Some airlines are more relaxed about carrying bikes. It depends on the type of aircraft, whether Boeing or Airbus and what size cargo containers the plane carries. Most airlines restrict tourist passengers to a limit of 20kgs for check-in luggage. Emirates tourist class flights now allow a total baggage allowance per person of 30kg. This is enough for the bike and as much gear as you really want to put on a bike. If you want extra warm clothing just wear it onto the plane.The bike does have to be packed thoroughly and compactly to meet the requirements of the airline. This is how to do it.
This is the Thorn Raven disassembled and packed together ready to put in the bag.
The sequence goes something like this
- Remove the pedals.
- Remove both wheels.Remove skewers and pack separately important.
- Remove both mudguards, disconnect the stays and pack them separately by taping to the frame somewhere. Lash the mudguards to each wheel for protection.
- Remove both luggage racks.
- Remove the handlebar, pad and lash it to crossbar, at the same time rotate the front forks through 180 degrees. You do not have to disconnect any cables to do this but reconnect the V brake releases to avoid damage.
- Pad the steering head and turn the bike upside down.
- Tape or tie with string the chain completely around the chainwheel. The chain will prevent the teeth of the chainwheel biting into the bike bag. Some extra padding here is a good idea. Use an old plastic bag to hold the surplus chain and lash it to the chainstay. If you have a bike with a derailleur gear remove, bag and pad the hanger, lashing to the chainstay.
- Pad and lash the luggage racks within the centre of the frame. We had a rack partially crushed two years ago before we started doing this. Do not let the racks touch the frame anywhere or the vibration of the aircraft will remove the paint on your frame.
- Thoroughly pad the axle ends that are to go on the outside. They will bear the weight of an entire container of baggage as you can be fairly sure that the bikes will be packed at the bottom of the pile. The cogs on the rear wheel of course go on the inside. Lash one wheel on each side of the frame sufficiently securely that you can lift up the entire package without it coming apart.
- One bag is allowed to be packed up to 32 kg. but I usually just add a tent or small items to help fill in the gaps. The bike in the picture came to 22kg, including the tent and the bike bag.
I made our own bike bags out of strong canvas that we had used several years ago as our cooking tent when we were 4 wheel driving. I sewed and roped them by hand. The two rope handles are tied directly to the bike frame and come out through cringles in appropriate places.As we carried the bags with us this year we found that they came in very useful as groundsheets for sitting outside the tent or even for a lunch stop. We also had several very cold nights in the tent when we used them as overbed covers for extra warmth.