Originally Posted by misskaz

I just looked into rentals - it's $55 to rent an iron case from a local bike shop. So that saves me on the cost of the case if I wanted to check as baggage. Still talking about $200 in extra baggage fees though. But there's the convenience/security of having my bike more or less with me the whole time and the iron case has wheels so it's not too bad to roll through the airport.

Shipping would be about $100 FedEx as best as I can estimate online. Plus whatever handling charge the hotel would add (I travel for work a lot and have noticed more and more hotels charging handling for packages going through their shipping dept.).

In either case I'll have to break down the bike and bring tools to put it back together.

Shipping would be a slight PITA (having to track down a box and pack it up and haul it to a FedEx location) and means I'm without my bike for a few days on either end of the trip, but does appear to be significantly cheaper.

Last year I was at this same conference and really wished I had my bike - the weather is great, it's a huge event so traffic is a ****show and cabs are nearly impossible to get, public transit is practically nil. I just have to decide if the hassle is worth it.