[axolotl]

I recently flew home from SE Asia with my New World Tourist in its suitcase. I believe this was the 30th time I've checked the suitcase (i.e. 15 roundtrips or equivalent). This was the first time I had any damage other than cosmetic, and I'm curious how often others have experienced damage. The damage was a bent sheath that the removable stem fits into when re-assembling the bike. The man I spoke with at Bike Friday was extremely helpful and explained how to best straighten out the steel sheath so that I could fit the stem into it. He told me he had once had the same damage to his own BF. I was able to fix it myself.

BTW, I was touring mostly in Laos, and a bit of Thailand. I encountered about 30 other touring cyclists in Laos, and to my amazement, 4 of them were on Bike Fridays (2 of them were on a Tandem Tuesday, and the other 2 were pulling their suitcases as trailers). Laos & Thailand are both great places for touring.

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[itsahobby]

No direct experience, but I wonder if BF could supply an insert to protect such damage?

BTW, I would be interested in your Laos/Thailand trip report - have you put anything up on the net?

[axolotl]

BTW, I would be interested in your Laos/Thailand trip report - have you put anything up on the net?
I'll try to write something soon for the touring branch.

It's encouraging that nobody is posting about their personal experience with damage to their BF in the suitcase. It must be pretty rare. As I wrote, this was my 30th time it was sent as checked luggage, so that's not bad at all.