Originally Posted by
staehpj1
It could also be said that there is a reason why you see so few folders or coupled bikes on tour.
For folks who fly all over taking a bike with them on business trips the advantages are huge, but I have to guess that on average most of us fly to one tour a year or maybe even less. We also need to get our boxes or bags from the beginning of the tour to the end. So most hard cases just don't work out for many of us.
Getting to my tours, I typically just try very hard to use Southwest or Frontier and am happy to pay the $50 to have my bike go along on Southwest or FREE on Frontier. To get home I have been happy to have a bike shop pack it up and ship it home to save me having to deal with packing and moving a big box in a strange city. For domestic US travel that usually means $100 between the bike shop and the carrier.
Oh, i think there's more than a few reasons people don't tour on folding bikes, and coupled bikes are an expensive purchase so you don't see many on tour - you do see plenty of coupled bikes in hawaii, and the paris-brest--paris ride, so there are pockets of use in the bicycling world.
There's a reason a few of us get coupled or folding bikes for traveling - the convenience of portaging it. I've travelled with bikes both ways, and schlepping a cardboard box with a bike in it is a hassle. I feel like i could even toss out a thumb and hitchike with a suitcase bike. not a bike in a cardboard box.
but hey, YMMV and your needs for touring vary as well. for a tourist taking one trip a year buying a coupled bike isnt' a requirement to fly with your bike. and you're right, the cost is small relative to the trip, and why not?
I certainly recommend if people have to choose between a vacation with their existing bike, or buying a new bike and not going on a bike tour to go on the bike tour!
if you like to travel, and are buying a new bike for that express purpose, considering a coupled bike is quite sensible.
Which is why some people travel with a custom Arvon bicycle, or other coupled beast.