I use sci-con aerocomfort triathlon bag. Can get them very cheap on Wiggle when on sale.

Pros:
No disassembly of bike.
Easy to wheel.
If paying by weight, these bags are lighter.

Cons:
No bag is 100%, ask Bahrain-Merida about this.

I wrap by frame with foam. I loosen the headset so it anything presses on the aero bars they will turn, rather than snap. (fork is secured to a metal frame in the bag.) I take extra foam and t-shirt around the RD.

This bag has gone to kona several times, south africa north america, and around Asia. Lucky every time.
Hard case will protect better, but you have to disassemble. Many people's bikes fail because of errors in reassembling them for their "A" race. They also weigh a lot more.

No perfect solution. Just choose which set of risks you are more comfortable taking. For me, scicon soft bag is the best choice.

Nothing is 100%. One cheap insurance is to buy a spare RD hanger and the two little screws to take as spares. Even though, still remove both for transport. I run a missing link in my chain and remove the chain also with the RD. Less junk flapping around.

Practice the entire process once at home, and record a list and take a picture if necessary.

I advocate for hard sided stuff as airlines tend to wipe their hands of you if they fumble a soft sided case, even if it has a frame around it. Open the case upon arrival to check for damage, if you leave, you're boned.

Check for a LBS before leaving and have the # handy in case of any incidents or issues.

If you are going to travel every year then eventually you want a case because over time, the transport costs really add up compared to flying with your bike; and most overseas races are not served by US transport companies. Shipping your bike overseas is also prohibitively expensive. So you need a case. You can read tons of arguments for hard vs soft on DY; mostly leaning towards hard. My position is that your experience will be a function of luck and how careful you are packing, not on the type of case.

I traveled with a Pika Packworks (soft) for 10 years with no problems. It's been all over the U.S., Europe and South Africa. I sold it last year because it didn't have wheels and I'm getting too old for the bag drag. I now have a Thule Roundtrip Pro XT (hybrid hard/soft) with built in workstand. My airline fees for taking it from Florida to IM Norway this summer was $38 total.

So what are the key lessons?

1. Always remove the DR
2. Use steel fork locks to secure the stays after wheel removal.
3. Travel with spare DR hanger, spare seat mast fastener if applicable, and spare set of bolts
4. Get a light weight torque wrench to take with you for any bolts that need to be tightened on carbon.
5. Keep it under 50lbs and you are less likely to pay bike fees.

Some good advice here.

One thing to consider for flying with your bike is that many airlines charge substantial fees for bikes, irrespective of weight. I fly United, who charges $150 for a bike, each way. I am a Platinum member who usually flies Business/First class, and the agent only waives the fee about 25% of the time if they're really busy. It's also worth noting that they won't insure your bike for damage or loss -- so if you have a decently expensive bike, you might want to add it to your homeowner's policy. I had a scare this year at IM Canada, my bike was lost, didn't arrive in Vancouver until the day before the race which was very stressful. But the point is, I think you could overnight or 2-day ship via FedEx for a similar cost, with likely higher reliability, insure your bike in transit, and have less crap to drag through the airport.

This year I switch from a hard Thule case to a soft Evoc Bike Bag Pro. I much prefer the soft case. It's much lighter (weight comes in around 40 lbs vs 65) so it's more likely to fly free. I also read an article written by a baggage handler who is an avid cyclist who explained that in his opinion soft cases are actually SAFER because they're lighter, less likely to slide off conveyor belts (because the soft material is gripper than the hard poly-carbonate) and in his experience get rough-handled less. I had 4 round-trip destination races so far this year with the new Evoc bag, and no damage has occurred, so I like the bag. It's very well reinforced.

Suggestions above about wrapping bike frame with some padding are good. I use bubble wrap.

All the above being said, after my Whistler scare, I'm kind of turned off on flying with my race bike. I think next time I have a destination race, I will pay to ship it in advance. I don't think it will cost much/if any more money and it's less hassle.

But I'm also kind of "done with" destination races for a while. It's just such a stressful pain in the ass to break down the bike, travel with the bike, reassemble the bike, race, and repeat disassembly/reassembly. It really kind of take a lot of the fun out of it for me. I think for my 2019 season, I'm only going to do races that are driving distance (up to 5-6 hours driving, which really is no worse than a 2-3 hour flight after you factor in dead time at airport). In fact, I'm also thinking about doing Indian Wells this Dec, and will likely drive there from San Francisco (7 hours) rather than fly.

Honestly, I see no reason why you'd fly to an Olympic distance race. There are just so many good, local Oly races. I think the hassle is only warranted for something at least as big as an IM 70.3, full IM, or multi-day/multi-stage bike race like Haut Route. But I just hate to travel....

In general, I understand your point here. In my specific case, wife and I were already planning to do a late winter / early spring vacation to the Big Island (been to the other islands, but never that one). Since we are going to go anyways, I thought what the heck I might as well take advantage of the opportunity to do a Tri while I'm there. So it's really about a warm island vacation, that just happens to have a Tri as one day's activity. I ain't never likely to qualify for Kona, so this gives me a chance to get at least a small taste of some aspects of such an event - ocean swim ('cause that won't be happening at any event within driving distance of Seattle), Big Island winds on the course, riding on the Queen K, etc. And I've heard that Lavaman has a fun event atmosphere.

That makes sense. I'm not trying to poop on your plans. I'm just coming off a year where I did a lot more travel-races than I ever have in the past, and it was just a much bigger PITA than I expected and took some of the fun out of the race/vacation for me.

In my experience longevity in this sport is a blend of overuse injury management and avoiding burnout. I was expecting the "race-cation" to be a fun change of pace to keep things fresh, but in the end they kind of burned me out a bit this year. So in future, I'd do them sparingly and only if it was a race I couldn't do locally (i.e., only IM local to me is Santa Rosa but there are decently sized OLY races almost every weekend).

Have fun in Hawaii!

Thanks.

Up here in the Pacific NW, local tri season only really runs in earnest from late May to early Sept. So to do any distance tri event during the other 6+ months of the year likely involves air travel (or a really long drive). And even during that summer tri season, at 1/2 iron distance, there are none left in Western WA and only one remaining (ChelanMan) within a couple hour drive of Seattle. Other than that, its either Canada (Victoria, Whistler, etc), Idaho (CdA, Troika) or central Oregon (Best in West, etc). I'm currently looking at doing two 1/2 iron events per year - likely one of the Pac NW events and one travel event (Indian Wells, Tempe, Waco, Santa Cruz, etc). We also like to get out of Seattle for some sunshine each year in Feb/Mar, so I could see doing some short race if there happens to be one available at that time.

I started doing that type of low-key travel event long ago, with running events, when I'd visit family for holidays. Usually could find some small, local 5 or 10K turkey trot or xmas bells run. Gave me a way to get some exercise during my travel. I found the key was to just focus on having fun in these, rather than competing...

I've got a Scicon bag too, and am very happy with it. Holds the bike solidly in place and has plenty of room for gear in there too. I've taken my bike on many flights internationally and in the US without incident. I wrap the frame and bars with pads I bought after seeing a recommendation for them on ST, but I can't remember the brand.

Every bike transport company/shipping service/airline carries a risk of damage or breakage. Check with your home or renters insurance, your bike should be covered out of home. (Or buy insurance for your bike)

Size matters: Small humans win. I'm short, I have a tiny bike, my bike fits in virtually every box with minimal assembly/disassembly.

Get with your LBS!!!

• They may have some opinions for you, my shop will rent a hard shell bike box.
• They will also have an abundance of packaging from new bikes (most shops throw this away) tape foam around your tubes and components.
• Ask them if they can give you a lesson on packing it, you can ask if they will pack it with you the first time.
• Ask how to remove your rear derailleur, and how to re adjust the gears.

Pro Tip for plane travel*

TSA officers are humans too...
Put a picture of your silly face in the box with simple instructions and extra packing supplies (tape, zip ties, foam)! Make someone laugh they will be more willing to care for your bike.

This is the box I use. It's small & lightweight.
50lbs packed with my bike.
https://www.performancebike.com/...Case_INST_1205.2.pdf

The latches on my case tend to come unlatched so I zip tie the locks shut. TSA will cut the ties, but I always have extras for them to replace what they cut off.

On future trips I am going to take my bike on the plane outbound to my races and FedEx it back on the return. (If you sell on eBay or Amazon, you can print the shipping label at a discount)

Hope this helps,

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Grow with data: Dynamic Sports Data | eBay store

If you ship your bike internationally, you will probably have to pay brokerage and duty/tax.

Highly unlikely. I've flown mine from the Middle East back and forth to the US many times and have never paid a cent in customs or duty fees in either direction. It's not being imported for permanent use in the country. It's being brought in like any other piece of luggage.

You never know what the customs department is going to do. They can hold it as long as they want for inspection and they can impose duty/tax if they even think you might be selling it while in their country.

Has this ever happened to you? What countries have charged you duty/tax for bringing a bike?

I have had to pay VAT when showing bikes in Switzerland and duty in Taiwan.

I also had to pay a huge brokerage fee and duty when shipping a large shipment of demo carbon wheelsets from Taiwan to the Ironman world championships in Kona.

You were engaged in commercial activity. I have flown my bike (1) to Switzerland two separate times to race ... no charges. Never heard of anyone anywhere being taxed on their personal bike for a sport activity in that country.

Before you commit to buying a bike box, see if you can rent one.

I just did & for me the additional hassle of packing/unpacking twice on a weekend just isn't worth it. I'm going to use TBT instead (they bought the company I used to use) for anything non-drivable.

Glad I rented & I've not got a box to deal with now.

I used to rent a case when I first started flying with my bike. Renting worked great, but then I just figured I'd rather own the case and modify it slightly to my needs.

So, I have used and now own a Bike Pro USA case that I modified slightly to better fit my needs. So far, it has worked great over number of years and flights, and foreign countries.

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Team Zoot-Texas, and Pickle Juice

I use a soft case, and have been really happy with it. Agree that how you pack it is a big factor, because the airlines will go through it with a fine tooth comb!

A couple of months ago, I was flying from Boston, and when I checked it, the security guy said he was going to have to do a search. He seemed like one of those inspectors who is just looking for trouble, and after a few minutes, called in his supervisor. When they finished scrutinizing every piece of the bike, the supervisor said to the original security a-hole, "Okay, now you have to put everything back exactly like you found it." The security guy got this "oh crap" look on his face. He started to zip up one of the wheel bags - with the supervisor's metal detector still inside. Supervisor said, "Hey, that's mine!" Supervisor was now pissed at security a-hole. Long story short, I got to repack my own bike.
Though I like the tip about putting in instructions and extra packing materials...might start using that!

Other tips:
- If you disassemble / reassemble your bike - or pay someone else to do it - take it for a test ride before the race. (Not fun to have to learn this one the hard way.)
- Depending where / how far you're going, Amtrak only charges $10-20 for a bike case - though it also takes a lot longer than flying...

Cheers,
Ginger

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https://www.instagram.com/gingerhowellracing/
If you find yourself thinking "What if I can't", instead think "What if I can!"

When traveling to Switzerland and Taiwan, I had one bike with me and there was nothing to show that I was there going to sell it.

I used bikeflights this year & was very happy with it. I was able to pack my tools & a pump with the bike, & didn’t have to deal with the airline hassle.

And yet, they knew.

I assume you are talking shipping rather than flying with as luggage? Think that may be where the confusion is.

I would think I am more of the well traveled people on here with a bike in tow, and I have NEVER paid customs/taxes/VAT of any sorts when traveling with a bike/gear to ~15 countries. Only place that has been crazy strict was Aruba, they wanted you to show them the serial number and verified on arrival and departure. New Zealand was the only other "crazy" place, and that was to ensure the cleanliness of the bike to make sure you weren't bringing any contamination into their pristine country.

Shipping stuff internationally, yep 100% agree with you on everything you said.

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-Brad Williams
Website | Twitter: @BW_Tri |Instagram: @BW_Tri | Strava | Co-Founder & Coach at: KIS Coaching
Partnered with: Zoot Sports | Precision Fuel &Hydration | ISM

I have a bike box. Really love it (shown in earlier post). I'm seeing more of the tandem travel bags, small bag for frame and small bag for wheels. I am curious about getting a pair.

Can anyone shed some light or point me in the right direction for the frame bag and wheel bag?

Thanks guys

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Grow with data: Dynamic Sports Data | eBay store

Does everyone just pick up co2 cartridges at the destination or is there a way to take them with you.