Flying with tools / parts
 

Does anyone know if the TSA will allow me to take clipless pedals / pedal wrench in my carry on bag?

I just flew across half the country with Multi-tool and small pedal/15mm wrench. The stopped me on both legs of the trip for a closer look. No pedals, but they would be fine, there is nothing about pedals that would prevent them from being okay. You can't take CO2 cartridges.

Up to 2 (?) CO2 cartridges can be carried aboard according to the TSA website. I don't have the TSA printout handy but I have carried them (and a copy of the handout for local inspection) with inflatable personal flotation devices.

Unless things have changed, your wrench has to be 6 inches or shorter. I used to fly with an adjustable wrench in my bag and they would always measure it.

If that's the case, Park makes a flat, thin take-along combination 32 mm headset wrench/15 mm pedal wrench, the RW1, that is just 6" long. The headset opening may not be of much use but it's a decent pedal wrench and very small and light. I used to carry one in the case with my S&S coupled travel bike.

They took my single one in one on my way back, but the first airport had no problem. Same with my lock-pick kit. So your results may vary. Depends on how much you want to fight it.

Your wrench may not permitted due to the blanket ban on tools over 7" long.

I lost my favorite #2 Phillips to those ********.

The pedals should be fine.

If you have a checked bag, put the pedal wrench inside. The pedals will pass no problem, but there's language in the rules saying tools as a class are banned, some understand this to mean heavy or large tools, ie. over 6", but I've known 2mm allen wrenches to be confiscated.

It may also depend on how clean they are. I flew once with some used motorcycle parts in my carry-on, and when it went through the x-ray scanner dealie, it detected hydrocarbons, which required going through another scan where they took swabs and ran them through another machine. Nothing was confiscated, but it was a pain.

If there's grease or oil on your parts, you might trigger the same alarms I did.

I used to carry a pedal wrench until I had to retun it to my car in the parking lot or get it confiscated (luckily I was early for that flight). Since then I only travel with pedals that I can install with an allen wrench, and the ones I travel with have a socket that my multi tool will work with. If not, I would just carry an individual L-shaped allen wrench of the proper size.