Be careful with a Ruster Hen House because additional bag fees on international travel can easily eliminate the advantage of that particular case. For example, I just came back from a race in Europe. I flew Delta which lets you check 1 bag free per passenger. I checked a bag for myself (and 1 each for my family) and my bike and paid $100 for the 2nd bag fee - not a bike fee - so $200 roundtrip. But if I had flown with a Ruster then I would have had to check a 3rd bag which is $200 each way thus increasing the cost from $200 to $600 roundtrip. Now if you are flying with your SO, then they could have checked the other part of the Ruster as their 2nd bag which would have reduced your roundtrip baggage cost to $400, but either way the Ruster might eat you alive depending on the bag fees on the airline you choose. Shipping my bike would have cost me $650 so my bag saved $450. TBT shipping to Zell from my location is also $650, so traveling with a bike case is practically a no brainer...except possibly for someone that intends to backpack all over. Depending on your logistics, one option is to check the case in storage at major train stations as you transit from Zell to Amsterdam. But you will need to verify with each station that they have such a facility and the costs.

You better check prices to ship a bike back one way. It was cost prohibitive for me. Almost as much as my round trip airline ticket. I bit the bullet and chose TBT which will end up about $250 more than hauling my scicon case myself. One downside to TBT is they do not accept gear bags for international travel due to custom issues.

Are you sure about that? No issues USA to Canada. Can anyone from TBT confirm if they take gear bags for Austria?

Thanks for sharing. Is the descent all aero bars or are there some really tight turns that require some feathering of the brakes?