Originally Posted by
Tourist in MSN
The last trip I did, the other two guys I was traveling with shipped their bikes to the motel. We took Southwest, being able to carry my bike in the S&S case makes it so much easier. I checked my bike in the S&S case so that it was on the plane. Southwest Air, 2nd checked bag is free, so my bike got to the motel with me for free. Only extra hassle was hauling around an extra bag in the airport and on the shuttle bus to the motel, shuttle to the airport parking lot, etc.
But any other airline, I would have shipped the bike to the motel too. At the cost of taking a bike on the plane, it does not make much sense. The three of us in that group are all retired, so we have the time to do our own bike assembly, etc. Thus, doing our own assembly at the motel made sense.
Yep. I can see the appeal of having a fully assembled bike ready at landing, but so far my S&S bike and I have flown on 3 trips. Two were Southwest, so no additional charge for the bike. One was another airline, where I think I paid $50 to check a bag. That trip wasn't a tour, just a visit with family where I brought my bike, so I was able to fit my clothing into my carry on, so my only checked bag was my bike. On that trip, my in-laws picked us up at the airport in their car. They had some reservations when we told them my luggage would include my bike, but the S&S case fit in the trunk along with my wife's bag nicely.
I generally do all my own bike work, and I prefer it that way, so while i can see where flying into town and having your bike ready to go would be nice, it's not something I seriously consider. However the amount of disassembly required for the S&S bike is extreme, and I've found that the smartest thing is to allow for a couple of hours to put it together, just to be safe. Not big deal if you plan for it. But my mini tour with the bike disassembled started with me assembling the bike, finding a place to ship my case home, loading the bike, and then biking 60 miles. I only made it 45. The next time I just allowed for the first day to have minimal riding and be mostly reserved for bike assembly.
The only additional hassle is dealing with that case. When I wasn't touring and had a ride to and from the airport, no big deal. Last year when I biked from Cleveland to Cumberland, I just mailed the bag back home because the bike and I were going to ride the train at the other end of the trip. Last month I flew into Cleveland and out of Columbus, but I was able to pass it off to people who driving, and it was waiting for me at a friend's house when I got to Columbus. When I ride the Katy Trail this fall, I'll have to see if the hotel in St. Louis will hold the bag for me.
Apart from dealing with the bag, having the S&S bike has been great. And even with a full sized bike, you still have to deal with packaging in some form or another.
I definitely sympathize the OP, and I don't think I'd appreciate a shop doing all that extra work without checking with me, but I also try not to let the shop have my bike. I'm sure they know their stuff, but I like to deal with my own bike.