Bike box or bag?

Why not soft suitcases with a bit of cardboard?

Brompton can take a surprising amount of knock.

scicon bags are worth having a look at

Can your usually find cardboard bike boxes at the airport? Forgot today was Sunday and will be rushed my time for flight tomorrow morning to find one at a LBS here in Italy

I recall you'll have to pay for it, I managed to just wheel my bike to the luggage section and they accept it as it is with tyres deflated, handlebar turned, pedals removed and saddle lowered, find out?

I'm thinking it's about time I owned a bike box as I'll get enough use out of one that hiring isn't cost effective and borrowing can be a hassle.

I want a hard case and it needs to fit my TT bike in it.

I've used Polaris and BikeBoxAlan cases for road bikes and from memory they're both good - but would you go for one over the other and why?

BBA:
Max height 92cm x 113cm Long x 23cm min to 32cm Thickness. Weight 11.2 Kg.
Packing http://bikeboxalan.co.uk/index.php?pg=packaging

Polaris:
DIMENSIONS: Length 116cm, Height (tallest) 86.6cm, Depth 26cm
WEIGHT: 10.5kg (+/- 5%)

Packing: http://www.pod-it.co.uk/packing-instructions.html

I bought one off t'bay that looks like a fucking gigantic suitcase. Exactly like this one:

http://www.ribblecycles.co.uk/sp/road-track-bike/bike-carry-bike-suitcases-trivio-bike-suitcase/trivbikc200000000000

but made by Monoc.

It's currently in Bilbao having come back to the UK with my roadbike and was promptly used by the missus to transport her fixed bike to the glorious Basque region.

I paid about fifty quid for it.

Does anyone have a bike box I could borrow for a week in November?

What did you decide in the end?

Got a bike box Alan on the way.

Good choice. I like mine. Just wish it had bigger wheels.

.

Well, it's not so hot for disc wheels - not able to use the anti-crush pole. :(

Also, pulling down a TT bike sucks balls.

I'm heading to Norway (again) this year for the Nibberittet race, and I'm debating whether or not a clever bag such as the BOgear Royd might be a better choice than a hard case.

Mainly due to the onward transport side of things - there will be four of us, four hard-cases take up an awful lot of space, whereas four bikes can go onto a bike rack, with the Royd folded up and shoved in a bag.

My concern is that the baggage handlers would just jump up and down on a fairly expensive frame and wheels, and I'd unzip the bag at Aalesund and pour a slurry of carbon shards and bent metal onto the apron.

Who has travelled with a bag, and what was it like?

Are there inflatable (with a bike pump) cushions to put in with the frame that won't blow up in the low pressure hold?

@Dammit, royd,is just like a ground effect tardis, pipe lagging round the frame.

There isn't as far as I'm aware inflatable cushions to protect the frame, most people will bag up clothes and use those to fill the gaps. If you won't some you'll probably have to design some..

Personally wouldn't put a carbon frame in a bike bag just because carbon doesn't lend itself to dings and dents, whereas steel/alu/titanium do. And not sure how carbon would respond to having to support weight in places it's not designed to.

Swings an

There has been some anecdotal reporting of baggage handlers taking more care of a soft bag, rather than simply frisbeeing it out of the hold as they do with everything else.

Pipelagging would be an option, but having to do something with it afterward kind of goes against the principal of the bag - unless you shove the pipe lagging in the bin at the airport I suppose.

Pipe lagging you put into a smaller bag and carry with otherwise how are you going to protect your frame on the way back?

If you really want to you keep the pipe lagging in the bike bag when you roll or up, even with them it's still significantly smaller than a hardcase.

I'll take a bike bag and pipe lagging over a hard case every journey, it's just easier to lug around, my tip if you don't want to carry the bike bag everywhere, get a small foldable metal trolley, some bungee cords and strap bike bag to that, you get to wheel it when you need to and carry when you don't.

It'll be a steel frame and some carbon wheels, but the steel is very, very thin in places.

Be nice to ask a baggage handler!

Ultimately the bike will be insured, the issue is that I'm going out to race - I don't want to have to stand on the sidelines as the bikes FUBAR.

I don't want to have to stand on the sidelines as the bikes FUBAR.

And this is why I'll always prefer a bike box.

Was Scherrit's bike (that had the mech hanger broken off) in a bag or a box?

Not sure but if it was in a box and they managed to break the hanger, a bag wouldn't have helped.

I've taken my carbon to Oz for the last few years, always in a soft case. It's an Evoc, which has fibre glass supports and hard plastic covers for the wheels too. I've always taken the time to wrap all frame tubes in pipe cladding too, just in case and I've never had an issue.
It's light too.

Oh, and I keep that giant inflatable bubble wrap stuff that things are posted in sometimes. It's perfect for filling in gaps around the bike.

Flying to Oz won't be on a budget airline. Flying to Spain, etc. probably will be.

I've had a skewer damaged flying from Oz (cardboard box) but that was my own fault for leaving it in the wheel (first time flying with a bike). My other bike in a cardboard box got its own special cage flying with Emirates. 30kg allowance too :)

I'm not sure the baggage handlers would distinguish between budget airline luggage and luggage from other carriers.

Anyway, flying with expensive kit is always a bit of a gamble, whatever steps you take. However it's not the horror story many will have you believe and it's very unlikely you'll be crying over a pile of carbon dust when you arrive.

Airlines have their own baggage handlers.