I need to take my bike on the train this weekend and I can rent a bike box from an LBS for $25/week. The only thing is that they require a $400 deposit in case I damage it. I’m a poor grad student and I don’t travel a lot with my bike so I’m really not in the market for a $400 damaged box. My other option is to put the bike in a cardboard box and risk damaging the bike when the train guys toss it in the car.
Are these boxes hard to break?
Thanks.
I would say they are definitely hard to break. I have only traveled once with one and the airline wasn’t able to break it that time! I would say I could see a wheel getting broken but that wouldn’t cost that much to fix. I would go for the box, I’m sure it will be fine.
It is not the box that breaks but the locks. The aluminum skeleton also can get bent but can be bent back.
It depends on the box.
But honestly, there’s no way a dude tossing the box on a train is going to break it… I took one from YUL to JAX via ORD both ways, and there wasn’t a scratch on the thing… my concern was more with the bike inside, I super packed it and it was fine.
Impossible to break, it’s probably in case you lose it.
Not as hard to break as you think… A big part depends on how flexible the plastic in the box is. For example we have a tri all 3 and a thule case. On the tri all 3, all of the corners are either cracked or broken but the bike has never had any damage (very stiff plastic). With the thule clamshell it is very flexible and less likely to break but as a result the bike is less safe. We have not had issues ourselves but I do know someone that has had thier derailleur snapped off. What kind of case is it that they are charging you a $400 deposit? Thats a pretty expensive case.
I haven’t seen the box yet, I’m going to the shop this afternoon. The guy I spoke to on the phone said that the boxes are very hard to break and as far as he knows everyone gets their money back but I’m still a little apprehensive.