Light touring pack strategy
 

All

I am planing to do my first light touring in Europe (aprox. 350 miles). I am planning to take my bicycle, but the route I have set starts in one city and ends on another one.

I am planning to use a cardboard box, discard it in the starting city and trying to find another one on the target city. I am not sure how easy is to get another box.

Are there other suggestions? I understand that major airlines only accept boxes

Thanks
Alfredo

There are soft bike bags. Packs up to a small sleeping bag when empty. Filled with bubble wrap etc and bikes have a decent survival rate. If you can't get bubble wrap, crumbled up newspaper would do on return.
Or find a bike shop in the return city, ask them to hold a box for you.

Pack you bag in the Groundeffect Tardis and use your gear as padding.....you can add bubble wrap and cardboard if necessary.

https://www.groundeffect.co.nz/produ...mpact-bike-bag

When you arrive, post the bag you yourself at your finish point or along the route using Poste Restante service

I have used a soft case once, but have mostly used cardboard boxes. I never had trouble finding one, but most often I just leave my bike with a bike shop and pay them to pack and ship it home at the end of the trip. They typically have charged me $40-60 and the shipping home was another $40-60. I found the ~$100 to be worth it to me to not have to deal with packing and lugging the bike to the airport.

BTW, I thought that a lot of european airlines allowed you to just wrap it in shrink wrap. I know I have seen quite a few pictures of bike tourist checking their bikes as baggage that way.

My friend travels like this quite a bit, and his method is to buy an inexpensive bike when he arrives (might be up to US$200) then donate it to a church or school when finished. He enjoys the donation part. He travels very light and uses a small backpack, or a portable seat post rack on occasion--that would be a must. I would like to try this some day, but all my tours lately have started or ended at home so I haven't had the need.

Where are you ending? Some airports sell bike boxes or plastic bags (Amsterdam, for example).

EDIT: also check with your airline specifically. Many that I have looked at have no issue with plastic bags. There are few "general" rules when talking about bikes on an airline.

Check with bike shops in the city where your tour ends. They usually have bike boxes galore and would probably give you one.

I would check with your airline to see if they sell boxes as has been suggested or otherwise I would get one from a local bike shop. I just get one from my local bike shop even when flying from home and then get one from a convenient bike shop at the other end or airline if they sell them.

appliance shops, scooter/e-bike stores, furniture places.....all have large boxes.

box cutter and duck tape is all you need.

it's actually preferable to make your own box, instead of trying to fit a full-size
touring bike with racks/fenders in a small-as-possible bike box.

print off the sporting goods/oversize box limits for YOUR airline.
build a box within a couple inches of the maximum, sized to fit
your bike.

i usually fly jetstar or tiger on A320's, allowing (max 32kg) to 1.90 m length.

i make the box wide enough to add some padding on both sides of the rear
rack still on the bike. long enough to keep keep the rear wheel and rear rack
and fork and fenders on. just remove the seat and front wheel, then ziptie
the bars to the toptube. re- and dis-assembly at airports quick and easy.

never had a problem at the counter. box is too large to take as carry-on
on the bullet trains, but will fit in the station-wagon style taxis.

Thanks

Thanks I did not think about this option. Great many thanks

Thanks I am flying from USA, I am not using any European airline. Have you user the shipping method from Europe to USA?...also a good idea

Umm interesting but my time is limited so I am not sure if I;d have enough time for that. I will check on the internet though. Thanks

American airlines statements says Bike in boxes with specific dimensions. My trip ends in Milan, I will check online to see if they sell boxes

Thanks for the tip

Thanks

I have a question. Have you ever had any damage / trouble with the box method? Thans for the suggestions

I've got a small sample size of experiences, but I had zero issue with Brussels Air and Air Canada, and I'm using the box method again this summer. As far as I could tell, they were not mishandled, no unusual marks or holes in boxes, nothing broken or having shifted around in the box. The outbound leg they were carefully packed in LBS boxes in a manner they couldn't move, and the way back they were more or less rolled into oversize Amsterdam boxes with both wheels and all bolts on still on. When we got stuck behind everyone disembarking from two Mid East jumbos that arrived ahead of us us, and didn't get to baggage claim til over an hour later, we found the baggage folks had actually moved our bikes to a room for safe keeping. As with any traveling, though, you are always at the mercy of the individual baggage handlers.

DO give yourself time to make sure the boxes you get or build actually fit your bike, though, or you'll end up trying to "reengineer" the box at midnight the day before departure because your seat tube is a bit too tall to fit in the box (see the middle of the back box) :o

https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-t6_FVT_Ba..._48_16_Pro.jpg

Quick tip I learned: those $1 foam pool noodles (hollow ones) make great protection for your bike's tubes when cut open and wrapped around. Also good to mark which end of the box is the back tire, because you may have to stand it up on end to get it through various airport barricades.

Sorry, but no I haven't, so I can't provide any personal experience with that. Not sure about internationally shipping a bike. I'd probably stick with just checking it as baggage, but it might be worth double checking what shipping would cost. Companies like Bikeflights or Shipbikes have reasonable rates for domestic shipping, but I am not sure about their international rates. I think it was something close to $300 one way to ship from my hometown (Tallahassee) to London when I checked once.

I will also say that I found it to be a pain to post a soft case forward to the end of the trip when I did so. It isn't as bad as dealing with a hard case, but it does mean finding a post office, ups store, or whatever in a strange town and at a time when they are open. Airports are often well outside of town and I often arrive at a late hour. I like being able to ride out of the airport without having to deal with that kind of details. At least with a soft case you can probably manage to carry it on the bike until you ship it. On a ten day tour I even carried it the whole way, but I don't think it was a very good choice.

Thanks this help a lot...

Indeed after tons of research I think the best cost-effective solution is to check it as bag. I think i will get a soft bag, I have someone in Italy that can keep it for me and I will take a train back to my starting location. Also for future trips I think it will pay by itself. Thanks again

Ended 2 tours @ AMS, Shiphol Airport, bought a box from KLM, and put my bike in it..

Well I ended up buying a bag from B-W International. This is a german company and the bag worked great.

During my tour the key aspect was where to leave the bag. I ended up leaving it in the Hotel I started the tour, this is because I was departing from the same city. They were kind enough to store the bag and I will tip them. The other option was a storage service. Using a box is not convenient considering train and airport mobility, plus finding a new one in a city that you have never visited.

Here are some photos, this bag cost me 198$ and I think worth the investments for my future trips. BTW my bike did not suffer a single scratch during transportation.

Thanks
Alfredo

That means you are doing tours arriving and departing from the same airport, Or you will need to ship it
to where you end the tour.

My Tardis bike bag is pretty minimal, but still does a good job of protecting my bike when padded with my clothes and other gear. A thing nylon or poly bad would be lighter and pack smaller but I like the Cordura material of the Tardis as a good protection vs weight compromise. I can go on buses, taxis, trains and planes with it and can even carry it on my bike in a pinch and it's small packed size allows it to be cheaply posted and easily stored.

https://wheelsofchance.files.wordpre...425.jpeg?w=640

https://wheelsofchance.files.wordpre...ing5.jpg?w=640

the Tradis is under the flap of my saddlebag

https://wheelsofchance.files.wordpre...one.jpeg?w=640

Yes exactly. I returned to my origin by train and the hotel I stayed were kind enough to stored my bag

Cheers