http://forums.thepoultrykeeper.co.uk/

I didn't know eggsactly what you were talking about until I cocka-googled it.

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Find out what it is in life that you don't do well, then don't
do that thing.

Soft bike airline case....

holy crap, post of the month!

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Eric Reid AeroFit | Instagram Portfolio
Aerodynamic Retul Bike Fitting

“You are experiencing the criminal coverup of a foreign backed fascist hostile takeover of a mafia shakedown of an authoritarian religious slow motion coup. Persuade people to vote for Democracy.”

bravo, well done

I didn't know eggsactly what you were talking about until I cocka-googled it.
I will need to take a look at it.

I see what you did there.

I'm on the same boat. Looking into buying this for a race I have next month. I've been looking around for reviews but haven't found too many.... Have you? if so, what's your feeling on this? Thanks

I have bouncing emails back and forth with the company this morning trying to put together a team deal. 2-3wk lead time on the Armored case as they are made to order. The regular case is always stocked and ready to ship. I do like the idea of wheels and ability to strap the wheel bag to the top especially if you have another bag to wheel around. The little bit of extra protection is always a plus. They also say that the bags have a lifetime warranty and can repair damage if it happens. Shipping is a bit steep at $64 for regular FedEx.

I have the regular Hen House. At the time, that was the only option last year. TJ did show me the improved one, but I've had no issues with my soft case.

The update has plastic walls on the wheels and other reinforcements. The main bag now has wheels, which I think would be a plus.

I traveled with most of my thing stuffed into the main bag, and everything was just heavy and cumbersome. Its not impossible. I stand at 6', but I had to pull up a bit, instead of letting it hang down or it would start to drag.

If money is an option, I'd go regular. If you have, couldn't curt, but would add to the weight of the bag.

Sounds like a very good idea... would you mind if I joined your team?? LOL (i'm kind of serious though).

Are u also looking to travel within the next few weeks?

I just pulled the trigger on the regular case as I need it for a trip to Spain in 2wks. Still working on a team deal though with logos. Looks like a nice bag.

How did you like the Hen House? I am planning to buy one soon!

Has anyone confirmed you are able to easily get these bags on the plane without paying bike fees or oversize/weight fees?

And what about putting your carbon bikes in one of these? In the video, TJ says he never had anything damaged.

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my strava

Have been using the original HH for a year. 8 round trips including international and Hawaii. Zero bike fees. Zero damage. Zero hassle. Well, okay, lugging around the bags is slightly more work than pulling a hard shell case on wheels. Well engineered and manufactured. I highly recommend it. Saved me over $2k in the last year.

Zero bike fees, but with the frame bag and the wheel bag, you now have 2 pieces of checked luggage separate from any actual checked luggage you may have.

I have nothing against TJ or his product, but I think all of this talk of "my bike flies for free!" is a little misleading. For most airlines, you are still going to have to pay for 1 or 2 checked bags, and on some airlines, like Virgin for example, two checked bags at $25 each is the same as paying their reasonable $50 bike fee in the first place.

Still, I'm well aware it will most likely come out much cheaper than pretty much any other bike bag in the long run.

I have been traveling with the Hen House for a couple years now with great success! It is by far the most economical method of travel out there! Tgarson, you are correct you must check two pieces of luggage, but that still equates to a significant savings on most airlines. For example, Delta charges a $200 bike fee each way! I check my Hen House (a total of 2 bags) for $60 each way. In the end I save a total of $280 on one trip, the bag is halfway paid for. Now lets take a less extreme example, I fly United rather frequently. United charges a more reasonable $100 bike fee and I check my Hen House for $60. At the end of the trip I save a total of $80. In this case it would take a bit longer to receive a return on your investment, but the fact of the matter is there is a ROI! What other bike case on the market can say they offer a return on your investment?

I agree, maybe the whole "bikes fly free" thing is a little misleading, but my impression was that they were referring to the fact the the bike itself does fly for "free" because it avoids bike fees. It is generally assumed that you will be checking bags when traveling.

I have been more than pleased with my case over the years. I am excited to see TJ has developed and armored version of the case! The standard case has been great, but I would LOVE those wheels on the frame bag!!! I highly recommend the Hen House! My dollar savings over the past two years has reached nearly $3000!!

Thanks for the replies. I am totally sold. Now I have to decide if I want to give an extra $130 for the armored version or not!

Birgi it is totally worth the extra protection/piece of mind, not to mention the convenience of the wheels and the two bags attach together. When I am ready to upgrade, the Armored Hen House will by mine (assuming there is not a new version by then). I inquired about the Armored Hen House a while back and Ruster (Ethan is his name I believe) mentioned they manufacture the cases to order and they operate on a 2-3 week lead time. Keep that in mind should you decide to go with the armored version. Shoot them a contact form on their site and get their take. I received a very prompt response the last time I wrote in.

Thanks a lot!!! You are right, and with the lifetime warranty this should only be a one-time extra.

Have you had any issues/concerns about putting expensive race wheels in the soft sided bags?

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"Unless you have a ... GF who might put out that night and that night only ... skip it and race." - AndyPants 3-15-2007

If you're going to use a soft sided bag, you should plan on being very persistant through security to bring it on the plane. If you're uncomfortable with that, then you might as well get a hard wheel case. The hard wheel case isn't oversized, so it costs the same as any other checked bag.

If you do choose the soft case here are a few tips:

1- Be confident, carry the bag through TSA tell them that usually the wheels just get hand checked. This has only ever added 5-10 minutes to my trip through security and is usually the least of your worries when carrying wheels on.
2- Get to the gate early, speak with the attendant at the gate entrance and ask if you can board a little early so that there is room to put your bag in the first class closet. I've gotten lucky a few times and they have let me board with zone 1 despite what my ticket says. If they insist that the bag won't fit tell them that it has fit before, and you know that it will. If they continue to insist, ask them if you can at least go check and then find a place for it.
3- Where to put them if they let you get it on the plane: First try the first class closet, you'll need to be able to hang it as if it were a suit bag or something similar. Second if it's a large plane the overhead may actually work, try there next though I think it's less safe there. Third, ask the attendant if you can put it behind the last row of first class seats, this has been my best bet. It may also fit behind the last row of economy seating.
4- Who to be forceful with and who to be as nice as possible to. TSA - Be confident and act like you know what you are doing, they will check your bags and likely be more interested in why you have the wheels than telling you that you can't carry them on. Airline employee at ticket counter - If you're checking another bag, and trying to carry your wheels with you be persistant with the ticket counter person they may ask you if you're sure it will fit just tell them yes and get out of there. The attendant at the gate- be extremely nice to this person, if you get to board early there is a 15x higher likely hood that you will find a place for your wheels. The attendants on the plane - at this point you've been through 5-6 different levels of security and people, they are usually more than willing to help you find a place for them. If they start to doubt that there is a place for them, suggest one of the places that I mentioned and they may come around.


My N=1 experience.

Bumping up and old thread, looking to purchase this case.

I'm in a bit of a conundrum. I am travelling in a few weeks with Delta Airlines and am planning to bring back my bicycle, along with personal items. I will be in the other country for 3 months, so have quite a bit of personal items to bring along. With the Armoured Hen House, that will make it 3 checked baggages and the fees for a third baggage is $200 (the first 2 are free). I am also allowed one carry-on bag and a personal item on top of the 2 free checked bags, although my personal luggage just slightly exceeds the allowed dimensions for the carry-on bag (45 linear inches).

Any ideas on what my options are? I'm currently thinking:
1. Not to bring wheels, and purchase at location. So I have the Hen House main body (checked), personal luggage (checked), and day pack (carry on).
2. Try to squeeze my personal items into the Hen House and a larger backpack. I will have the Hen House main body (checked), Hen House wheel bag (checked), backpack (carry-on) and day pack (carry on).

Also, is the Armoured Hen House wheel bag compactable, or is it fully rigid?

Help is greatly appreciated! This whole thing is making my head spin...

You can fit a lot in the hen house even after your bike is inside, while it might excseed the weight limit it's less than the size penalty. I think I could take 4 weeks of clothes lacked tight

You cans fit a lot of cloths, etc in the bags between the frame and the wheels. More than enough to have an extended stay somewhere. Combine that with a carryon suit case and you're golden.

Edit: the armored bag is not compactable. You can fold up the wheel bag inside the main bag if you need to but I don't.

Ah, I used to be like you all, lugging my bike to the airport, pretending my bike wasn't a bike at the ticket counter, worrying as my bike got hauled away to be put on the plane, waiting for it at the baggage claim at my destination as it inevitably came out last and at the large items area, hauling it to the rental car area, hauling it into the hotel, and then looking for that dreadful TSA slip inside the bag as I unpacked wondering if they broke or mis-packed the bike back (as they occasionally did).

I hate to sound like an advertisement for bikeflights, but your post sounds like you're being paid-per-word by TJ. Here's my procedure: Go to the bike shop and they're more than happy to give me a cardboard box (the same kind of box that every bike ships in originally from the manufacturer) or just use your own bike box if you already have one, pack up my bike at home, use bikeflights.com to print a fedex label, drop it off at the nearest FedEx location. Usually costs about $40 go to cross-country and it's waiting for me at my hotel or friend's house or whatever when I arrive. Don't have to deal with airlines or hauling the bike four times through the airport and to the hotel. Often the hotel will have the bike box waiting in the room for me.

You pay $60 each way with the airplane and deal with a lot of airport hassle, I pay $40 each way and am able to sail through security with just my backpack as luggage.

As a big fan of the Ruster Sports bag, your post got me interested. Basically what I found is that bikeflights only works on domestic flights within the lower 48. Anything else and it's extremely expensive. Even those domestic flights cost more than when I use the Ruster bag.

I priced a trip from my house in Houston for several trips that I'll be taking this year:

Houston to Kona with Ruster = $70 total ($35 each way)
Houston to Kona on bikeflights = $429 total
Advantage Ruster.

Houston to Muncie with Ruster = $70 total
Houston to Muncie with bikeflights = $91 total
Advantage Ruster.

Houston to Venice, Italy with Ruster = $70 total
Houston to Venice, Italy bikeflights = $808
Advantage Ruster.

I'll be sticking with my Ruster.

Frankly, other than the worrying about TSA unpacking the bike and re-packing incorrectly, which I guess is quasi-legitimate, this sounds so much worse than the hen house in every other respect. Most notably, the fact that you have to ship your bike well in advance of when you leave, deal with re-shipping it while at your location, and then not have your bike for several days when you get back. No thanks.

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Dimond Bikes Superfan

having just done this with bikeflights recently, and having also gone the fly-with-bike route (though not with this product) ... shipping was a lot easier.

I have more than one bike, so having it unavailable for a few days on either side is just a non-problem.

Return shipping is not complicated. You have to partially disassemble the bike either way. You have a pre-printed return label which you slap on it, and then either leave it with the hotel concierge to ship, or you just drop it at a FedEx location on your way to the airport (or the night before)

The big bonus is not having to schlep the bike case through the airport, and then deal with ticket agents

So what do you do with the chain when you're putting clothes together with the bicycle? Anyone have any solution to cover up the chain to prevent it from dirtying everything else?

I put my clothes in Gallon Ziplock bags and squeeze all the air out (you can pack more clothes this way). Then I either put tissue paper, plastic grocery bags, or bubble wrap (whatever I have) around the crank/chain area. So there's a double layer of protection incase the TSA idiots decide to dump out my ziplock bags of clothes then just stuff them back into the case (this has only happened once in NY).

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Elisha
"Triathlon doesn't build character. It reveals it."

I use a quick release chain link. I put the chain in a ziplock and make sure to bring a pair of pliers to disconnect the chain after the race.

Just thought I'd send a quick PSA to all who fly with the Hen House. I just completed a trip on Frontier Airlines, and their new policy is to charge for bikes ($75) regardless of the size of the bag. The first way I got away with only the two bag charge, but the way back they recognized it as a bike immediately and forced the charge. Despite all my best efforts trying to go up the chain, the best answer I could get form them is "it's our policy". Additionally, since it was in two bags, they were threatening to charge me for not only the bike, but also a second bag, which would have been $110. Fortunately (yeah "fortunately") I got off with just the bike fee. So keep this in mind, Hen House owners, when booking with Frontier that you could potentially be charged $110 each way in a worst case scenario. I'm sticking with Southwest from now on as much as I can. Still love the Hen House, but no love for Frontier.

I tried that once, and only once. I found the price they quote you initially includes only $100 of insurance should your bike get lost. If you insure for a reasonable amount you're going to be right up there at $60, and if you're going from coast to coast expect to pay still more. After including appropriate declared value charges the price through bikeflights.com was with in a few dollars of going on fedex.com and creating an account. When I arrived at my destination my box was pretty torn up and my gear had some damage as a result. bikeflights.com support told me I had not reinforced the box sufficiently and gave me all kinds of run around. I tried filing a claim directly through fedex, but they said because I had bought my label through bikeflights.com I could only file a claim through bikeflights.com. I would have been much better off cutting out the middleman as far as I can tell.

I was pretty disappointed at how it went and decided to follow up one more time. bikeflights.com support suggested I ship the damaged wheel to be repaired at spyder composites at their cost. I did, but never got the wheel back. It's been several months. I've called and emailed both companies. bikeflights.com claims they're going to look into it, spyder composites claims they've shipped the wheel but cannot produce a tracking number. I would stay far far away from bikeflights.com. Cut out the middleman and go directly to fedex.com to print your label. In addition, if you'd prefer to ship your bike the extra weight of a bike box won't cost you any extra and be far more secure than cardboard. You're basically paying for the size when you ship a bike in most cases.

I used my Ruster Henhouse on a recent trip. I was please with the quality of the Henhouse. No airline fee and it also stood up to TSA inspection. The airline asked what was in the Henhouse. I told them a carbon tubing frameset.

Doug
3Ft - It's The Law Cycling Team

I've heard some people call their bikes "scientific aerodynamics equipment"

I actually did consider buying the Armoured hen house but the airlines I travel either a) let me travel with my bike free, or b) will charge for a bike and extra luggage by $xx / kg so that negates the advantage of the armored henhouse.

PS: For transatlantic flights US to UK/vice versa Virgin Atlantic allows bikes to be taken for free. Cathay Pacific in Asia hasn't let me down yet. YMMV.

How about something like http://www.chaincondom.com ?

For the less mechanically inclined, is taking the fork off an issue? :)

D

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Team Every Man Jack

http://www.teamemj.com

Not at all. I don't consider myself mechanically inclined and it's not an issue. One thing to remember is the order that the bolts and spacers go back in when reassembling the fork. Before I travelled with my bike I took it down to my local bike shop and had them teach me how to remount the fork. I practiced a few times in the shop with their guidance and also a few times at home.