Transport boxes for DH bikes

Hi there.

What do people use when transporting their downhill bikes to far away places (ie overseas)? A cardboard box seems to work ok for lightweight XC bikes but a recent trip to NZ using a cardboard box for the beast lasted one trip. I've had a look at some of the road bike cases (TC-1 etc) but these seems small and relatively flimsy.

Thanks in advance

[Tim]

you can get heavy duty boxes made to any size you want, this may be the best option or you could just try and get Cannondale boxes and just get a new one as the older one starts to fall apart but you would get to NZ and back with just the one box no probs..... there pretty good boxes even if there bikes arent :-)

Tim

[Jaz]

Check out www.groundeffect.co.nz some of their bags can be packed full of foamy goodness to protect your pride and joy
(no we are not talking about the gf here)

Thanks. Had a look at the ground effect and Bigfoot bags but the soft bags tend to not stand up to heavy bikes well. Would prefer to go with a hard box so will check out the custom cardboard option.

[Jaz]

Custom cardboard is good too...I took a bike all around north america for 18 months in cardboard, to and from aus a couple of times...never had a problem except for the face that the ddamn quick release always seemed to poke out...suggest padding that with something flat to spread out the loading on the outer cardboard

Where did you go for the custom box?

[Ryan]

Check out this ridemonkey thread (http://www.ridemonkey.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=70269&perpage=15&highlight=planetx%20and%20bag&pagenumber=1) for some great information on the various bike cases that are available.

Personally I like the looks of Bike Pro (http://www.bikeprousa.com) cases, seriously big and seriously expensive though.

[wenji]

Hey, for those of you who transported bikes OS, did you take them as check-in luggage on a plane? Australia has only a 20kg limit which gets used up pretty quick :? . Has anyone used any other mode of transportation?? Suggestions???

[lotec]

damn lol ur bike would use up all ur weight limit then some :P

My stab Primo with fullface in a cardboard box was close to 30kg. On the outbound flight from Sydney to Auckland the limit was 50kg as it was on the way to the States so I got away with it. On the way back however it cost me about $150 to get the bike back and that was after I haggled them down to half the excess weight.

Best option they said if you're doing this on a regular basis is to call the airline in advance and discuss you requirements with them. Tell them you're going to a competition and that you will give them a good plug/put a sticker on your helmet/etc and they should give you some additional help.

James

[wenji]

Any races coming up I could enter??? I'm kidding. But I will ring the airline before I fly.

I flew with JAL from Tokyo last year. I had 22kg as check-in luggage (usually you get away with 25kg) the guy was having a bad day and wanted to charge me over $100 for 2kg excess luggage :shock: !!! I'm thinking he didn't like the fact it was a bike.

I am coming to Australia again and will be bringing a lot more stuff this time round ( had I known I was coming again so soon I would have left my bike there in the first place) so I don't like my chances! I was going to bring a DH bike this time...damn it!

[ruthlessgirl]

I flew from toronto viz the us viz japan to sydney last year and had no problems getting my DH bike there, no extra charges whatsoever... on the way there i was really worried about the weight so i wrapped up all my parts torn the bike down to nothing and put it in a gear bag... survived fine... on the way back i couldn't be bothered to do all the work so I just wrapped it up and put it in a bike store bmx box.

They warned me that it could cost more - i gave my travel agent hell cuz i told her i needed to bring the bike (uh hi it's for a job!)... but i got away lucky.

I lot of airlines will bypass the weight thing (unless it's unreasonable) if it's like a backpack or something... check in their fine print... I know JAL does that, they do it for sporting equipement too (like skiis are gonna be pas the size limit but they don't charge you more). I think that the problems with weight come in how busy the plane is, cuz mine was empty so extra weight wasn't a problem...

[wenji]

Unfortunately, for Aussies not traveling to America/ Canada, the weight limit is only 20 kg. But if you are traveling that way, ( even via another country) you can get 2 bags of 60kg!!! Why? I don't know, but it makes it hard.

Actually, I just came back from Toronto two days ago and took advantage of the almost unlimited weight. It was great not to have to worry about being charged excess baggage for once!!