Mountain Biking - Fly with MTB or Ship?

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Al K
10-14-05, 01:40 PM
Hi MTBers,

Say you want to fly across the USA and have your mtb when you get there.
What experiences have you had shiping it, with whom, and how did you pack it?
What experiences have you had packing it in a bike case and taking it with you as baggage?
Which bike cases do you recommend?

gr81jdl
10-14-05, 02:30 PM
I would say get a hard shell case for it first of all, I usally go Amtrack and the first time I used their "box" to ship my bike it got very beat up. I cant say airplanes are better or worse, but from my experiences all I can tell you is get a good hard shell case. I have a case now and no problems, Sorry cant think of what kind it is though.
Al K
10-15-05, 04:30 AM
I would say get a hard shell case for it first of all, I usally go Amtrack and the first time I used their "box" to ship my bike it got very beat up. I cant say airplanes are better or worse, but from my experiences all I can tell you is get a good hard shell case. I have a case now and no problems, Sorry cant think of what kind it is though.
Hi GR,

Thanks for information. This site has soft and hard shell cases: http://www.bikyle.com/TravelCases.asp

jz19
10-15-05, 11:13 AM
Hi MTBers,

Say you want to fly across the USA and have your mtb when you get there.
What experiences have you had shiping it, with whom, and how did you pack it?
What experiences have you had packing it in a bike case and taking it with you as baggage?
Which bike cases do you recommend?

For shipping you can use any carrier (USPS, UPS, or Fedex). In my experience it is usually cheaper to ship it as most airlines charge $80 each way. You should pack your bike equally well for ground or air shipping or you will pay for it. To pack your bike you can either buy a hard shell or use a recycled bike box. If you use the standard bike box, reinforce it with some extra tape. Take off the pedals, front wheel, handlebar, and seatpost and tape them or zip tie them to the sides of the frame. Put one of those plastic spacer on your fork and place everything into the box. See that everything is sitting tight and tape the box close. That's it.
Dannihilator
10-15-05, 02:54 PM
http://www.nemba.org/yabbse/index.php?board=8;action=display;threadid=7789 Don't use DHL.