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| *Vultures Knob>>>Mountain Bike |
To those who have traveled by airplane and with a mountain bike? |
Any problem with your airline? ..and with a disarmed mountain-bike. Some people use the cardboard box the bike was delivered in - after all it probably survived in this during a cross-continental journey to the dealer! Bike shops are happy to supply these for nothing! A few bits of firm polystyrene foam will improve things further. The downside is low security and its difficult to lug to the airport! I used to use a soft bag called a Tepee, specially made for bikes, but although the bike survived OK, the bag got seriously roughed up very quickly! Now I use a hard case. It was expensive, but it thoroughly protects my bike and there are enough loose spaces inside to take my clothes, tools and a few extras. So far, bike and box have arrived unscathed every time. For enhanced security my Italian-made bike box also has four stout clasps, each fitted with a good combination lock (so no lost keys hassle). The box has a handle at one end and wheels at the other - so it's easy to drag around - just like a big Samsonite suitcase really. Amazingly, in all my travels all over Europe I've never had to pay excess baggage charges for the box (even though the combination of box, bike and all my other gear took the weight way past 20kgs)! I think this is because the airlines don't weigh these outsize items. One low-cost airline (RyanAir) charged me a fixed 'bike' fee of about $25. All the airlines I've used have been fine and never raised an eyebrow - these include BA, Virgin, RyanAir, Austrian Airlines, KLM, Niki, Lufthansa and others. So far I haven't taken my bike intercontinental though ..... Important tip - don't leave an aerosol can inside - I put some spray lubricant in the box and had the hassle of having to go to the tarmac with a security guard to unlock the box, hand over the can and accept a telling off! It had been spotted when the box was x-rayed en route to the plane! Good luck! Mine got totally thrashed by the airline going from Missouri to Utah! We got to Utah to bike these killer trails and had only one usable bike. It really sucked, totally ruined our vacation. Defiantly buy the insurance! yea i did have the experience of traveling with a mountain bike. my advice is that you weigh the it before the flight and if it weighs more than the max allowable wight,then try puting some parts in another bag, because what happened to me is that i had to pay kuje 100 buck because it was way over the limit. good luck. |
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