Bike Case

[Rich]

What is the best bike carrier case/bag to use to transport bikes on planes etc?

[Yang]

I use a soft bag that zips all the way round with the strider splint that you fix the bike to. The wheels go into a pocket on the outside. You can fit awhole lot of other stuff inside- kit, spare bottles, etc. It has wheels and carrying straps. The bag alone weighs 8,2 kg's and the strider splint 2kg's. I put in further protection with some cardboard panels around the bike. Its bulky, heavy, and tricky to handle, and unless you have a bakkie or really big space in your car, you'll battle to fit it into the car, so you have to pack the bike into the bag when you get to the airport. The good thing about it is that you don't have to dismantle anything but the wheels. But fitting it to the splint takes some practice- don't try to practice at the airport because you'll be sweating and sh*tting yourself to get to the check in counter- trust me!!!!  

 

It cost around R1200 about 4 years ago at Leigh's. I guess the hard shell cases may be better but a whole lot more expensive, although I don't know the price of the pink and yellow ones you see at the expo's. 

 

Other people swear by the cardboard bike boxes but you have to dismantle the handlebar. I've seen bikes at Cape Town Airport before the Argus just wrapped in bubble wrap- apparently handlers throw bags and boxes around, but hanlde bubble wrap bikes carefully!! Go figure.

 

Cheers. Bed toe. 

[Tjokkits]

a lot of international airlines go according to size and weight and i found most bags are too big.  The thule bike case, although expensive and you have to dismantle your bike, got closes to meeting all requirements, and it has wheels and handles etc making it easy to handle.