Mountain Biking - Bike Travel Cases- Any Experience?

I had planned to take my new Eldridge Grade (a thing of steel beauty and an Avid/Shimano joy forever!) to new heights- ~35,00 feet on UAL 1691 from Boston to Denver.

But I too quickly bought online a soft Rome bike case (~$100) (http://www.bikebags.com/products.html/).

Then I found a site, http://www.bikeaccess.net/Bikeboxs_db.cfm that gave good reviews of the pricey ($250-$300 + shipping) Trico Iron Case. A good case may be made for Trico ;-) but they should send some product to their dealers. No Trico Iron Cases in MA! Plus Trico is vague about how much disassembly (and of course, re-assembly) is required and leaves it to the buyer to figure out how to fit a big hybrid like my San Anselmo or even the fabulous 17-inch Eldridge Grade into their box without stowing the frame in one compartment, wheels with deflated tires in other compartments, and all components in nested boxes!

Since no way could I get work on Marin's assembly line (if such exists?) this is clearly not going to work ;-( Basically, I will reluctantly remove only the pedals (because I happen to have a 25mm wrench ;-). I'll even keep the gel prothesis snugly fitted to the elegant WTB saddle ;-) (Not all hardtails are hardtails!)

I'd like to hear from anyone with experience-good or bad- flying with either travel bags or travel cases containing mountain bikes or hybrids.

Thanks- maybe I'll see some of you in Durango! And the way things are flying- maybe not.....

Last summer I went to New Mexico riding and rented a hard case from a LBS. ($25 bucks rental) Everything went well but cost $75 each way to fly the bike. Some airlines are cheaper but we didn't have much choice.
Had to remove both wheels, pedals, handlebars and seatpost. If you do get a hard case, go to a hardware store and get one or two pieces of foam pipe-wrap. It comes in different diameters. They are ten foot lenths and are cheap. Works great for putting over tubes for extra protection. My bike went to NM and back without a scratch.
P.S. We're going to Colorado in two weeks to ride too.:)

Your tip on using foam- pipe wrap may save the day- or at least a 1984 Raleigh Technium (converted to a hybrid) that is my backup commute bike. No way will I experiment by shipping the Eldridge Grade. I know it's not an "Ellsworth Grade ;-)(http://www.ellsworthbicycles.com) but as everyone on this forum will recognize- the Marin is my new and perfect iron horse. I'll try to ship the Technium in a Rome (soft) travel bag. I have a non-stop (rip-off) flight on United to which I'll probably have to add $150 (as you did on your trip to NM). Getting a non-stop flight from Boston at least minimizes gorilla time. The Technium is a butterfly in comparison with a mountain bike. I just need to wrap it in a cocoon. Reason for taking it? I want to tool around the Boulder area to see friends. Then I'll rent a mountain bike in Durango. Chose Durango over Crested Butte because it's ~8,000 feet. Last May I got a 24x7 headache biking at 11,000 feet in Aspen amid a gorgeous snow melting wilderness. I finally cured the high altitude sickness by descending to 8,000 feet and having a Guinness ;-) We really should have a separate forum on mountain sickness! Where are you biking in Colorado?

We were planning on doing parts of the Colorado Trail, but the guy here in Alabama at the bike shop used to live there, and he said the trail in Estes Park is awesome. We have no definate plans. Planning on hitting some bike shops out there and asking them too. Might even wander West around Fruita or further to Moab.
A hint on altitude sickness, hydrate, hydrate, hydrate. Before you go. Not just during the ride. A doctor told me this too. When we went to NM last year, we climbed to around 12,000 feet and I never felt sick in the least.

Just went to CO a couple of weeks ago. We did some shuttle runs over at Keystone (about 45 west of Denver), lift tickets were only $8. Had a blast, also rode down in Salida and Crested Butte.

L8R

Dirtgrinder -

I did a section of the CO trail last year, where it begins right outside of Denver. Lots of fun. Also did Elk Meadows which is cool too. If you are interested, you can check out a write up I did of it here (http://www.singlespeedoutlaw.com/issue3/features.shtml#manvsself).

Back to the original question: I've got a Crate Works (www.crateworks.com) PRO XL-C
case. Pretty inexpensive compared to a lot of the others. Each part can be replaced individually. It's survived several trips by me and I've lent it to several friends. Still going strong.