Advice on packaging a bike for air travel

[Truckosaurus]

Now then.

I'm flying to Jo'burg from LHR in March to visit my brother, he has requested that I bring out his mountain bike as Virgin will allow me to carry it gratis on their aeroplane.

I've got a suitable cardboard box that the bike came in.

My question is:

Should I also wrap in extree amounts of gaffer tape or just lightly seal the box. The plus side to taping it right up is to keep prying hands off it, or will this make security think there is something worth hiding inside and rip it open?

Any hints/tips/suggestions?

Thanking you.

[condor]

I'd have thought copious layers of bubble wrap would have been the best option...with lots of parcel tape to stick things together. You get it on a roll and it doesn't cost that much...and most people use it to protect bulky packagages in transit.

[anonymous-user]

as the man said, lots of bubble wrap and packing tape. take off the wheels, take off the pedals and the rear mech too. take off the bars and stem too, leave the cables in but this means you can tape the bars too the top tube and its less likely to catch on anything. have you looked at bike boxes or proper travel cases? dependant on the value of the bike it might be a worthwhile investment?

[g@ry]

halfords sell _"bike bags"
cheap too ,my mate took his motocross bike in one to australia,he as racing there
best option i.m.h.o

[Floor Tom]

Most DH riders that fly with their bikes a lot use cardboard boxes. They are light and cheap/free to replace. Like others have said remove the front wheel, leave the back one in place though to stop the frame getting crushed. Take the pedals and rear mech/mech hanger if its removable and put these in a small box inside the bike box, take the handlebars off and ziptie them to the top tube with all the cables still in place. Let the air out your tyres and forks/shock if they are air sprung. Wrap everything in the box up in packaging, put a few extra layers of cardboard on the bottom of the box and write a big this way up on it.

[P-Jay]

General tips for anyone flying with a bike.

I have a Chain Reaction branded bike bag for my DH bike (I say branded because it's sold in different colours under lots of names), cost me about £100 and it's quite good, could do with being 10cm's taller, but that nit picking.

When we fly we:

Firstly it'll only fit with both wheels off, we I use an old 20mm front hub to brace the forks.

I've got a Maxle rear so I can brace the rear with some wood.

Remove pedals and derailleur.

I remove the stem from the stearer, rather than the bars from the stem as there's less to 'set up' at the other end. My gear cable and brake hoses are long enough that a can 'strap' the bar to the top tube with some masking tape.

Pack a wheel either side of the bike with the rotors pointing inwards, so if some baggage monkey decides to stand on your bike he won’t warp the rotors.

Compress the forks slightly to make it fit the bag (see above) with some zip-ties and cover the exposed stanchions with pipe lagging.

Remember to pack extra masking tape and zip-ties for return trip.

If there's room stuff the bike bag with some basic tools and any armour you might be taking, if they allow bikes free there's usually no weight limit so it might as well go in there.

Final tip, I always take my lid on board as hand luggage in its little sack thing, there's room inside for a paperback, passport etc, you know it's not taken a blow being loaded and best of all if you see any nervous flyers on board, you can put it on for landing - THEY LOVE THAT!

Edited by P-Jay on Wednesday 10th February 14:41

[Truckosaurus]

P-Jay said:

... best of all if you see any nervous flyers on board, you can put it on for landing - THEY LOVE THAT!

Hall of Fame!

Thanks for the advice everyone.

[CVP]

I grabbed a couple of boxes last time I flew with mine, 1 box for the bike and the other to get chooped up and provide re-inforcement on all interior walls of the box so effectively giving a double layer of cardboard on all surfaces that could get ripped.

Other have advised on the way to pack the bike so the only things I'll add;
1. Not a bad idea to chek-in a bit early to leave plenty of time to get the bike on the plane
2. I used an entire roll of gaffer tape round my bike box both coming US to Uk and back again. A key was reinforcing the hand holds in the boxes so they did not get torn there. UK customs not interested, US customs interested but too lazy to do anythign beyond putting the box through a scanner. It was not opened by either set of customs.

With Virgin you will be asked so sign a damage waiver limiting their liability. I can't recall the limit of the liability but it was low compared to the value of the bikes most of us move around, so dismatle, wrap in bubble wrap and then add more bubble wrap for good measure.

Chris

[raf_gti]

When in the baggage hall don't be afraid to stick your head through the conveyer hole if your bike hasn't come through yet and all other luggage has.

And then don't be surprised to see it stuck there, all by itself..