Jump to content

nicolaasdekker

Members
  • Posts

    27
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Public Profile

  • Province
    Kwazulu-Natal
  • Location
    Dushanbe, Tajikistan
  1. Howsit, I'm flying Mango from DBN to CPT tomorrow then SAA from CPT to JHB, followed by Emirates from JHB to Dubai, then Fly Dubai to Tajikistan in a few weeks. Will be taking my 2 Tandems. Will report back on any horror stories. Already had to ditch my 2 folding kayaks because the JHB-Dubai leg would have cost me 2000usd. Also had to ditch everything but the essentials to get my two tandems under 23kg, no tools, locks, had to ditch my brand new "extrawheel trailer" and many more nice to haves.
  2. Howsit, I've cycled in a few different countries so I suppose my standards are pretty low when it comes to road quality. Notties = Nottingham Road Village? Also by old road do you mean the R103 or another route? Thanks
  3. Howsit, Finally finished up my tandem builds for our next cycling adventure in Central Asia and I would like to do a short 2 day shake down cruise locally. Any recommendations for routes beginning and terminating in Durban? Good roads for getting out of the city etc? Thanks, Nic
  4. Don't give up bud, getting out there with your young family is totally doable!
  5. Give Francois a call at Manic Cycles he might be able to hook you up. He specialises in Tandems. http://maniccycles-cw.co.za/main/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/ebanner.jpg
  6. Good question: If you call, you will speak to some random sitting behind a desk. The person on the phone most likely doesn't know and will simply look up the information on the airline website. Or worse they will tell you all sorts of reassuring things and even if you take a name and a reference number when you arrive no one at the airport will know who that person is. In the end it all comes down to the person at the check in desk and your luck with a porter. That being said, mind #5! Some airlines or tickets are excess baggage friendly. Choose an airline with excess baggage fee allocated per PIECE and not per KG. If you have control of buying your own tickets it often works out cheaper to buy a more expensive ticket that comes with extra baggage.
  7. Hi, I have a fair bit of experience travelling abroad with 2-4 singles and up to 2 tandems. My last flight was with 2 tandems and 2 singles. Every airline has different rules and not only do they change regularly but the also vary depending on where you are travelling to and from. Standard checked in luggage cannot exceed 158 linear centimetres and the small print on baggage restrictions always allows less when travelling to or from Africa. For example if you fly to the US from Central Asia you get a 2 x 32kg but if your destination is anywhere in Africa that goes down to 2 x 23kg. Travelling with a bike is expensive, deal with it. Remember your bicycle is a piece of sporting equipment and should not count as standard check in luggage, yes you can get it passed as normal check in against your allowance but know that it will all depend on the person at the check in counter. Top tips: 1: Pay top dollar for a porter! Find a friendly looking porter at the entrance of the airport and pass him a decent tip in advance. This is your number one gateway to a smooth check in procedure. He knows the best counter to go to and will often be able to even by pass some checks and weigh in procedures. 2: Arrive early, like hours early! Sounds like common sense but you need enough time to deal with difficult staff who might never have checked a bicycle in before. If you are stressed about getting it all done in time you are not going to be able to follow my next piece of advice. 3: Don't be a moegoe, seriously, be cool. Every oke who gets mad and gives flight staff hassles about their bicycles is tainting all future cyclist experiences. Even if you are getting the short end of the stick, be cool. There is nothing worse than seeing flight staff immediately get on the offensive when they see you because some moegoe with a bicycle box come by before. 4: Don't call in advance. Trying to get guarantees is at best going to cost you the full applicable fee and at worst just going to cause major headache as you try explain to the people on duty on the day about some arrangement you made before. 5: Check Excess Baggage Costs. Obviously do check to make sure the airline is not going to screw you over big time, on some airlines the excess baggage cost is astronomical. 6: Always be prepared to pay the full excess baggage fee. If you think it's too expensive I urge you to get a quote from a professional bicycle courier company for the same trip. To show you the REAL cost of transporting a bike abroad. Just my two cents,
  8. These guys are seriously retarded. I can understand scamming someone out of a 10k bike using this technique but I don't know a single person working in the oil industry during this recession who is capable of blowing 120k on a gift for a cousin... who will just love a highly customised niche machine of indefinite sizing.
  9. Yeah, that option has always been nagging at me. But there does not seem to be a do it all trailer... either great for tar or great for dirt, and always a pain.. I like having everything together without adding extra length and inherent weaknesses to the system.
  10. Did any of you peeps see me doing the Amashova 2011 on my Down Hill skateboard?
  11. Wait... let me try.... oh my! http://www.productappeal.com/photos/halloween_costumes/playboy_bunny.jpg
  12. A tattoo on my back... no where did you see that?
  13. No not much time, between trying to make money, study full time, and kids. I ride my Avalanche ATX 175 much more often, as it has the baby seat on it. 12months? I don't get it? No, unfortunately, I have to import my hats, this one was from Jaxon hats in the UK. Not worth importing though shipping and duties cost more than the item. I wait until someone I know goes over then I order and have it sent to the hotel they are staying. I am still looking for a hat brush or an equivalent, locally. Its not my actual bike, I have a similar model from the 1940's but it has been a work horse its whole life and still runs great.
Settings My Forum Content My Followed Content Forum Settings Ad Messages My Ads My Favourites My Saved Alerts My Pay Deals Help Logout