How To Fly With Your Mountain Bike! Step by Step Guide
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- čas přidán 18. 05. 2024
- Packing away and traveling with your bike can be a really daunting experience. In this video I share some of our favorite travel tips and tricks to do it as smoothly and affordably as possible!
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0:00 Hardshell Vs Bike Bag Vs Cardboard Box
1:22 How To Choose An Airline + Fees
2:20 Acquiring A Box & Recommended Dimensions
3:23 Disassembling Your Bike
4:45 Packing Your Bike
6:05 Packing A Bike Travel Bag
6:53 Testing Weight & Heading To Airport
7:35 TSA Tips & Inspection
8:11 Arriving At Your Destination! The Fun Stuff
8:39 The Return Trip Home
8:54 Seeing If The Bikes Survived & What Was Easier Bag Vs Box
9:43 A Few More Tips & Thank You!
#Howtoflywithabike #bikebag #bikebox - Sport
Luckily outside the U.S they don't open your bike bag or box before loading into the plane... Usually its just x-rayed at the oversized baggage area
That’s cool! Yeah the TSA definitely doesn’t mess around haha
Why don't they scan everything like it's done in Europe? @@AprilRideMTB
Cost cheat for SouthWest: My bike and gear was more than 50lbs. Penalties were steep. I got 2 bike boxes (one smaller for wheels). Kept both boxes under 50lbs, and it was cheaper than 1 box over 50lbs.
Thats really great to know! Thats probably the ticket if you needed to bring a really heavy bike or lots of spare tires, ect..!
We hope this video can help some people on their mtb journeys! If anyone figures out how to do the ET method please let us know haha!
Do you carry any kind of insurance for your bikes?
So did any of the rotors get bent during the trip? Or did the evoc bike bag protect them the way it was designed?
@@nickolson3899 it worked as designed on the way home using the 180mm rotors. I did have a 203mm rotor get bent pretty bad when flying to france a few years ago. Its a little bit of a risk but most likely fine.
50lbs is the key so hard shell cases are out. I researched the lowest price option and own the Chain Reaction Cycles Pro Bike bag that works perfect for a large frame and 29x2.6 tires fully inflated. Southwest is $75 one way so use the airlines Kyle described.
Thanks for sharing! Im hoping this video can be a good resource for people in the future!
Have had my rotors bent when using the EVOC Pro bag so I always remove them now.
Yeah i think those rotor protectors really only cover the 140 / 160mm ones well. It would be great if they really could stay on without worry!
@@AprilRideMTB , totally agree. FWIW, my bent rotor was 203mm.
great tips and great video!
excellent , thank you Kyle
Perfect timing: I'm flying to Whistler this week. Thank you for all the steps and tips, which were all straightforward and clear.
super helpful !!!
Great tip about grabbing a box from the LBS! Thanks for the video.
I am going to do my first flight with my bike with a bag next month and this video is ultra useful and I found it by accident while checking your how to manual video from 3 years ago. Thanks a lot for the info!
brilliant video, thanks again guys. hope to be travelling one day via plane, all my travel has been by car so far which is great, but keen to try some different countries one day, this was the perfect video for this thanks.
Thank you for making this! I’ve been waiting for someone to make this kind of video. 🙏🏼🤙🏼
Thats awesome! I'm really glad it was helpful!
Its worth noting that Alaska Air does not charge oversize fees for bikes. I fly with mine fully loaded with all my bike gear. Ontop of that if you have the alaska credit card you get one free bag for upto 6 people on your reservation. Me and my homies all flying with bikes for free on alaska.
Thats so awesome! Yeah we try to fly Alaska as much as we can! They are a really great company!
I use pipe insulation foam to protect frame and forks in transit. Also here in the UK we're lucky enough to have quite a few places offering hire of the Evoc bag (or similar) as well as hard cases at really reasonable prices. Handy hint, we found it cheaper to fly business class with Lufthansa (which had extra luggage allowance including sports equipment) than to fly economy and pay for extra baggage. Plus we got all the added benefits of business class.
Thats an awesome tip David! Thanks so much for sharing i will look into that in the future!
That E.T. clip warmed my heart, as an 80's kid.
Haha yeah so many good memories!
thanks man that is a super helpful vid!
Glad it helped!
I can confirm the 50% rotor survival rate in evoc pro bag. OK on the way out both bent on way back. I pack a cordless drill now to install and remove them. Good idea to also bring loctite. The rotor screws on my friends bike came undone even with a lot of torque applied.
Yeah haha its one of those things i think you have to learn the hard way!
That's a pretty comprehensive video, thank you. If you could consider doing a flying bike video at a later date, I would be very grateful!
Excellent video. Other creators have done some fly with bike videos but this one is really helpful showing the whole process. Well done.
Thank you! Yeah I’m hoping it can be a good resource for people in the future! I appreciate the kind words!
Thanks for comparing these both options. Very helpful!
Glad it was helpful!
Thanks!
Thank you so much Goose!
Love the ET intro. Great vid dude.
Haha thanks! I pretty much made the whole video just for that one little joke 😂
Love that movie! Kuahara was a cool brand.
Alaska Air is the way to go. They waive oversize fee or overweight fee for bikes. This makes life easy because I can fit a lot of my gear in the bag. Just need to keep it less than 100lbs althoughI don't want that much weight in my bag anyways so I'm usually around 60lbs.
Yeah they are the best! Great customer service too!
Hey Kyle!! Thank you so much for this video. We are hopefully moving to the Netherlands soon and I am planning on taking my bike with. I was already planning on using an box from my local bike shop but was nervous about the whole process since it would be the first time I'd be traveling with it and going through the process. Your video was really informative and I'll be watching it again before I pack. Seeing this video today just gave me more hope about our plan to move, perfect timing, thank you!
So glad it was helpful! 😊
Having Sram AXS has been nice, since can easily take derailleur off and rest it flat instead of it staying bolted onto bike. I then just sandwich it between elbow pads for protection. Previously, have had derailleur arm arrive broken from them tossing bag around. Also realized aluminum pedals add up in weight (have oneup) and those I move to carryon in a ziplock bag. Another was putting apple AirTag in bike bag. On last trip to Bentonville, my bike didn't make the flight connection but could "see" where it was, which actually was not where airline staff was telling me. Got it back in hand much quicker as a result. I use the evoc bag as well.
Kyle and April - once again you guys HIT IT OUT OF THE PARK with an AMAZING tutorial. My wife travels a lot with her Road Bike (yes she does mountain bike too, just to keep me happy). I have been packing her bike for travel for years...I realized after this great video I was a rookie! Congratulations on another great video. Malcolm.The. Aussie
Glad this one helped you some Malcolm! 😊
I travel many times a year with my MTB. Luckily I have status on any OneWorld airline ( American Airlines, British Airways, etc..) which allows me to bring bike for free. I use an Evoc Pro bag, game changer!
Thx for the video.
Awesome video. I'm moving overseas with my e-bike, and unfortunately that CANNOT fly with me, so it's coming on a boat. However, the packing process is the same. Awesome little trick, taking out the air from the suspension!
Thank you so much Javier! Yeah the Ebike complicates it. If you need to though you can fly with the bike without the battery and then ground ship just the battery! Thats what we have done for certain races!
Lived in Hawaii for well over 30 years and flew with my bike many of those years. I too have used both cardboard boxes and various travel bags. Yes. You brought up good info on weight versus ease of packing. I started with a very old case that was over 30lbs (before the weight restrictions). I managed to do a bunch of surgery and get the case down to around 25 lbs. I have done some surgery on my EVoc case and have gotten it down to about 16lbs.
Thanks for another great video.
Yeah its crazy how heavy the bike bags really are! Thanks Grant! We hope you have been good :)
This video made me way less anxious about traveling with my bike, thanks!
Glad it was helpful!!
How practical it is! With you i will be a mtb profesional
Haha thank you Josue!
I' m from Peru but i speak english very well
I like how the Suntour van guy treated the bag worse than the TSA agent.
Haha Jon is a joker for sure! Put the bag to the limit 😂
@@AprilRideMTB You are doing great work, keep it up. Glad you are recovered.
Nice, the best bike travel video I’ve found yet. Taking off the chain is a good tip. I’ve traveled many times without removing it with good results, but of course the first time I travel with my new bike, the chain gets a bit loose and scratched the frame
Thanks so much Chris! I really hope it can be helpful for people in the future!
Thanks for the vid. What airline did you fly with? I'm heading out with American to Bentonville and hoping my bike will stay under 50lbs!
Cool video, thanks, now I at least know what to expect. I'd be extremely wary of someone opening up a bike bag and potentially not putting everything back or scratching something in the process.
Great video guys! Having done both international and domestic with the bikes I can say, remove those rotors and pool noodle your fork, even in a padded bike bag! I had something sharp go through my bag and ding my stansion. Luckily I had travel insurance so $130 spent saved me $450 in repairs!
Yeah i totally agree! Pool noodles are a really great trick!
Some people rent out bike bags. Kijiji or something similar
When I took my bike to California from Spain and back again, I usead the box-method - worked great, but when back in Spain again, I noticed one of the end caps on my handle bar was missing. Did they pry it off in customs looking for possible hidden illegal items??? - Anyway, by chance I found another cap, lying on a bike trail so I did not have to spend a cent to get a new one... 😅 - Great video!
Thats awesome haha! They probably were checking! I have heard of certain plants being smuggled in mountain bikers tires before haha. Its crazy the lengths people are willing to go to!
Have you guys looked at something like Bike Flights, where they ship it via UPS or FedEx? It's usually around the same price as the oversize fees on the plane, and after all the horror stories of lost/damaged luggage on a plane makes me think it might actually be safer, and if not at least it's insured! But, you'll need to ship it a few days ahead of time to get it there when you land. For e-bikes you're supposed to remove the battery (which you can't fly with at all on a plane!).
Yes, Kyle has used it a lot! Even just for shipping parts out. Thanks for mentioning it for others :)
Awesome
Thanks so much Tomas!
We fly United alot and the max total dimension for a regular box is 62 inches. For boxes this would add 200 bucks per flight, 400 total for round trip. We invested in the orucase bags recently and have liked them to carry our full suspension bikes. The only downside side as kyle side is cost and weight of the bags.
Thx for sharing, I've not heard of this brand, but this solution makes total sense. So you get them as carry on luggage? does it fit into a luggage compartment? I don't like leaving my bike out of my sight. And seeing the destroyed, smashed, crushed bikes people had by bad handling on the air port, it does not give me confidence.
Flying to US (pisgah) in 2 weeks... No idea the tsa strip search the bag!
Rotors off sounds good I guess.
Yeah rotors off for sure and just try to make the strip search easy for them haha!
Nice, instructional video! Is it true that if the airline loses our bike box or bag, they don't have any liability? In other words, if it gets lost, one may simply not be able to replace the bike??
I also know a couple of bike shops that rent bike bags
Yeah thats a great tip too! I mentioned it briefly at the end but should have covered it earlier on!
Most TSA agents do not care at all about your bike when they search them. I didn't know that TSA always searches bike boxes but they tore through a bunch of my packing material and when I got the bike at my destination the box was fully open. My buddy had a bike bag that fared much better since it's easier for them to repack the bike bag.
Yeah so true! The only issue is if they don't zip your bike bag up all the way haha. one time i showed up to baggage claim in San Francisco and my bike was laying in the oversized area with the bag completely open and my shoes and helmet falling out haha. I agree though they usually do much better than with a box!
I had a couple of flights with my bike in luggage and acording to my experience I would advise to attache your handlebar to the frame as a kinda torsion supporter or reinfocments, and do the same with a free front wheel.
UPD
And I was surprised little bit, why did they open your bike box and case??? In my cases airport service didn't do that ever...
They just x-rayed it and that is it.
UPD2
WOW Did you use the same box again on the way at home???? After all flights my boxes were in AWFUL conditions and all of them were not be usable again for the flight back to home. I thought they were used as a ball for football =))) Respect for US airport service)
Hi! I'm from Philippines, I watch every video you upload and I learn more about bikes, I want to be a cyclist but I don't have a bike :(
Hello to you, we hope someday you will have a bike!
If you have a spring fork is the bike box still an option? Will either option (bag or box) work in that situation?
Somebody send this to C-Bass!
Hey how are you. Hope you are OK.
While travel on the road. Where can you store your cardboard paper box.
What’s the name of second channel. Wanted to know more about AirTag placement.
@ridemtbexpress is our second channel, we do not have the Air Tag video yet, but hope you find some other good content :)
As someone who works at a bike shop it shocked me to hear some shops actually charge 50-70 dollars for the empty bike box that was going to be recycled anyway. That's about what we charge to pack it in the box for people if they want. Yikes.
We fly with 2 e-bikes, hire or purchase batteries, and leave the batteries with friends. In 2018, United ripped us off and charged $500us for 2 mini bikes (golf clubs were free🙄) from LA to NY & back to LA; we were flying first class with one bag each plus bikes and were allowed 4 bags each. Everywhere else in the world, it is the cost of an extra bag if you are over the bag allowance. I am okay with security opening and checking inside these bags, as there are idiots out there.
We travel from New Zealand, and we are in California for all of next month.
I will use PVC pipes and cardboard for the front brake discs (thanks). I'm on the limit at 26kg for each bike & bag without tools and 20" front wheels, which I carry in our other bags. We use EVOC bike bags but lower in height and a little longer, so the rear wheels stay on with carbon belts.
Come on Twitter, and we can all share photos and videos.
Has anyone here packed the evoc pro bike bag without the bike stand to save weight? My bike is 38lbs and having trouble getting it under 50
what about hydraulics and air suspensions? bikes travel in the unpressurized cargo compartment. is there any chance of damage if you don't deflate the wheels and suspensions?
It's not u pressurised... Its same as the cabin... So a tiny bit lower than ground level usually, there is zero need to deflate tyres etc, though many airlines say to
everything should be totally fine, everything i have read says the tires will increase a max of 10psi but i generally let the air out to make the bike as small as possible.
Hey if i buy 2 bikes from a bike shop and take it to my airline from ca to ny you think i can take both as baggage
Yes, some racers travel with as many as three bikes! You just gotta pay the fees.
You've done this before... 😉
Haha many times! Hopefully it can help someone else avoid some of the pitfalls i've experienced!
What about eMTB with the battery?
You cannot fly with a battery 😢 hopefully something like renting out batteries from bike shops will be a common solution in the future!
What did the tsa guy mean about wd40... What are things u can't put in bike bag?
I think what he was meaning was aerosol wd40 / triflow i have flown with small chainlube bottles before without issue, i think its more so in the case of a can exploding like a co2
I have flown with CO2 canisters, at first they say "you can't pack these"... then I say... well it is how the airline inflate the life-preservers stored on the plane. They look at me and (for the last 3 times.).. they say. " Oh OK" and off I go!!! @@AprilRideMTB
🇲🇾to🇱🇰👍👍👍👍👍
You forget just how awkward and bulky bikes are to pack away and travel with. It's hard enough taking off the front wheel and stuffing it in the back of the SUV.
haha so true!!
It’s easier to tie it to the plane ✈️, without packing it😅
That is very true haha!
Every time I fly with my bike, the airlines lose it 😮
I have had that happen before and its almost always from a random bar code getting scanned that isn't part of the airline system, either that or a tight layover!
Kyle how are you doing health wise? Does anybody know how he is doing?
Great tip about grabbing a box from the LBS! Thanks for the video.
Glad it was helpful! Thanks for watching Robb!