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How do people pack bikes for travel?

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How do people pack bikes for travel?

Old 10-17-22, 10:13 AM
  #26  
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Folding bike option

Bike Friday has been making folding bikes made for travel in a standard Samsonite suitcase for a few decades. I've used this a few times:

15-20 minutes to unpack and ride if you're experienced.

I took this bike to Canada for a 4 day trip, France for a business trip where I had a free weekend to get in a long ride, and a week long trip to Hawaii where I got a couple of good rides in.

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Old 10-17-22, 10:16 AM
  #27  
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Ritchey Breakaway

S&S couplings and the Ritchey Breakaway system are two other options to consider if you plan on doing a lot of airline travel with a bike.


Wheel go on top
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Old 10-17-22, 10:36 AM
  #28  
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Traveling with a fendered bike - Rinko!

Travelling with a metal fendered bike can be a challenge. With a couple of minor modifications it can be done relatively easily. The rear fender needs to be split, and it's highly recommended to use a sealed bearing headset as the fork needs to come off.


First layer


2nd and 3rd layer


hatches battened
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Old 10-17-22, 10:41 AM
  #29  
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Hmm, @gugie, seems like a lot of work. I think we need zero bikes stashed in multiple locations: Kalispell, MT, with @mountaindave; Tucson, AZ, with @Soup_Please; SF Bay Area with @BoltBreaker; NJ/PA with @rhm. What could go wrong?
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Old 10-17-22, 10:47 AM
  #30  
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Originally Posted by nlerner View Post
Hmm, @gugie, seems like a lot of work. I think we need zero bikes stashed in multiple locations: Kalispell, MT, with @mountaindave; Tucson, AZ, with @Soup_Please; SF Bay Area with @BoltBreaker; NJ/PA with @rhm. What could go wrong?
What, no room in the Brookline Bike Cave?

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Old 10-17-22, 10:51 AM
  #31  
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Originally Posted by gugie View Post
What, no room in the Brookline Bike Cave?

Oh, there's room. But I don't need a zero bike there! Just being selfish.
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Old 10-17-22, 11:01 AM
  #32  
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Got this S&S Coupled Bilenky custom off eBay precisely because of the desire to travel with a "normal" bike using airline standard sized luggage. As has been said, oversize fees have been nil since the pandemic, but not when I got it (images from the auction and how it shipped to me in the S&S case). My travel companions have ridiculed me on the amount of disassembly and time it takes to put the bike together (about 1 beer's worth of time). Yet the bike is great, kind of an all rounder for road and gravel terrain. It's currently getting some Gugie love to add a fork, improve the front geometry and fabricate a front rack so there's some carrying capacity on this cross-style bike.


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Old 10-17-22, 11:35 AM
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I'm complete
Originally Posted by nlerner View Post
Hmm, @gugie, seems like a lot of work. I think we need zero bikes stashed in multiple locations: Kalispell, MT, with @mountaindave; Tucson, AZ, with @Soup_Please; SF Bay Area with @BoltBreaker; NJ/PA with @rhm. What could go wrong?
For riders between 6'1" and 6'3", I have plenty of bikes already stashed here in the secure dry desert storage facility. I might consider stashing others, but given my propensity to switch parts around, they may not have the same components they arrived with when their owners come to ride them.

But as Gugie and others have suggested, Ritchey Breakaway and S&S are the way to go for frequent air travel. I've traveled with both a Ritchey Road Breakaway and a Ritchey Ascent and Outback Breakaways. I will say that rim brakes are your friends on a travel bike. The Ascent and Outback are disc and really need to have the discs removed to pack if you want to arrive with straight rotors.

I've just recently picked up a Brompton, and on account of its quick, small, secure fold, I think it is the best choice for city travel, public transport and throwing in compact cars. I did climb a 9,400' mountain on it last week, which wasn't bad either, although the 16" wheels don't roll over really bad frost heaves with the same ease as a 700c wheel.
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Old 10-17-22, 04:35 PM
  #34  
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Originally Posted by Mr. Spadoni View Post
I assume that you are showing just the bottom part of the box(es) and there is a corresponding top sentino some they come together like a bakery box?
Yes, top looks like bottom. That way you get double-wall thickness on the sides. I add a loose heet to the top and bottom to get double-wall thickness there. Probably don't need the strength, but the 3-ounce weight penalty is insignificant.
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Old 10-17-22, 05:09 PM
  #35  
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Originally Posted by nlerner View Post
Hmm, @gugie, seems like a lot of work. I think we need zero bikes stashed in multiple locations: Kalispell, MT, with @mountaindave; Tucson, AZ, with @Soup_Please; SF Bay Area with @BoltBreaker; NJ/PA with @rhm. What could go wrong?
I have the ability to store as many bikes as needed using the infinite improbability shed. Once one calculates exactly how improbable it is to store an infinite number of bikes in my shed and feeds it into the finite probability generator (along with a pint of beer), the space is created out of thin air. However, side effects are known: one may find that their bike has been transmogrified into a bowl of petunias or a sperm whale.

You have been invited and warned.
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Old 10-17-22, 07:30 PM
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iab Do you glue the box flaps? With what adhesive?
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Old 10-17-22, 07:52 PM
  #37  
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Originally Posted by jiangshi View Post
iab Do you glue the box flaps? With what adhesive?
Hot glue. I don't know the particular brand. We have several types at work. I tried them all and used the one that worked best with polypropylene. It has held up to 2 shipments well. Once IL to CA and back, the other was IL to NC and back.
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Old 10-18-22, 12:03 AM
  #38  
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Originally Posted by iab View Post
Hot glue. I don't know the particular brand. We have several types at work. I tried them all and used the one that worked best with polypropylene. It has held up to 2 shipments well. Once IL to CA and back, the other was IL to NC and back.
Polypro is slippery by nature, a PP specific glue is very important. 3M makes hot melt part 3731 specifically for PP. sure others make it but I’m a 3M fan


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Old 10-18-22, 11:05 AM
  #39  
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Originally Posted by mountaindave View Post
I have the ability to store as many bikes as needed using the infinite improbability shed. Once one calculates exactly how improbable it is to store an infinite number of bikes in my shed and feeds it into the finite probability generator (along with a pint of beer), the space is created out of thin air. However, side effects are known: one may find that their bike has been transmogrified into a bowl of petunias or a sperm whale.

You have been invited and warned.
I've heard that very time you open the shed there are exactly 42 bikes in there.
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