I travel with my s&s bike and so far I have no issue with the airlines. putting it apart is easy because you probably do it at home but putting back together can be harder because you are in the hotel room.
overall, if you do travel with you bike, these are my advices. 1. get a not so expensive frame, because it will get dings no matter how hard you try. 2. if you can deal with a compact frame, much easier to pack. 3. make sure you get some crank with auto extractor, octalink is pretty easy and the outboard bearing is very easy to take the non drive side crank out. 4. do know you have to deflate the tires (700c for sure) 5. do bring just the tools you need. the case itself is 16 pounds, with a bike 50 pounds limit is easy to reach. 6. get a cheap seatpost 7. if you get a custom frame, have your name engrave on the bottom bracket 8. take pictures of how you pack it, save it on your phone or print it out, you will need it. when time comes. 9. fender is painful to put on and off. get plastic one. 10. have some plastic gloves. chain is messy 11. get threadless stem or shorter stem, a long stem is painful to take out and pack. 12. learn to adjust RD and FD. sti,ergo,downtube,barend, you still need to adjust them if needed. Besides flying with my bike, an S&S or Breakaway bike is great to transport a bike without a root rack, you can put one easier in any small car trunk. The S&S case is great just to travel with, tons of room for everything besides moving a bike. the case is expensive, you might as well use it all the time. Anyone in bay area are most welcome to come check out my s&s bike, I packed it many time and have all the tricks down. ron On Jan 7, 9:22 pm, "Doug Peterson" <dougpn...@cox.net> wrote: > Or just ship the bike out. Heck, I took one apart & packed it in Croatia > when its owner had to leave the tour abruptly, without his bike. I'd do the > assembly, given the chance & a couple of hours. > > dougP > > -----Original Message----- > From: rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com > > [mailto:rbw-owners-bu...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Jim Thill - Hiawatha > Cyclery > Sent: Wednesday, January 07, 2009 8:48 PM > To: RBW Owners Bunch > Subject: [RBW] Re: Hillborn v. Tournado > > I fully intend to. Can't wait. > > On Jan 7, 10:43 pm, "David Estes" <cyclotour...@gmail.com> wrote: > > When you come out to Cali in March, you can put it to the test!!!! > > > We're waiting you know... :-) > > > On Wed, Jan 7, 2009 at 8:39 PM, Jim Thill - Hiawatha Cyclery < > > > thill....@gmail.com> wrote: > > > > It seems to be hit-or-miss. The S&S case supposedly meets the > > > dimensional criteria to be treated as an ordinary piece of luggage. > > > But some airlines apparently have an automatic surcharge on bikes, > > > regardless of size. A friend and I traveled with our coupled bikes > > > last February, no problem. The same friend traveled with his coupled > > > bike in September, and got charged after volunteering the information > > > that his suitcase contained a bike. He protested, and after some > > > debate, the actual measurements of the case were obtained, which put > > > it in the no-charge, regular luggage category. If the same case was > > > stuffed with clothing, additional fees wouldn't have been an issue. > > > > It's one thing to pay a known, expected fee, and another thing to be > > > surprised by a fee that is applied arbitrarily, especially after > > > spending $750 for couplers to avoid that fee. > > > > I'll be damned if I'm going to let the airlines balance their budgets > > > on the backs of bicyclists. (intended in good humor) > > > > On Jan 7, 10:21 pm, Big Paulie <pauldgr...@yahoo.com> wrote: > > > > On Jan 7, 6:52 pm, Jim Thill - Hiawatha Cyclery <thill....@gmail.com> > > > > wrote: > > > > > > I've heard that it may be getting harder to escape the extra > charges > > > imposed by the airlines > > > > > for a coupled bike. > > > > > Even nice airlines have to eat too, Jim... > > > > > :-) > > > -- > > Cheers, > > David > > Redlands, CA --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
