Bike Pack for traveling

[rs7trout]

I purchased the Pika from Pika Packworks for my carbon fiber road bike three weeks ago for a trip back to Virginia!

Flew Southwest--Figured the guy at curb side would charge me for flying out-and he did $75.00 for oversize-- but coming back to San Diego there was no charge on
southwest--surprised!.

I did take the extra precaution of adding pipe insulation to all tubes--but probably didn't need to. I took the rear der. off going out but coming back made a cover for it out of a foam block(again probably didn't need to--just figured what the heck a few dollars extra and a bit more time for added safety).

The bike came back in same shape as sent even though TSA took it apart!

Wish I could have put my Surly LHT in along with it!!! Next time the surly gets to go!!

Highly recommended!!

[Old Guy New Hobby]

You're lucky. I flew my bike home and lost a pedal. Both pedals were well packed, so I can only blame TSA. I didn't have the option of riding the bike home from the airport.

[rs7trout]

That really sucks!! You would think they could just pass the bike through an xray system and be done with it---even though everything was okay--my seat and post were out of the pocket they were in and just flopping around loose  in the bag---why I'm glad I used the pipe insulation for tubing!!

[dasy]

A good shipping is very important,I need to pay more attention next time.I bought a MTB pedal at 4scycling.com,hope that shipping to me safety.

[indyfabz]

That really sucks!! You would think they could just pass the bike through an xray system and be done with it

Depends what facilities the airport has. I flew Philadelphia to Venice in May. The Philly international terminal does not have a scanner large enough to accomodate a bike box, so my box was opened. Venice does have such a machine. I put my bike on the conveyor, it went through the scanner and the woman screener literally gave me a "thumbs up."

One of the people who was on the trip did not fare so well. Somehome managed to crack his hard case and chainstay of his carbon fiber bike. He said it looked like a forklift had been used to move his box since there was a horizontal slit in the side of the box about the size of a forklift blade.

Whatever accessories you put in the box should be firmly affixed to the frame or the side of the box. Personally, I carry my pedals and skewers with me.

[rs7trout]

I think that's why I like the Pika Packworks soft case--it's a good bit smaller and lighter than a hard case. It's actually with bike around 30lb. so easy to move around. Maybe I was just plain lucky--but it does encourage me to fly to other places with minimal hassle!

Shoot I even got the bag in the back seat of my sis's little Mercedes E320 when she picked me up at the airport!!

[John Nelson]

I put nothing loose at all in the box or case. I've seen boxes come off at baggage claim all ripped up. Anything loose in there would be long gone. Another reason not pack anything with the bike is it allows the TSA to inspect everything without removing the bike from the box. If you pack other gear around the bike, you leave them no option other than to pull everything out. And make sure your box had good handles so they can easily manipulate it.

My understanding is that most airport scanners are not big enough to scan a bike, especially if you leave the rear wheel on. My box has always been opened, but the TSA has never moved anything around inside it.