Yes. TBT gives shops discounted spots and maybe a free one depending on size of shop. But no financial incentive. There is the promise of a TBT customer spending money when they drop off or pick up but in my experience that is not particularly common (beyond some gels or small items). It is quite a lot of work to be a drop off for TBT. The drivers are not always on time and occasionally show up beyond posted shop hours. This creates problems for the shop and its staff. Most shops also don't have tons of extra storage space to house bikes that aren't for sale.

Sounds like your option is to fly in that case. But, airlines lose baggage.

So maybe best option is to drive everywhere. That's what I did for a few years.

There are pros and cons to all things.

I've used them twice (for Alcatraz) and had positive experiences both times. Back when I used them, the drop off point was at Tri on the Run (the old location on Shepherd) which was a lot more convenient than Sugarland for sure. I'm sorry you had a bad experience, but sometimes shit happens. If you had flown with your bike it could just as easily been sent to another city by mistake.

I have a Evoc bag and have flown with my bike since; I can't say it's much more convenient given that you have to break everything down to fit it in there, but you can fit a ton of extra stuff in there (helmet, wetsuit, etc).

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the world's still turning? >>>>>>> the world's still turning

I used TBT to Whistler 2013 and it was flawless. In fact I’ve used them probably 8 or 9 times in the last 8 years or so, including IM Coz. Typically because we race-cation and I don’t want to lug a box around. Actually using my buy 7 and get one feee for IM Canada this year.

Like any service there will be plenty of anecdotal “they suck” or “they’re great” stories. My experiences have been largely positive. I did have a bag go to Florida instead of New Orleans. They got it to me, it was a bit of added stress but I learned from that experience to make sure I carry the stuff I can’t easily replace at a race expo or in town with me Essentially kit, nutrition, pedals and shoes (contact points). The rest I can buy if need be. Otherwise I’ve shipped gear and wheel bags with no issues.

I’m sure the OP knows this and doesn’t need a lecture, and at the risk of being another one of those douches, long course (1/2 and above) racing is as much about how you handle race day adversity as training, IMO. Something will always go wrong. Who hasn’t blown a tube race morning, or had their PowerTap refuse to calibrate, or HR monitor die? What about the first time the airline loses OP’s bike? I’d say thats more likely than a problem with TBT given the number of bikes they ship. Just raising the possibility here that maybe TBT is only a part of the problem.

There’s other things I can say about knowing your equipment but will leave it at that

I apologize I think I missed your questions at the end when I read through the first time. When I flew United I used a brand new high priced EVOC soft case. On the way to Boulder they somehow punctured the carbon in my front wheel causing a 1-2 inch hole. I complained to United and was waiting to hear back when I went on to race with electrical tape covering the hole. On the way back from Boulder United returned my bike back with the front fork completely cracked and several front end pieces broken off. I checked it at the airport, complained and the manager gave me this attitude with blame attached - why the hell would you put a bike in a soft bag? I explained to her the bags were state of the art and used by many traveling racers. She/United claimed responsibility but said they do not pay for bike damage period. If you want to read the whole story here is the thread .... https://forum.slowtwitch.com/forum/?post=4702074

I haves used TBT 6x including 2x to Ironman Canada. I have nothing but could things to say about them. They did break one of my water bottle cages during one of the IMC transports and they literally walked me over to the Ironman Village and bought me a new cage.

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Favorite Gear: Dimond | Cadex | Desoto Sport | Hoka One One

Research shipping via Fedex using the corporate account where you work, and then pay the expense with your personal card instead of your corporate one.

The rates for something like this might be better than a bikeflights discounted rate plus their "cut".

Unfortunately, lots of reports of damage using that bag. Great in concept but the way the aero bars stick out it really torques the whole package when it gets thrown around.

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David
* Ironman for Life! (Blog) * IM Everyday Hero Video * Daggett Shuler Law *
Disclaimer: I have personal and professional relationships with many athletes, vendors, and organizations in the triathlon world.

I used FedEx Ground to ship my bike from MA to CA for a tri camp. It came late and they had crushed it so my frame was damaged.

All manners of shipping has risks.

FedEx did pay to replace my frame and move my parts to new frame.

It sucked to be at a week long tri camp with 25 hours of riding with a rental bike though.

I have an older version of this.

https://probikebags.com/...?variant=23382914823

Yeah it costs more and you’re going to get charged the bike fee. But you can throw that out of the plane and it won’t be damaged. It’s always amazed me that people will spend upper 4 to 5 figure on a bike and then try to find the cheapest case possible.

I used a soft case a few times and I got a dented disc because it it. I’ve never had issues with this one.

Sorry to hear of your troubles.

I have been traveling to race triathlons since the early '80s. Traveling with a bike is hard and airlines are rough and really don't care. I have gone through a number of bike cases through the years and will gladly provide bike case insight if requested (although there are plenty of threads on the topic). Then, in the late '90s and early '00s we started having kids . . . child seats, bike, gear, etc. We (my wife and I) were about at our wits end. I really thought my racing days might be over for a while when suddenly at IMCdA TriBike Transport popped up. The traveling ball and chain of hassling with a bike was now over and my triathlon hobby restored with vigor. In fact, not sure I could have continued to race without them. My wife REALLY loves them!

Now, after many, many trips with TBT I can say I have been basically thrilled. I have used them all over the US, to Europe, Puerto Rico, and Hawaii 4 times. I simply cannot imagine traveling without them . . . it is just SOOO much easier. I've never had so much as a little scratch. The TBT folks also take great pride in their work and their customer service. In fact I just now informed the owner of the company about this thread and he is personally figuring out what happened, and tracking down your number to call you personally. I type slow so you might hear from him before this message is posted.

The business of TBT is very hard. It is a real fight to make the logistics work at a price that consumers will pay. That is why others have gone out of business. They are good folks and they deal with a lot of high strung people (like me) with irrational complaints (not referencing you) and they handle all of that pretty well. They have had something like 100,000 trips with relatively few complaints . . . and that is pretty incredible.

Lastly, I trust them completely. TBT is a small business. They are athletes and they care. You would think they were crazy if you knew how much they work and how little the up side is. I guarantee they are very sorry that your bag got rerouted (BTW - that has happened to me flying to a race and no one really even tried to help). I could address each of your other issues, but I want to be helpful, not critical, and I think those have been addressed by other responders.

NOTE: see my disclaimer in my signature line.

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David
* Ironman for Life! (Blog) * IM Everyday Hero Video * Daggett Shuler Law *
Disclaimer: I have personal and professional relationships with many athletes, vendors, and organizations in the triathlon world.

Thank you David. I truly appreciated your post. Mark from TBT called and we played phone tag today. We should be able to hook up tomorrow. Thank you. More than anything I would like for them to understand what the issues are so they can improve what they can and survive as a company. I still love the concept.

The reason why I originally posted this issue was to seek advice and tap into the minds of many triathletes. I think we have brilliant and creative folks in this sport. I have found there are times when you come across an issue, you must figure out how to work it out on your own. I personally love this sport because of this very reason ... and the chaos. But there are other times when it is much smarter to ask those with more experience, who have already traveled their journeys through similar issues and can steer you away from making the same mistakes - especially when it comes to spending exorbitant amounts of money.

With that said, since beginning this post, I have sat down with my trusted bike guy and learned how the 2014 Trek SC seat wedge mechanism completely works from the inside, found a tool that will allow me to change the new power meter battery in the dark (behind the spider with bottom bracket in the way) and learned how to assemble and disassemble most of the bike for transport. Gman is letting me borrow his Scicon Evolution 3.0 TSA hard bike case for practice in figuring out how my bike may fit in this case. No matter what I decide for IM Santa Rosa 70.3 (TBT or fly with it) I will still have to fly with it for IM Santa Cruz 70.3 in September since TBT does not service that race. Like you (almost) said and others recommended, I needed to learn more about bike maintenance and breakdown. Even after 7 years in this sport, and juggling an insanely busy career, I am still humbled by the obstacles I encounter and the incredible people I meet along the way.

Conversely, my wife has used that bag for 3 years with 4 or 5 flights per year and no damage has occurred.

Wow - really sorry about your experience. I've used TBT for three races and have had good experiences, but I admit, when I drop the bike and the bag off, I sort of consign myself to being completely hosed if TBT messes things up. My power meter is the Powertap P1 system which is in the pedals - I always take the batteries out before I send the bike on its way....realize your set up is different. I was a little disappointed that TBT's set up at Oceanside was at registration vice T1 - yes, it's nice to have the opportunity to ride your bike from registration to T1, but frankly, having to haul your transition bag back to your parking space is a pain in the butt. Especially curious since TBT had a pretty nice set up for drop off following the race. There was another transport service (forgot the name) that was a lot closer to transition...

I'll definitely agree with you on the weakness in TBT's business model: the drop off. Nothing worse than baking sweaty, salty, and crampy in the hot sun for up to an hour after the race waiting for the one or max, two people from TBT handling bike return. Seriously, they can't hire a couple folks locally to help with this part?

...I lack the confidence in my bike mechanic skills and even less in airline baggage handling to invest in a case. Unless I've got enough time to get my bike to the local sponsored shop for set up/break down, I'd rather roll the dice and go with TBT.

I have flown Delta with my bike many times, and was hit with the fee EVERY single time, even with Platinum status. I found no flexibility in that rule. One thing that to me makes TBT price competitive is how cheap their insurance is, which I find a nice benefit (though I've never had to make a claim).

How was traveling with Delta despite the fees? So far I may look into Southwest and other airlines to avoid United Airline's purposeful neglect of our bikes. If anyone else had good experiences with airlines I would like to take note.

during what form of travel, outside of you traveling with your bike in your car, do you not consign yourself to being completely hosed if the shipper messes things up?

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

How was traveling with Delta despite the fees? So far I may look into Southwest and other airlines to avoid United Airline's purposeful neglect of our bikes. If anyone else had good experiences with airlines I would like to take note.[/quote]
Well, so far Delta has only lost my bike once, and they managed to find it just a couple of days later, so that's exceeded my expectations of Delta. The check-in process with the bike is a huge hassle - on average it takes about 45 minutes (after waiting in line) at the checkin counter with a ticket agent to get the bike checked in when I try to declare excess value under Delta's excess value policy. At times it's taken over an hour for the agent to figure out how to get the bike checked in and excess value declared, and on average at least three managers need to be called over to help the process. Sometimes they inspect the bike case and try to force me to remove from it everything that isn't a part of the bike (including the protective padding) but whenever I've pushed back on that they've given in. They also try to make me sign a waiver saying that they aren't responsible in any way for the bike getting lost or damaged, but I never sign it (I just write "refuse to sign" in the signature line and they never seem to notice/care). Because of my Platinum status I get a "priority baggage" tag on my bike box, yet inevitably the bike is one of the last pieces of luggage from my flight to arrive at baggage claim, and it sometimes appears in random places nowhere near the carousel designated for my flight or the oversized baggage carousel. On multiple times I've wondered around airport baggage claim areas only to stumble upon my bike box sitting unattended in a random place. My expectations of Delta are very low and they are usually met. I would recommend allowing for a lot of extra time at the airport on both sides of the flight.

Every two or three posts in this thread I change my mind about which method to use now cycle chauffeur is gone.

I think the experience really depends on what airport you will travel from. I've flown out of Syracuse 6-8 using mostly Delta but United a couple of times with bikes (2 once, just on cardboard boxes) and surfboards and I have never been charged extra fees. I always let them know what it was too. However, I have been charged every single time I came back from San Diego, Hawaii, Brazil, etc. So, if you are flying from a smaller airport you might get lucky.
So far I have not had anything break.

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Tiago
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Sponsors: : Blueseventy :

Fair point!

Any surfer reading this thread is laughing. People that actually do all the transport for you?

heck, try a board bag that is 6'5 with 2 boards inside...and 2 bags. $150 each way for 1 board and some airlines let you slide and get away with $150 per bag. Most all bags are soft base bags and you need pool noodles, bubble wraps, wetsuits, towels, etc to pad..then the boars is foam and fiberglass haha

now that is some fun traveling haha I got yelled at by a lady at Hawaiian air because I packed my clothes in with my board for padding and to save a luggage fee. It was right at the weight mark and she was not pleased I loop-holed the system haha

Hi SBRcanuck, not to hijack this thread but here is how I pack my bike in a Scicon Aerocomfort case... more steps than they say are required, but makes me feel like I'm doing all I can to protect it.
http://yearofalison.blogspot.ca/...-scicon-edition.html

Also, I mainly fly Alaska Airlines (super convenient for those of us on the west coast). They charge $25 for a bike, same as their luggage fee. Or if you fly enough to be an MVP, your luggage (including bikes!!!) flies free! Best deal ever!

Cheers.

I have both an Original Hen House and a Scicon bag.

The Hen House worked great. The bags were so roomy that I could actually pack all my clothes (race and non-race) and gear into them. In order to give a bit of padding and not have to check another bag, I would just tie all my clothes into plastic bags and use them to pad my wheels. I only ever got charged for an additional standard bag depending on the airline. My only complaint was that the bags (mine do not have wheels) were a pain to drag around. But, it was manageable since I only really need to get them from car to airport and from airport to hotel. The only reason why I bought a Scicon bag is because I am TERRIBLE at taking my bike apart and putting it back together. I always seemed to put something together incorrectly. I was over the personal headache.

The Scicon case is AMAZING. I just recommend adding extra padding around the frame (I used the pool noodle type padding and straps from my Hen House). I've flown with it about 6x including cross-country to Colombia and never had much of an issue. Only problem so far was that the handle bars were a bit off-center once (easy fix). You DO usually have to pay a bike fee. But, I usually fly Jetblue or Southwest which makes their total fee about 85 each way. (Jet blue is 35 fee for an extra checked bag plus 50 bike fee). The airlines have also waived the bike fee for me several times for whatever reason.

I normally drive when I can that said the only time I’ve had issues was with Quantas. They didn’t lose the bike it just took them awhile to get it to Australia.

I’ve flown United, Southwest, American, Quantas, British Air, Alaska maybe?? I’ve really never had issues. Besides using a soft case and probabaly didn’t pack it as well as I should have and it was just the dented disk.

A lot of airlines maybe most?, contract the baggage handlers so a lot of times it depends on the airport you’re going to not the airline. Multiple airlines could have the same baggage handlers. So you have a guy making 10-15 bucks an hour throwing bags off a plane. Yeah you really shouldn’t expect much.