UKC

I'm quite temped by the idea of flying somewhere in Italy, Spain or France and doing a point to point tour on my bike. It seems fairly straightforward and not too expensive to fly your bike out, but all the airlines want you to either put the bike in a recognised bike bag or box it up in cardboard and bubble wrap. I fully understand why, but what do you do about the bike bag or other packaging whilst you are cycling?

In reply to The New NickB:

One option is to take a proper bike bag and then pay for some sort of storage when you get there - various locker facilities are available, I've used one for storing cases in Barcelona. Not so good for point to point, though.

Other option is get a box from a local bike shop, fly out and then either ditch the box somewhere or give it to someone on their way home. When you come back, try and get one from a local bike shop or from someone who has just arrived.

In reply to The New NickB:

Various Buckshee solutions >>> trash cardboard box at airport / hotel - obtain another from a bike shop at destination / manufacture cardboard box + wrapping material from supermarket throw aways - YT has a few of videos showing you how to do it.

D

In reply to The New NickB:
Took a bike (actually a tandem) to Kazakhstan for a tour in March. We put pipe lagging on the frame then put the bike in a large clear plastic mattress bag. This method is recommended by the CTC the idea being that if the baggage handlers can clearly see that it is a bike they might treat it more carefully. The plan was to use the mattress bag as a tent groundsheet on the tour however the hostel we stayed at was happy for us to leave it with them until our return. At the airport the airline asked us to get the bike wrapped in cling film which we did and it cost about £15. While cycling we left most of the pipe lagging on the bike and on our return bought a couple of rolls of cling film and tape and wrapped it ourselves. We did get a ding in the frame but overall it worked quite well. Another good tip we found online do deal with having multiple small panniers but airlines charging per bag was to get a cheap plastic Chinese made laundry bag type thing that could fit all our panniers in. Hope that's some help!

In reply to The New NickB:
I was sitting onboard an airplane last week and the ground staff seemed to be playing a game of throwing or missing the bike box onto the elevator and that was in public, I would get a load of bubble wrap and hard bike box, you can hire them on eBay expensive but might be worth it.

Depending on route and airport location you may be able to stash box / bag. Get out of airport, find a field of stones or big dense bushes. hide the bag and go on tour. Downside you need to finish in same airport.

Wrapping is very good idea. From personal experience I can say airport worker don't give a crap if it's a bicycle or bag of stones. It will be thrown and dropped. Putting 'Fragile' labels don't work either. I would think that in some cases it may have opposite effect.

In reply to The New NickB:

Done this a few times - best approach for point to point I've found (if not returning via same airport e.g. via train) is to get a cardboard bike box from local bike box + lots of bubble wrap etc, unpack and bin at airport (ask the staff there's usually a recycling point), and contact a bike shop at your destination and ask them to hold a cardboard bike box for you at the other end (usually very happy to help but welcome a few beer tokens) - re-pack and return.

If returning via same airport then maybe stay in a nearby hotel and ask them to look after your bike box for you while on the road.

Enjoy!

In reply to The New NickB:

The best advice is just above. After arriving you will need to rest and recover from the flight and re-sort your kit. Plus in most cities the road from city centre to airport will be unpleasant or dangerous, so why not book a room at an airport or city hotel, get the hotel transfer bus, stash your bag and any flying or UK cold weather clothing with the hotel then stay there on the last night so that you can get packed and back to the terminal without stress? For me the worst part of any overseas trip is the stress of getting to the airport so I will sometimes even finish the trip at an airport hotel just for my own sanity.

In reply to The New NickB:

Thanks for all of your comments. Food for thought.

In reply to The New NickB: We tend to use CTC transparent bag approach. This allows long term parking eg at Stansted, cycle to departures, remove pedals, turn bars and add a bit of padding here and there. Bung in bag and wrap loads of duck tape. At destination, reverse procedure and bin the bag etc. Once opened out, it is hard to squeeze all the air out so it can be a bit too bulky to carry. We usually carry another bag for the return as it is less stressful than trawling shops for materials the day before flying home.
So far ( after about 8 flights each), bikes have arrived in one piece though it was disconcerting to see our bikes underneath about 80 cases on the baggage trolley on the tarmac once.

This year we are flying out to Bratislava and returning from Budapest. It is worth checking where airports are in relation to the city centres and how easy it is to ride out of the door ( super in Copenhagen, Berlin Schonfeld and Tallinn), or use train. Streetview is great for planning ride to or from airports.

In reply to The New NickB:

I remember reading that Lufthansa allows you to fly with the bike unbagged. I suggest you give their reservations number a call and enquire.

In reply to IPPurewater:


That seems to be another issue, different requirements for different airlines, obviously then matching the airline with the destination.

In reply to The New NickB:

I agree and have done the stuff with cardboard boxes from the shops (or bins) carrying or buying some tape at the end of the tour helps, alternatively, turn up early, smile, look helpless and tell them how far you've come, I've done this and got sympathetic assistance.

My next trip is planned to start with a flight out (bike box from shops) and end at a ferry port.

My tip, Geneva to Nice, the easyJet tour

In reply to The New NickB:

We chucked our bike shop cardboard boxes into a skip in Toulouse and went off to the Pyrenees for 3 weeks. They were still there when we came back, we salvaged one but the other was a bit mangled so we got another from a nearby bike shop.

Another time we ditched the boxes at Geneva airport and picked up new boxes from a bike shop in Nice which I'd phoned ahead for. It cost about €10 beer money but worth it for peace of mind.

An option if you are starting and ending at the same point is to stay in the same hotel and ask them to store your bag or box for you. A phone call in advance with the hint that it will make the difference to your booking generally works.

A lot of people on FB touring pages are advising just wrapping the bike in plastic or a thin tarp. I haven't tried it but I may do next time.

In reply to The New NickB:

The first time I flew with a bike I just removed the pedals, turned the bars sideways and dropped the saddle then sent it down the belt. it survived but it was a single sector flight and the bike was an alloy Trek mountain bike. On three subsequent trips I've taken my carbon roadie to South Africa and on one trip Air France caused substantial damage to the bike box I had borrowed and ended up buying me a new one. I repaired the damaged box, kept it and gave the new one back to the friend who lent me the box.

In reply to The New NickB:

Be warned. Some airports require hard cases. I flew into Los Angeles LAX with my bike in a bag (wrapped in old roll mats and bubble wrap).

When it came to leave we found to fly out of LAX you needed to put the bike in a hard case.

Luckily we found two left out on the street a week or so before our flight.

In reply to The New NickB:
As has already been said - bike box from bike shop, bin it and contact a bike shop at destination and get them to hold a box for you. What I would add is that in my experience is that some airlines are very good at this, in my experience both klm, ba and surprisingly easyJet have been very bike friendly . However it maybe to do with who runs the baggage handling at the airport ?
I think the easiest and best is fly in and out of same airport with a hard case and stay a night somewhere that's happy to store the box,