Badger6

Or your road bike, or whatever bike...not really looking for any specific advice, since tomorrow morning will be the 23d time I've flown with a bike...over oceans (one trip was over 2!), across continents, but never to the moon. Just starting a conversation.

Who else travels with a bike? I have an EVOC travel case that has served me very well, and held up much better than I ever expected, but happy it did for what it cost. Long ago I established a pretty good routine for packing the bike (and, tools, and kits and shoes) in to the case, and always carry the helmet strapped to a backpack as a carry on personal item. I admit that I have fibbed a bit at check in to avoid baggage fees, but now that Delta doesn't charge them that's not really necessary anymore. I did once get asked if there was a bike in the case, and I said, "No, just parts." It worked, but the next time it didn't, because the ticket agent and I were conversing in German, and when she asked me in German, I all of a sudden replied in English, and then she said in perfect English, "But, it must be all the parts of the bicycle?" So I paid that time...

Okay, back to packing...

msu2001la

Ha!

I have never flown with a bike, but am bike-flight-curious. I briefly looked into bringing my bike on a trip to Colorado this summer, but it seemed prohibitively complicated.

The main sticking point I ran into was just getting everything to/from the airport. I'm confident that I can pack up a bike in a box or case, but not confident that it would fit into my car (along with other luggage, kids luggage, wife's luggage) or a rental car on the other side. There is a bike shop near my destination that rents higher-end road bikes and MTB's, so I'm planning on just bringing my shoes/pedals and doing that instead.

pdlamb

I'd given up getting my S&S bike into its case one time and packed the saddle and seatpost in my other bag. That one time was the time I was asked if it was a bike. No, just parts. Didn't have to argue any more.

Rational baggage policies are a nice change; wonder how long they'll persist.

Rolla

30 years ago I used to fly with my bike, but the bike rental world has vastly improved since then. Most of the time I can get a better bike than my own, and there's a great simplicity in just dropping it off when I'm done instead of breaking it down and boxing it up again.

msu2001la

I'm curious about this. Do most LBS's rent bikes? I found some options in Colorado, but I'm in a ski-resort town where there's tons of summer MTB/road biking so they do a lot of rentals. If I flew to a random city like... Atlanta, would I be able to rent a bike from a LBS?

I agree that renting seems easier. The places I found in CO are charging like $60-$70 a day for a carbon road bike.

softreset

Do most? I'd say no. Do many? Probably depends on the area.

Of the 11 bike shops within a 30-minute drive from my house, only 3 of them have a rental fleet.

Then there's the issue of what bike(s) do they have, what sizes do they carry, and if that bike/size combo you want is available for when you want it. I would definitely make sure you adequately plan before the trip the logistics of a rental. Another variable that can be a problem is availability. The shop I worked at (right off the American River Bike Trail) has a rental fleet of road bikes, mtn. bikes and hybrids. We had a full size run of Domanes (as our road bike) and 52-62 (in 2cm increments) and 2x 56cm bikes as that was our most popular size. During peak rental season most bikes were out 24/7 for weeks at a time. Rentals were due back by before noon on their return date and were checked out at 4pm on their delivery date. On many occasions we'd get a bike back that was not ready to go back out later that day due to a catastrophic mechanical or other issue. Which meant we had to frantically either try to get ready to go or call the renter and say we were unable to honor the reservation. Sure we had a disclaimer that said this was always a possibility and availability was subject to change with little notice, but when someone came in expecting a rental for an event they were registered for only to be told we didn't have their bike, it rightly created problems.

Heck, I still recall all the specifics of getting berated for 25 minutes from someone signed up to do an Ironman with our rental and we were unable to fulfill his exact rental reservation because the guy before him thrashed the bike and that was 5-years old. We had offered him the closest alternative (a 54 or 58 instead of the 56).

Rolla

You can pretty much rent a bike in any major (or minor) US city. You can also check out spinlister.com and rent from a private individual.

Badger6

Had to pay a fee this morning…but, KLM has dropped their fee. A few years ago I got dinged while flying back to the states, 140€ (still less than a rental and I had MY bike). Today it was 55€, really a nominal fee considering I will have MY bike and I will go for a ride before dinner, and I won't be paying fees on return. I'm not complaining about my First World problems…

DorkDisk

I have been using a Trico Ironcase since 1994 for flights between Canada, USA, and Mexico, just recently took it on a flight. For a full size bike, its hard to beat. The wheels make it roll easily and being able to UPS it makes it handy to have, if a bit large for small spaces.