mikepwagner

I will be doing a charity ride in NY over labor day weekend.

https://www.hazon.org/programs/new-york-ride/

I will be flying to NYC. The ride organuizers have bikes for rent, but I would just as soon ride my own.

How much of a pain is it to transport a bike by plane? Do I need to get a hardshell case? Is there extra cost invovled?

Thanks,

Mike

dstrong 

Plenty of info on this if you search around. The short answer is you need a case of some sort, either hard or soft, and the airlines will charge you $100 or more each way to put it in the belly of the plane. Other options include FedEx/UPS and you still need a case. Damage en route is always a possibility if you don't pack it properly. For a single ride I would probably rent.

Elevation

buy a 44 or a 46 inch hockey bag, can't remember what I have... take wheels, handlebars, and seat off.

Wrap everything in bubble-wrap.

Done this 5 times now and have had no problems. each time costing 25 dollars.

mpath

These are the hard cases I looked at:

- Serfas
- Trico
- Thule
- B&W

I chose the B&W. But a riding buddy has the Helium bike case - a pretty novel idea. You can find them all on Amazon.

valygrl

Frontier and Southwest charge $50 each direction.

STP

Unless you're going to travel with your bike more in the future, why spend the money buying cases? Just rent the bicycle there. If you're planning on doing this more often, then go through the work to research the best methods. Also, contact your airline and they'll tell you how much it'll cost.