B.A. and planes

[Simon_m]

Great info guys, 10/10. I checked my BA flights, and they are part American Airlines, no idea what they are like. I apparently am allowed 2 hold bags, so I guess one could be a bike??? Regarding taking the wheels off, I never thought of the damage to the forks, best to keep it on. I was thinking of taking the chain off too and wrapping the front cock and back bits (technical term), in bubble wrap too. Ideas on that?

Letting the air out of the tires doesn't bother me too much, why do you guys want to keep it in? just for when the baggage handlers move/wheel it? " I strap the wheels with parcel tape to prevent the bike being rolled on deflated tyres". I will have to remove the pedals, so will need to get a tool for that, handlbars I will need to read the mannual! its a BMC roadbike so its a different system.

Thanks again guys. Kinda off topic, but are spare spokes worth it as never broke one in the two years i've had the bike, and on long tours, how many tires to wear out? cheers

 

[Bodhbh]

The tryes I can understand as they could explode in a pressurised environment.
But the pedals I mean c,mon do they expect people to go riding up and down the plane or cargo hold mid flight.
Also some pedals are a damn site harder to get off than others and some are next to impossible.
I think it's just another case of trying to cause massive inconvenience to people simply for the sake of it and because they can. Take the pedals off, I don't think so.
If they wanted to get a bike mechanic to properly remove the pedals then properly refit them at the other end free of charge that would be a different story.
But it would also be called good customer service and you don't seem to get that anywhere any more.

With the tyres, I think someone did the maths (or physics) and even in a total vacuum bike tyres are unlikely to explode if they are within recommended pressures. And if they did, they are not gonna damage anything but the tyre.

As Ticktockmy pointed out pedals sticking out can catch on stuff. Before travelling, it's not difficult to remove them at home, give the threads a good grease and lightly replace - so removal shouldn't be a problem. It takes like 2mins. tbh I find it less of pain than re-inflating tyres after landing without the benfit of a track pump. For removing pedals on the way back I either carry a small pedal spanner, or just check they come off with an adjustable spanner before I get to the airport. If they didn't in an emergency, then I'd have time to buy a pedal spanner, but it hasn't happened yet.

 

[Globalti]

Why not hire or buy a proper rigid case? The dhb case from Wiggle is good and protects the bike very well; I have flown twice to South Africa with AF or KLM and had no problems except that last time I came home the box had obviously had a massive bang as the frame was bent and the fibreglass shell cracked. AF bought me a new one, which I gave to the neighbour who had lent me the box and I repaired the bent one, so no need to borrow this year. It comes with a selection of pads and two very good wheel bags and it's fully lined and pretty secure.

As for all the bollocks about letting your tyres down, an aircraft hold is pressurised to 10,000 feet, same as the cabin. Would your tyres explode if you rode over an Alpine col at 10,000 ft? No, they would not.

 

[Simon_m]

I guess hire a box if you have a bass camp, but I don't fancy dragging it across America lol. CTC bag it is then

 

[ColinJ]

In 1999, I saw the bike bag containing my brand new Bianchi thrown out of a plane's hold onto a pile of suitcases 6 feet below. That bike cost me £2,000 and the buggers dented the frame before I'd owned it for even 1 month! I bought a SciCon bike box after that ... (Baggage handlers managed to break one corner of the box in subsequent years, but my bikes were never damaged again.)

 

[Ticktockmy]

Great info guys, 10/10. I checked my BA flights, and they are part American Airlines, no idea what they are like. I apparently am allowed 2 hold bags, so I guess one could be a bike??? Regarding taking the wheels off, I never thought of the damage to the forks, best to keep it on. I was thinking of taking the chain off too and wrapping the front cock and back bits (technical term), in bubble wrap too. Ideas on that?

Letting the air out of the tires doesn't bother me too much, why do you guys want to keep it in? just for when the baggage handlers move/wheel it? " I strap the wheels with parcel tape to prevent the bike being rolled on deflated tyres". I will have to remove the pedals, so will need to get a tool for that, handlbars I will need to read the mannual! its a BMC roadbike so its a different system.

Thanks again guys. Kinda off topic, but are spare spokes worth it as never broke one in the two years i've had the bike, and on long tours, how many tires to wear out? cheers

If you see you LBS he might have some Spacers that are used to protect the forks and rear drop outs when the bike are shipped, if not get some Studding and washers and make up two spacers, regarding spokes, after 40 years of touring I have only had broken spokes twice when on tour, and lucky for me I had spare spokes with me.

As a tip, for the rear chain cluster side I carry some spokes which I have cut of the mushroom head, then put a sharp kink in the the spoke at that end, then if I break a spoke on that side, all I need to do is remove the old spoke, thread the Kink end of the new spoke into the hole on the rear hub put the threaded end but into therim and tighten it up and back on the road with out having to remove the rear gear cluster. then when you find a cycle repair shop you can get it fixed. Sods Law says that your spokes only break when you have no spares, and you only have to read some of the stories on this forum to see that law in operation

 

[ColinJ]

Sods Law says that your spokes only break when you have no spares, and you only have to read some of the stories on this forum to see that law in operation

It happened to me on a forum ride to Blackpool! I had to ride my wobbly bike very carefully for the 12 remaining miles to Blackpool North station and catch a train home.

I have a spare drive-side spoke taped to my seatstay now. From what I hear, it is nearly always those that fail unless the wheel has been crashed. Fortunately, those spokes are straight-pull so I can replace them without any hassle.

 

[Simon_m]

dam ok, will prob have to get some then. Making a list of all the things I will need to take, and its nearly £400! 4 tires are £140, a couple of inner tubes, break pads, arm warmers, new pump, larger water bottles, hemlet, new gloves etc. I am looking fwd to getting cans of Mace though, to spray the attacking dogs with

 

[jjb]

Why not hire or buy a proper rigid case? The dhb case from Wiggle is good and protects the bike very well; I have flown twice... and had no problems except that last time... the frame was bent

The failure rate sounds like 25% over the four flights so far? On the upside, they may not have replaced the frame if you'd gone for the poly bag wrapping instead.

 

[mark]

dam ok, will prob have to get some then. Making a list of all the things I will need to take, and its nearly £400! 4 tires are £140, a couple of inner tubes, break pads, arm warmers, new pump, larger water bottles, hemlet, new gloves etc. I am looking fwd to getting cans of Mace though, to spray the attacking dogs with

Different states have different laws about Mace. You might want to find out what the states you'll be passing through say about Mace.

 

[Globalti]

The failure rate sounds like 25% over the four flights so far? On the upside, they may not have replaced the frame if you'd gone for the poly bag wrapping instead.

The case didn't fail; it bent and took the force of the impact. The aluminium frame was deformed but once I'd got that straightened out the case was perfect apart from a crack in the shell. The bike was fine so the case did its job. To have done that much damage to a big stiff but shock-absorbing case I reckon they must have thrown it or dropped it from a height. Oh, and flying to JNB and back from Manchester over CDG or AMS twice makes eight flights and twelve handlings!

 

[robjh]

The question was about BA. Plenty of people, including me, had good experiences with them over the years, but in July 2009 at Gatwick they refused my bike point blank, packed in a CTC clear bag, saying that it did not meet their definition of 'protective'. Many minutes of arguing and calling on supervisors did not change a thing (yet exactly a year before they had accepted the same bike unbagged).
I would suggest that if you are using Gatwick, then assume the worst - maybe it's easier in other airports, but this experience left me deeply suspicious of BA and to some extent all airlines.

 

[Riding in Circles]

I used Delta last year and they could not have been more helpful.

 

[bigjim]

I flew with BA in September with bike in Poly bag. No problems, they even attached extra Fragile
stickers to the bag for me.

 

[robjh]

Bigjim, what airport did you fly from with BA? My bad experience may have been specific to Gatwick, but it indicates that the rules may be applied erratically in different places at different times. My bike was packed just like yours.

nb the happy(-ish) outcome was that Air Montenegro accepted my bike as packed, and in the rush to buy a last-minute ticket they forgot to charge me for the bike -the check-in guy was surprised but let it through.