Bike Bags

[GazMac]

I am taking my bike to spain soon , does anyone have any advice on what kind of bike bag to buy and any tips on protecting it from any unfortunate airliner knocks it may get, ( Hopefully not though ).
Cheers
Gaz

 

[Bigtwin]

I use a soft one, with padded wheel bags inside. Not had a problem - it has the relevant marking on the outside.

I always put spreading bars in when I take the wheels out - I always think this will protect the fork and rear triangle should it get weight on it. I made them out of some old carbon fibre tube (golf club handle I think) - take the skewers out when you remover the wheels, insert tubing, put them back on the frame.

 

[In trouble]

We flew with Ryan bloody air some years ago, to the italian Dolomites with our mountain bikes. Being completely new to taking bikes on planes, we bought a cheap fabric bike bag from Decathlon, and just put bikes in. Got to the other end to find that our forks, and rear triangular thingies (where the back wheel sits) had been crushed together, plus other damage caused to the bikes rendering them useless for the holiday. Make sure you pack things in well, and like the above post says, definatly get some spreaders to put between the forks etc... If you can, have you thought of renting a bike box. might be more secure.........

 

[fossyant]

I've travelled once with a bag to Lanzarote. Pad the bag with foam as well.

 

[GazMac]

Cheers Fella's for the advice , hadn't thought of putting spreaders between forks , good idea. I had been looking at an Avenir suit case but it is quite heavy. My mate has bought a Pinnacle bag from Evans which seems OK, or I found a Ultimate Hardware on Amazon which is similar.

 

[Bigtwin]

You probably have figured this, but there's no - or no small - weight limit on the bag. So all yer bits go in there too, plus car rack if you need one t'other end, or foam pad and straps to tie on top of hire car if you don't have a rack. Get yer money's worth!