Bike Cases

[Liggero]

In my experience, If they notice that it's a bike, or the size of a bike, or just the box of a frame, you will have to pay the extra for transporting bikes. At least in cheap flight airlines, that is how I fly. But, the cost is fair, about 40-50€, and they allow between 30-40Kg. What I do is include lot of clothes and stuff. Sometimes I pay just for the bike, not luggage, so I include clothes with the bike, so i save money and I can carry lot of weight. I always use a cardboard box of FRAME, for travelling with my bike. It's quite strong if you pack it properly. Only issue is the lack of wheels, but next time i will create a wooden deck with industrial wheels to attach to the cardboard box. No issues so far.

[dmp]

It looks like this thread came back from the dead- 1st new reply in 7 years!! But actually its probably not a bad idea- there's new stuff on the market since then.

For what it's worth, I would highly recommend the Pika Packworks case- densely padded soft case, doesn't look especially like a bike case (nothing on the outside labels that says "bike" either), highly protective, yet light and easy to store at your destination. I brought my bike from Denver to Israel this fall (that includes one transfer, always a place for disaster to occur) and except for losing the bike for 3 days on the way over (don't even ask!) it was great, especially since I avoided the extra charge in both directions- that alone more than paid for the case!

You only need to take the pedals, wheels, stem, and seat post/saddle off. There is a place to secure everything. It's light enough to sling the whole business over your shoulder with the shoulder strap. Case itself only weighs about 12 lbs.