitations (I can't remember what they were). As i recall, I only removed pedals, seat post, front wheel and pulled the stem. Bike then dropped in box very easily and the reassembly on arrival was easiest ever. Electric bikes boxes are heavy duty and bigger (but not too big?). The box was much sturdier than the Bikeflights boxes I've used in the past. I picked it up for free from an e-bike rental store. They thanked me for taking it off their hands!



I think I blacked out all references to "electric" on the box.

Tourist in MSN

In another thread recently, I posted photos of my new road bike that I bought five years ago, the photos are as I took it out of the box so it shows how the manufacturer packed the bike when they shipped it out of the factory.
https://www.bikeforums.net/23017449-post49.html

That thread also had a lot of other good info on packing a bike.

If this is a permanent move to USA from EU, do not be surprised if you are suddenly charged customs duty when you arrive in USA. I think it is 11 percent of bike value, but I could be wrong on that. I do not know what perminent means for customs duty, but I think more than 90 days is perminent.

If you move back to EU in the future, you might need documentation that the bike resided there before to avoid another customs duty charge later.

My first foreign trip with my S&S bike, which is the only bike I have taken internationally, I planned to pack the rear rack in my other checked bag, a duffle. So, a day or two before I get on the plane I am packing up my bike when crisis hits, the rack would not fit in the duffle. My point is that you should not make the same mistake I did, far too close to take off time I was trying to change my luggage plans.

Good luck getting this stuff sorted out.

djb

yes, no problem. I guess you haven't flown with your bike before, but the cardboard box from a bike store that I have used for my medium sized Troll is well under that total of 280--I added up my dimensions and it comes to 250, which allows some wiggle room for a larger box.
I use the usual decades old method of removing front wheel, front rack, front fender , leaving rear rack on, seat all the way down in frame etc etc etc , zip tie-ing front wheel sans skewer to the main frame triangle, improvising front fender with tape onto the normally attached rear fender, and also improvising my front rack in there also. Then of course finnangling the bars in there after removing them from the stem.
Always use the various plastic protecty thingees that you will get from the bike store that the new bike in the box was using, rd protector, fork protector, front disk protector, and foam bits you can tape here and there to stop scratching etc.

there are lots of youtube videos of cardboard box packing, but use the template of a new bike as it comes out of a box for ideas of how to do this packing. I learned this at a bike store once when asking for a bike box and the store kindly removed a brand new bike for me to have the box--and I took a photo of the new bike after they took it out to sort of replicate the methods.
Youtube being youtube, some videos will be better than others, so look at a bunch and take things with a grain of salt.
Dont hesitate to ask for photos of how we do this if you want.

ps, I find using the smallest box possible to have real advantages--much easier fitting into a car, easier moving around on an airport trolly, easier getting through narrow doors and airport stuff , plus you want the bike to be NOT loosey goosey in a box, ie try to reduce the movement of bike to reduce risk of damage.

djb

found photos I took recently

Germany_chris

Well I bought an EVOC rolling bike bag so I hope everything goes well