Originally Posted by
Robert C
One thing to consider is the weight of the bicycle. It is one thing when it is being ridden, another when it is rolling, and yet another when it is being carried in a bag. It must be in a full coverage bag. All bags are x-rayed; so it isn’t like I am sneaking anything on board. However, it must be in the bag. This means carrying the bag with the bike in it.
That's interesting. When checking in for a flight from Lanzhou to Xian, in front of of me a guy joined his family standing there, along with a folder. He started folding the bike while in the queue. Next time I saw him on plane, where he was placing the folder in the overhead luggage compartment without any bag or anything. It was all done as a matter of fact, as if it were a normal thing that people do, e.g. chatting with people while folding the bike before the counter etc. I wonder whether this full bag coverage is something enforced onto commoners traveling by train but not onto those traveling by plane.
From that trip I also got a Dahon-like bike, but for less than half of your price (like Boardwalk w/6sp). The carrying bag they gave was of such a bad quality that the cloth was tearing under the weight of bike after 2 blocks of walking. In my case, I needed to sneak into my hotel room with the bike.