If you’re off on a mountain biking holiday in Europe this summer and are travelling by plane, then you might be surprised to know that you can actually take your bike on holiday with you ! There are plenty of different types of soft bike bags and hard bike cases or boxes on the market and it’s important to choose a good one or the first day of your holiday could be spent repairing rather than just rebuilding your bike! We’ve put together some advice to help you select the right one for you so that your precious cargo arrives safely and your mountain biking holiday gets off to a good start.
The big question to ask yourself before leaving is do you really need to take your mountain bike with you ? Are you sure you can’t just hire the same or a very similar bike on site in your holiday destination and save yourself all the hassle and cost of transporting your mountain bike? Airlines can be very particular about size and weight restrictions and the transport cost can be almost as high as the price of your own ticket! If the answer to the first question is yes, either because you have a very specialised piece of equipment or you have a sentimental attachment to your own particular mountain bike, then you really need to invest in a quality travel bag or box.
It goes without saying that hard mountain bike boxes or cases will offer your bike the utmost protection. The choice of a box or bike bag really depends on the how often you travel by plane or train, what kind of budget you have and if you have storage space at home! Fabric bags are, of course, cheaper and easier to store but they cannot guarantee that your bike will not take a nasty knock when passing through baggage handling at the airport or get damaged when a careless train passenger dumps his 40kg suitcase on top of it! Hard bike boxes generally cost around £300 and soft bike bags around £100. Always check the exact measurements of your mountain bike before shopping for a bag or box as they vary quite a lot and you don’t want any nasty last minute surprises !
Protection is, of course, your number one concern but don’t forget that you will have to maneuver your precious cargo through busy airports and/or train stations. To avoid starting your holiday exhausted or with a bad back, we advise you to choose a bag or box with plenty of handles, straps and wheels ! A comfortable handle allowing you to pull the case along on its wheels, a strong shoulder strap for getting up those out of order escalators and other handles to help lift the case onto airport x-ray machines, etc are essential in our opinion!
So getting back to protection, one highly recommended detail is to choose a bag or box that has a separate wheel compartement as this almost guarantees against damage from knocks. Of course, choose a bag or box with plenty of padding – but we advise you to always carry some extra bubble wrap to fill in any spaces that could allow parts to get shaken about and damaged in transit. Another hot tip is to deflate your tyres – they could get damaged by the pressure if left inflated.
Don’t forget to check out your travel insurance policy before travelling with your mountain bike. A lot of travel insurance companies will charge an additional excess cost to cover your bike and a lot of airlines will not be held responsible for any damage which occurs whilst the bike is in their charge! Check out your household insurance policy to see whether your bike can be covered as 'contents away from home' as this could work out cheaper and easier.
Have a great mountain biking holiday this summer and leave a comment or join us on Facebook and tell us all about it… You can also read our recent article about the Val d'Isère Tignes bike park if you haven't decided where to head yet!
If you’re off on a mountain biking holiday in Europe this summer and are travelling by plane, then you might be surprised to know that you can actually take your bike on holiday with you ! There are plenty of different types of soft bike bags and hard bike cases or boxes on the market and it’s important to choose a good one or the first day of your holiday could be spent repairing rather than just rebuilding your bike! We’ve put together some advice to help you select the right one for you so that your precious cargo arrives safely and your mountain biking holiday gets off to a good start.
The big question to ask yourself before leaving is do you really need to take your mountain bike with you ? Are you sure you can’t just hire the same or a very similar bike on site in your holiday destination and save yourself all the hassle and cost of transporting your mountain bike? Airlines can be very particular about size and weight restrictions and the transport cost can be almost as high as the price of your own ticket! If the answer to the first question is yes, either because you have a very specialised piece of equipment or you have a sentimental attachment to your own particular mountain bike, then you really need to invest in a quality travel bag or box.
It goes without saying that hard mountain bike boxes or cases will offer your bike the utmost protection. The choice of a box or bike bag really depends on the how often you travel by plane or train, what kind of budget you have and if you have storage space at home! Fabric bags are, of course, cheaper and easier to store but they cannot guarantee that your bike will not take a nasty knock when passing through baggage handling at the airport or get damaged when a careless train passenger dumps his 40kg suitcase on top of it! Hard bike boxes generally cost around £300 and soft bike bags around £100. Always check the exact measurements of your mountain bike before shopping for a bag or box as they vary quite a lot and you don’t want any nasty last minute surprises !
Protection is, of course, your number one concern but don’t forget that you will have to maneuver your precious cargo through busy airports and/or train stations. To avoid starting your holiday exhausted or with a bad back, we advise you to choose a bag or box with plenty of handles, straps and wheels ! A comfortable handle allowing you to pull the case along on its wheels, a strong shoulder strap for getting up those out of order escalators and other handles to help lift the case onto airport x-ray machines, etc are essential in our opinion!
So getting back to protection, one highly recommended detail is to choose a bag or box that has a separate wheel compartement as this almost guarantees against damage from knocks. Of course, choose a bag or box with plenty of padding – but we advise you to always carry some extra bubble wrap to fill in any spaces that could allow parts to get shaken about and damaged in transit. Another hot tip is to deflate your tyres – they could get damaged by the pressure if left inflated.
Don’t forget to check out your travel insurance policy before travelling with your mountain bike. A lot of travel insurance companies will charge an additional excess cost to cover your bike and a lot of airlines will not be held responsible for any damage which occurs whilst the bike is in their charge! Check out your household insurance policy to see whether your bike can be covered as 'contents away from home' as this could work out cheaper and easier.
Being lucky enough to have parents who were crazy about skiing, my love for the mountains started when I was 4 years old on our first family ski holiday to Austrian ski resort of Obergurl. One ski holiday a year was never enough and tears rolled down my face as I looked out the back window of the car on the drive down the valley on the way home!
