WHEELS ON THE GROUND IN SLOVAKIA
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- čas přidán 16. 07. 2023
- 🌍 Thanks so much to Czech MTB Holidays for taking us along on this trip: czechmtbholidays.com/
I'm back in Europe and checking out the best that Slovakia's got! The first of many adventures.
• Riding area: www.trailforks.com/region/hra...
• Follow the trailbuilders: / hradskahoratrails
📺 Ad-free & extended cut videos on Patreon / bkxc
🚁 Latest and greatest merch: bkxc.store/
📸 Camera gear: bkxc.bike/camera-gear
🛠️ My fantastic component company Trail One Components: trailone.bike/
🌎 Map of all the places I've been: bkxc.bike/the-map - Sport
I like your story telling. It's also great to see you and your wife ride/travel together!
Thanks!!
@@bkxc Here is another way to remember the difference between Slovakia and Slovenia:
you can have an Italian Pizza on a Slovenia beach.
Slovakia is landlocked.
they are across Austria from each other
Classic obligatory beer+cigarette after a ride lol...ahh, I miss Eastern Europe. Great commentary!
Nice video, love to see y'all making memories
Hello from the home of slavs Brian!
I hope you find every single nice Trails and really good foods at Central Europe!
Welcome!
OMG I can't believe you were in Slovakia and Hradska Hora in Liptovský Mikuláš my home town. I am so happy🇸🇰🔥
I saw you at SFO with Sarah a while back, you were super cool. So awesome to see you in the real! The best thing about flying out of SFO is the Amex lounge! Keep up the great work🚲🚲✈📹
Awesome!! I gotta try the AmEx lounge next time, I'm already paying for it!
Just came back from a trip with czechmtbholidays, those guys are great!!! :D
Always fun 👍
great trip turned out
nice trip
Welcome to Slovakia :)
Can’t wait to hear your feedback on the HD6 😉
Hey Brian, so good to see that you enjoyed Europe. I wish I knew that you would travel via Munich (my hometown). We could've arranged something here as well. Maybe that is something for the future! Thanks for your effort to provide us with this great content. Best regards!!
Took off the Ibis decals, I can't wait to see what is next. But I love my Ibis Ripley!
I have flown multiple times with Alaska. They count bikes as a normal piece of luggage, no extra charge, and have never arrived without my bike. So far it's been good. Doesn't fly everywhere, but for where it does, it has been great. Highly recommend Alaska
Epik video
Hi - flying out from San Francisco direct to Switzerland with Edelweiss - Sport Luggage normally is for free. I’ve traveled with this company several times out from Switzerland and just had good service. Cheers and keep on pedalling
Sorry about the travel inconvenience but video was great. Nice end to end storytelling. Happy trails!!
Glad you recorded this somewhat soon after returning from the trip to capture the saltiness from travelling. Thanks for the laughs (although at your expense)! That the Ripmo V2s with blacked out Ibis logo?
Same old bike!
I’ve stayed at that same Moxy hotel in Munich (near the airport). It was during Oktoberfest, and that was the closest room that I could get to the city. My wife and I had our 3-year old daughter with us. Luckily I had hotel points, or it would’ve cost me thousands of dollars. Fond memories.
Finally we get to see the wifey back in action. My jaw was getting sore from pouting. Another adventure notched with more to come. See you then.
My great grand parents were from Slovakia area😁
Deflate the tires🤣🤣🤣
You can easily tell they were deflated😂😂😂
I have that same green Evoc bag and my wheel broke as well. I did some moding to the original wheel to get it to work. So far it's been good.
Our mod was not quite as productive!
$6.66 a gallon? Sounds like the mark of the beast in action!
Travelling was a breeze for so long now it's a freaking nightmare... Going to Peru for 3 weeks, not bringing my bike, I'll rent :) Hey what happened to the IBis logo on the bike?
Carpathian Mountains one love
As stressful as it is. I really do appreciate seeing videos like this. Because I am going to be taking a trip to Ecuador someday soon. And thank you for helping me prepare for this trip. This is a question for everyone. Correct me if I’m wrong but it’s safe to deflate the Tires on your mountain bike before getting on the plane, correct? Thank you BKXC
Yes, deflate your tires.
Yes, deflate them, but only down to 8-10 PSI or so... You don't want to break the bead and have sealant leak all over the inside of your bag
I also have an EVOC bike bag, and there's no way my 29's will even fit without deflating the tires!
@@huntstyle Traveling was so much easier with a 26er!
No need to deflate them. The bags are in the pressurized area of the plane, so the only benefit is that they may take up a little bit less space (if your bag is built especially tight). But other than that, there's really no need. Cabin altitude is usually around 7000-8000feet, and you wouldn't expect your tires to explode at that altitude anyways
Different bike?
New bike?? Prototype? 👀 Ripmo V3?
Thanks for sharing the problems with traveling with the bike. So what’s the alternative; ship it via bike flights to the destination, if so, anything to watch out for?
rent a mountain bike that is identical to your make/model
Is that a new bike or still the Ibis? Notice you have AMS top tube protection
Ha. It’s fitting it in the tiny cars overseas that’s the major pain. Good luck.
At least the bikes made it there with you. Those troubles are easy practice for traveling with little ones, if you ever have them.
Haha, indeed! I can't imagine all that comes with traveling with kids!
Bike bag counts as a normal bag on United as long as it's less than 70lbs. If you get one bag free (or more) because of status, it doesn't cost a think any more. Prob doesn't work for Int'l, but...
Great video, looks like a fun trip. The bag fees really lend credibility to doing a big europe riding tour one summer with a camper or van over there.
Most definitely!!
Ride the mega next year!
No way!!
Wow, that's some expensive baggage. I flew between Canada and New Zealand on Air New Zealand many times and my bike was treated as an extra bag. It was way cheaper than renting a bike.
That was pre-pandemic before things went completely insane like charging for carry on bags! Things have probably changed for the worse.
I think with some airlines it's actually gotten cheaper! But never the ones I'm on, haha!
Welkome back to europe! Next time Holland?
Is this a new bike Brian?
What's the bike behind him? That thing looks sick!
Didn't you used to use a DB Savage travel bag? I bought one a year or so ago and love it! I recall this decision being on your recommendation.
I did for a bit! But I got one massive "overweight" charge with it on one of my trips and got scared forever. Can't win!
@@bkxc 😬
Did they have bikes there you could ride or did you specifically want your own bikes to ride while there?
I believe they could have got rental bikes if we wanted them!
Years ago I did a ton of research and found prices for bike bags on the major US airlines and made a video about it... I'm sure it's changed since then, and international is probably a different story. But I recall with Alaska Airlines it was only $25, and there were some others that just treated it as another regular bag, so it was whatever the price of an extra bag was. Have you ever used Bike Flights? I did one time when I flew to Phoenix from Dallas. On the way there, the bag was $150 on AA, so I set up Bike Flights for the return and I think it was like $60. In many cases, I think using Bike Flights will be the better/cheaper option. Only downside is you'll have to drop it off a few days before you leave, and won't get it back until a few days after you arrive back, so it could cost you some rides at home.
I think a few of the airlines have adopted the "it's a normal bag" feature, but it's never an airline I'm flying! BUT, over the past year I decided to go all in with Delta, do the AMEX card and all that and I managed to get Gold status. So now I have free bags and my bikes count with that. But when it counts the most there's no Delta to use!
@@bkxc ain't that the way it always goes!
Wow that is a hefty price to pay for the bike bags. Last time I flew with my evoc bag was before the pandemic, and it cost me 150 x 2 with Lufthansa.
Did you see quality bike rentals at the different Euro parks?
I did not go looking, but I don't think they had high end bikes.
Flying with my bike for the first time tomorrow 😅. Now I'm extra nervous
Hahaha, YOU CAN DO IT!!
Is it possible to rent bikes on any of these trips ?? I know most rentals are probably pretty beat but at least u could ride- I’m thinking of going on a few trips but don’t want to go thru the travel hassle of lugging and losing my bike lol Thanks for the great videos 👍🏼
There is a loooot of bike rentals here, from city bikes to downhill bikes all over the country
You got a new bike! When is the reveal?
Are both of you riding Ripley’s?
Im going whistler this week and renting a bike just because of hassle it is and price
Sounds like a drag. Think I'll watch a little tv
How did you get your Van over there?
New bike? Did have Duracell brown stem and head badge
I think it's the same bike. In one of his previous videos about 2 months ago he mentioned something about his partnership ship ending with Ibis.
Think its the HD6 before it was revealed, with hidden model details on top tube 👀
@@wonderwatch2239I think you are right, maybe the new HD6! Sneaky, it’s definitely not same bike he had recently.
👍 for not having a five minute advertisement
Is that a different bike?
I fly air Canada and from Winnipeg to Toronto, Vegas, Vancouver, London England, Osaka, Japan and soon Munich German 50 dollars each way
Coming back from Japan the bike stayed in Vancouver a extra day
That's amazing!
less whining more riding :D Welcome to Slovakia,I hope they showed you Martinske hole and Kunerad
What happened to the bronze stem?
Is this your ripmo?
Think he put tape over the top tube decals
How is the weather?
Man....this mess gets me to never think of flying with my bike...then you have bike damage...missing/stolen parts......Almost might be worth it to just rent a bike at your destination...but damn everyone would surely want to ride their own bike! Great looking Hero dirt! On top of all of it, you don't even have your bikes back yet??? I hope you get both bikes back and they are all complete they way you packed them!
If you can't bring it on a car, I'd recommend the same, I've only bad experiences with flying bikes, and it's usually cheaper to rent anyway.
Haha yep, it's a rollercoaster of emotions with the bikes!
@@berindea I hope you and Sarah got all your stuff back Dude!
FYI, LOT does not charge for bikes as long as they do not exceed a standard luggage size (which most packed bikes dont), it’s their explicit policy. I’ve had the luggage people in the US be very confused at that multiple times, but usually going through the terms of carriage with them convinced the most stringent of customer service people.
Looks like they changed the policy a year ago and you need to pay extra now, like on the other airlines.
Go east leave from Philly on America to Zurich for less then 800 round trip 7 hr direct..Then take a train
If Lufthansa is such a bad option: why did you fly witht them and not any other airline?
What's that bike by the way? It doesn't look like your latest Ripmo and misses all the bronze design and parts
can anyone tell me best cycle unuder500??
But the best ride is always with your own bikes
to Compare, what is $/gallon for gas in USA or Canada?
$3.50 here in Massachusetts
$3.30 in North Carolina
$4.50 to $5.00 a gallon at the moment in Vallejo, CA
How much for your ebike?
Don't fly with your bike on Lufthansa... they are the worst, in my experience... I've never had issues with United, British Airways, or American Airlines... they just treat them like 2nd checked bag, and if you buy an international flight ticket that comes with 2 checked bags, you're good to go... you only have to pay an overweight fee if they are over 23kg (I also use the EVOC bags). That being said, it can still be cheaper then renting a bike locally for the whole time abroad, and with your own bike, you have something you know fits, and is comfortable.... Renting bikes can be hit or miss if you are particular about components (EG, I really don't like SRAM brakes, bars tend to be too wide on rental bikes for me, etc)...
The number one wildcard is the bike arriving damaged as well. I've done REALLY good without having random brake rotors bent or anything major. But my buddy Jame on our Peru trip had his rear wheel absolutely SMASHED in transit. So they had to go find a new wheel in Peru and it wasn't easy!
Wow im surprised they charged you so much for the bikes, last year I went to Costa Rica from Munich and they charged me 100 euros with airfrance, on the way back I think it was united and they didn't even charged me the bike, they said that the system was saying to charge me zero dollars and got a receipt for that amount 😅
Sounds like the same story I hear from everyone! "It was magically free!" Haha, meanwhile I'm selling my kidneys!
Yo B, that looks like your new black and copper Ibis Ripmo, but different. Is it? The stem and logo are different. What gives?
Any chance to see an collab with Sam Pilgrim :-P ?
We have so much tax on gas in Europe. Prices have actually returned to pre-war levels in many countries so this is the "normal" price.
lol what? I ALWAYS fly lufthansa because I never pay a red cent for the bikes, it counts as luggage. (I fly out from europe, so maybe rules are different)
"Hello, Lufthansa? Zerge83 on CZcams said I wasn't supposed to pay for my bikes!"
@@bkxc sorry if it came across like that, I was just surprised of your experience.
New bike or just rent!
Awesome video. There is no country called Czeckia, it's the Czech Republic.
Actually, that's the new name the Czechs have been calling THEIR country for awhile now. Look up any game they have played in the IIHF World Championships or Junior Championship and you'll see the announcers address that issue. Sorry you didn't get the memo. Brian is 100% correct, and good for him to call it by its new name AND its older one for viewers like you who didn't know. Btw, it's spelled CZECHIA with an "H", not a "K".
Yeah, it's a relatively new development. I think it actually happened when I was there the first time, four years ago, but everyone was dismissive about it. But that kind of change takes a while to take hold in the hearts and minds of people. I try to use both so I'm not confusing but also being accurate. It's even on Google Maps!
huh...first!
I got told by a United customer service supervisor: "Complain to the internet." And then they hung up on me.
United is the worst.
Hey Brian! How does it feel to say “everyone speaks English” when the rest of the world learn English and Spanish.. and German (depending on where in the planet you live)
And Gnar & Climb.. Those people learned English through books only. Have you or any of your friends learned a language by reading books?
(Please tell me that you know more Spanish than you show in your videos!!)
Russia is not in Europe
Russia is in europe
Please send me a old GoPro please 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺
It's kinda strange that an american guy chooses Slovakia as a destination. But why not. You are only living once. :d
Why is that strange?
@@MikeRideBike Spain, Switzerland are mtb paradises!
Pretty tough these guys pay thousands of dollars to have you and your wife come over there in hopes to attract riders from The USA and elsewhere and you spend the first ten minutes complaining about how awful traveling is there. It’s quite a thank you to your hosts. Sounds to me like you got a nice free trip. Maybe just start with Thank You and leave off your personal travel challenges. I’m sure you were treated amazing by two really nice guys trying to grow their small business.
People are constantly asking me to talk about how I travel with my bike, so I thought it'd be nice to show it off.
Different bike?
Different cockpit and stem with a bit of masking on the top tube.