Bike Travel Bag/Case
 

Hello all,
I'm flying out to San Fran for the Thanksgiving holiday and am hoping to take my bike out there.
Have any of you traveled with your bikes and what bag/case did you use to do so?

I found this one... http://www.nashbar.com/profile.cfm?c...0Travel%20Case

...seems legit but expensive.

and http://www.nashbar.com/profile.cfm?c...0Travel%20Case

.. which is cheap and light, but i'm guessing it won't protect my bike much at all.

what do you guys think?

The cheap but effective system I have used:
-Step 1: buy the soft case from nashbar
-Step 2: ask at your lbs for a used bike box (a reasonable shop will give you one), and most will also give you some protective plastic packing bits for your hubs and fork ends
-Step 3 carry bag to airport with box folded up and a roll of packing tape (Many airlines will make you show them the bike before it can be checked to prove that the air is out of the tires and it is folded up, etc. Its also much easier to carry the bike in the bag with the shoulder strap with the box folded up than to put the bike in the box at home.)
-Step 4: assemble the box and put the bag in the box, check the bike

Two variations:
Once when bringing my crappy groupbuy IRO frame to israel, I just chucked it in the bag and checked it.
Bike survived intact, though the bars were bent (but wheels were true?!?!?) when it arrived

Once when taking my nicest bike to Singaport I did the above but ALSO bought a larger "bike box" from one of the shipping outlet stores (like UPS) for $15. I then put the bike in the bag in the used bike box in the new larger bike box. It was like a bike-ducken. But total cost was still minimal and bike arrived without a scratch (probably overkill).

Also note: International flights will usually let you check a bike as one of your two allowed bags. Domestic flights will usually charge you for a bike regardless of how many bags you check. Fees vary widely between airlines.

Bumping the old thread a bit but;

You used non-padded bag, right achii? Would a padded bag be to big for the bike box?

I'm going to Spain for a month in 21 days but I have a bit of a problem. I'm most likely going to have to take the bus from the airport to Marbella, switching the bus once in between. Then I'm going to have to carry it for kilometer or two. So wheels would be really nice I guess.

I was thinking about buying this one The only problem is that it weights 4kgs more than non-padded bags. Would it just be easier to htfu a bit and carry the 4kg lighter bag (my bike is fairly lightweight, like ~8kg). Or should I just get the one with wheels?