Road Bike: International Travel Superstar?
 

Hi! I'm new. I'm relatively new to road cycling too, but I've been active with bicycles my entire life.

Anyway, I'm moving to Slovakia (kind of by Austria) at the end of the summer and I have to take my Trek 2.1.

Are the massive bike cases WORTH it? I can fit up an old bike box from the LBS nicely, I think, and put foam, etc in it so that it's similar to a Thule bike box (I'm an artist, it's what we do) for a heck of a lot cheaper. But will my bike make it in a box? We have to drive 8 hours or so to the airport to start, so there's the car (SUV) time too.

Any suggestions? Also, any suggestions on maybe switching to a triple for the mountains?

Thanks for any halps,
cnray

For a one time move, I'd go the cardboard box route. Pipe insulation foam around the frame and forks helps. Also make sure you put spacers in the front and rear dropouts to prevent crush.

Your existing quick release lever, and a section of PVC pipe cut the width of the dropouts is a cheap way to do this.

U can rent a bike box

I'm interested in shipping my bike sometime next year and was thinking about the same issue. Where can you rent a bike box from, and how much is that likely to cost glrnns280?

I'm sure your LBS will have plenty of the foam and spacers from new bikes they built and probably won't mind donating a few to you if you've donated your business to them before.

That seems like a good idea, I don't want anything to get smooshed.

I should hope so, I work there! I'll start stockpiling. I'm also thinking of lining it with extra eggshell foam too.

Soft case. Multiple trips to Europe since 2005 with plenty of connections. No problems.







Pcad has spoken.

Pcad, which soft case do you recommend?

Uncle Pcad in the Greek mtns. a couple of years ago. My bikes always survive the airlines no problem.

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...bside5upld.jpg

I have a 20 year old soft case that works fine. If and when I replace it I will get a Bike Pro USA case, they are great, $300 or so new, less on eBay slightly used (I'm sure you can pick a great one up for <$200):

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_atrK-jBKJK...9_03_case3.jpg

That looks EXCELLENT. Also love the pink and black kit.