How To Fly With Your Mountain Bike! Step by Step Guide

Packing away and traveling with your bike can be a really daunting experience. In this video I share some of our favorite travel tips and tricks to do it as smoothly and affordably as possible!

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▶ Most Common Equipment Questions We Get:

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0:00 Hardshell Vs Bike Bag Vs Cardboard Box
1:22 How To Choose An Airline + Fees
2:20 Acquiring A Box & Recommended Dimensions
3:23 Disassembling Your Bike
4:45 Packing Your Bike
6:05 Packing A Bike Travel Bag
6:53 Testing Weight & Heading To Airport
7:35 TSA Tips & Inspection
8:11 Arriving At Your Destination! The Fun Stuff
8:39 The Return Trip Home
8:54 Seeing If The Bikes Survived & What Was Easier Bag Vs Box
9:43 A Few More Tips & Thank You!

#Howtoflywithabike #bikebag #bikebox

[AppleJack]

Cost cheat for SouthWest: My bike and gear was more than 50lbs. Penalties were steep. I got 2 bike boxes (one smaller for wheels). Kept both boxes under 50lbs, and it was cheaper than 1 box over 50lbs.

[AppleJack]

That E.T. clip warmed my heart, as an 80's kid.

[pabslabspabslabs]

Luckily outside the U.S they don't open your bike bag or box before loading into the plane... Usually its just x-rayed at the oversized baggage area

[wndsweptltd]

I use pipe insulation foam to protect frame and forks in transit. Also here in the UK we're lucky enough to have quite a few places offering hire of the Evoc bag (or similar) as well as hard cases at really reasonable prices. Handy hint, we found it cheaper to fly business class with Lufthansa (which had extra luggage allowance including sports equipment) than to fly economy and pay for extra baggage. Plus we got all the added benefits of business class.

[deisen]

I can confirm the 50% rotor survival rate in evoc pro bag. OK on the way out both bent on way back. I pack a cordless drill now to install and remove them. Good idea to also bring loctite. The rotor screws on my friends bike came undone even with a lot of torque applied.

[adrienremillard]

This video made me way less anxious about traveling with my bike, thanks!

[AprilRideMTB]

We hope this video can help some people on their mtb journeys! If anyone figures out how to do the ET method please let us know haha!

[mitkoshredder]

I am going to do my first flight with my bike with a bag next month and this video is ultra useful and I found it by accident while checking your how to manual video from 3 years ago. Thanks a lot for the info!

[markhenderson]

Perfect timing: I'm flying to Whistler this week. Thank you for all the steps and tips, which were all straightforward and clear.

[malcolmmulholland]

Kyle and April - once again you guys HIT IT OUT OF THE PARK with an AMAZING tutorial. My wife travels a lot with her Road Bike (yes she does mountain bike too, just to keep me happy). I have been packing her bike for travel for years...I realized after this great video I was a rookie! Congratulations on another great video. Malcolm.The. Aussie

[midlifeshredder]

Great video guys! Having done both international and domestic with the bikes I can say, remove those rotors and pool noodle your fork, even in a padded bike bag! I had something sharp go through my bag and ding my stansion. Luckily I had travel insurance so $130 spent saved me $450 in repairs!

[DirectorRobb]

Great tip about grabbing a box from the LBS! Thanks for the video.

[dadbodlife]

Excellent video. Other creators have done some fly with bike videos but this one is really helpful showing the whole process. Well done.

[gnmatsu]

Lived in Hawaii for well over 30 years and flew with my bike many of those years. I too have used both cardboard boxes and various travel bags. Yes. You brought up good info on weight versus ease of packing. I started with a very old case that was over 30lbs (before the weight restrictions). I managed to do a bunch of surgery and get the case down to around 25 lbs. I have done some surgery on my EVoc case and have gotten it down to about 16lbs.

Thanks for another great video.

[stuartsmith]

I travel many times a year with my MTB. Luckily I have status on any OneWorld airline ( American Airlines, British Airways, etc..) which allows me to bring bike for free. I use an Evoc Pro bag, game changer!
Thx for the video.

[calebowens]

Flying with my bike from tulsa to Munich for the first time. Thanks for the tips!

[crizo]

Nice, the best bike travel video I’ve found yet. Taking off the chain is a good tip. I’ve traveled many times without removing it with good results, but of course the first time I travel with my new bike, the chain gets a bit loose and scratched the frame

[AdventureAndy]

50lbs is the key so hard shell cases are out. I researched the lowest price option and own the Chain Reaction Cycles Pro Bike bag that works perfect for a large frame and 29x2.6 tires fully inflated. Southwest is $75 one way so use the airlines Kyle described.

[JaySkydiverDad]

Awesome video. I'm moving overseas with my e-bike, and unfortunately that CANNOT fly with me, so it's coming on a boat. However, the packing process is the same. Awesome little trick, taking out the air from the suspension!

[rcrocha]

Alaska Air is the way to go. They waive oversize fee or overweight fee for bikes. This makes life easy because I can fit a lot of my gear in the bag. Just need to keep it less than 100lbs althoughI don't want that much weight in my bag anyways so I'm usually around 60lbs.