Originally Posted by Eggman84

I think there are several factors people forget when they say BF is cheaper. 1) are they including cost for LBS to disassemble/reassemble bikes (or are they doing this themselves). 2) cost and time at both ends to go to LBS to drop off/pick up their bike. When I travel with my bike, 1st thing I check is what the baggage fee is for all the airlines that go to my destination. I then include that with the ticket cost to see which airline is cheapest. I also dissemble/reassemble my own bike. At destination, I take free hotel shuttle, reassemble bike at hotel, stay a night (usually both the first and last), and have hotel store my hard case box until I return. Did this last year with 2 bikes (mine and wife's) to Paris/Charles de Gaulle Airport and it only cost $300 total for bikes. Over 3 week tour, that works out to $15/day for both bikes; which we look at as a bargain compared to car rental, or trains, or renting a bike.