Hi,

I am looking at getting a SWB recumbent for local touring but also I would like to be able to pack it small enough for air travel now and then. I was looking at 20" bikes: HP Grasshopper & Azub Mini.
Anyone has experience of dismounting and packaging any of those for air travel?

Thanks,

Iago

I've been trying to get in touch with these guys to get more details about this folding recumbent:

http://transportcycling.com/_wsn/page3.html

http://transportcycling.com/db1/00049/transportcycling.com/_uimages/DSCN1628.JPG

http://transportcycling.com/db1/00049/transportcycling.com/_uimages/DSCN1636.JPG

They seem to be more involved in other business than folding recumbents, no return phonecalls, email take weeks to respond and no consitancy in pricing.
Even though the bike look plenty compact and ridable, I think I will look for other manufactuer to fulfil my needs.

I've been looking for a packable recumbent, too. The bike Friday is so so, from what I read but they have now discontinued it. The Challenge Travelling Mistral looks like a good bike but I guess there are none available to look at or test ride yet. It won't be cheap but might fit the bill for travelling that I do.
I was talking to Randy Schlitter?? or RANS at the fly in at Oshkosh (RANS makes a bunch of small aircraft, too) and he said they were working on a new packable take apart recumbent that will fit into an airline sized suitcase. He said they don't like to release a new bike until they have been trying the prototype for a couple of years to get the bugs out of it. They are working on a new gadget that allows a bike to be simply taken apart at less cost than the aftermarket one that is available at present.

I've been looking for a packable recumbent, too. The bike Friday is so so, from what I read but they have now discontinued it. The Challenge Travelling Mistral looks like a good bike but I guess there are none available to look at or test ride yet. It won't be cheap but might fit the bill for travelling that I do.
I was talking to Randy Schlitter?? or RANS at the fly in at Oshkosh (RANS makes a bunch of small aircraft, too) and he said they were working on a new packable take apart recumbent that will fit into an airline sized suitcase. He said they don't like to release a new bike until they have been trying the prototype for a couple of years to get the bugs out of it. They are working on a new gadget that allows a bike to be simply taken apart at less cost than the aftermarket one that is available at present.

Thanks. The Travelling Mistral looks interesting. But as I am not planning to travel that much, my question was more along the lines of how difficult would be to pack a 20/20 recumbent, such as an HP Grasshopper, for ocasional air travel.

Cheers,


Iago

Depends on where you live and where you're going with the packed up recumbent.

US Airport security don't react friendly with twisted metal pipes packed up in a suitcase through the airport terminals, I tried packing some bicycle tools in the carry on luggage with me just two weeks ago flying from Philly to SF, they confiscated my tools.
If you check-in the packed up recumbent, there is a good chance that it will not make it to your flight destination, or when it makes it it might suffer some damage.

I never thought of that cat0020! I could see them confiscating bike tools in carry on luggage, but I wonder if this has been a problem for people shipping folding bikes? There were several Bike Fridays on the tour I just completed and the owners said they have never had trouble shipping them, although they probably were talking about the shipping or possible damage, not the security stuff. Maybe I'll start a thread about this on the folding bike category.

Besides the Challenge Travel Mistral, the Challenge Hurricane will pack fairly small as the boom, seat, tiler & swing arm come off. BTW - the hold up on the Challenge Mistral is just the suitcase. If you want a bent right away they should be able to sell you the actual bike and follow up with the suitcase/trailer when it is ready.

ICE just showed a folding SWB prototype on the net. Not sure how long until it is available.

Several folks on the Bacchetta site have shown how you ship Bacchetta [and similar] stick SWB bents in a ski bag as sports equipment without the bike surcharge.

If you repeat your request in the "Folding Bikes" forum, you may get some more suggestions.

One I've been looking at, but currently can't afford, is the Phaser, by HPM. I'm an owner (and fan!) of their Swift Folder bike, and design wise, the Phaser seems to be a close cousin to their upright bike.

http://www.catoregon.org/hpm/phaser.htm

One of the members in the Folding Bikes forum, SesameCrunch, has successfully converted an inexpensive Downtube folding bike into a front wheel drive recumbent, using a kit from Cruzbike, and some ingenuity of his own.

Good luck with your quest, and if you pick one up, do pop in to the Folding forum with pics!

Thanks for the info. I am not looking into a folder, as I would not want to compromise too much on the quality of the ride. I am more interested in choosing a SWB that can be packed for air travel once in a while, and could fly at a reasonable cost, free if possible.

It seems to me designs like the Bacchetta might be more amenable that the Grasshopper, but experiences seem to be few and quite varied.

I wonder if they have S&S Couplings big enough for Bacchetta frame??

I wonder if they have S&S Couplings big enough for Bacchetta frame??

S&S won't authorize the use of their couplers on non-triangulated frames. Volae apparently has come up with a coupler for their mono-tube bents - should be released soon.

As luck would have it, HP is about to release s folding version of the Grasshopper. Something to check out next year

http://www.velovision.co.uk/cgi-bin/show_comments.pl?storynum=875