Originally Posted by
Ariane
... Personally I wouldn't bother with SnS couplers as dismantling the frame and packing the smaller sections into a regular sized case encourages baggage handlers to treat it like any other piece of luggage and possibly chuck your bike around meaning it gets damaged or no regard to how it is stored so it could have 30 other bags on top of it bending the frame sections. At least with a large bike box with the picture of a bike on the side and a huge Giant logo or other manufacturer this will mean it is treated with more care. One hopes .............
There are advantages and disadvantages. My last tour, taxi (Prius) from home to bus stop. Bus to another state to airport. Lug my stuff across airport to shuttle pickup. Take motel shuttle to motel. Next morning take the 6am shuttle back to airport. Fly to another country, fortunately did not have to retrieve bike from customs and recheck at layover. Retrieve luggage at destination city airport, take shuttle to downtown in destination city. Fortunately, the shuttle driver dropped me off at the hostel instead of taking me to the train station which would have meant hauling my luggage two blocks to the hostel.
Hostel was willing to store my collapsed S&S backpack for me for the five weeks in their luggage room, but would not have stored a bike box for me.
My trip would not have happened if I had to lug a full size bike box, took 30 hours to get from my condo to the hostel in destination city. It would have just been tooooo hard to get there and back home again if I had to deal with a full size bike box.
It depends on where you are going and where you leave from, for some trips a full size bike box would make a lot of sense.
Photo below is me walking out of an airport on a different trip, I was wearing my S&S Backpack case on my back in the photo.
