For past events we have driven so that we remain in control and possession of our bikes. But we are considering air travel for IM 70.3 Oregon (from Colorado) to avoid the 4 days of driving (2 each way). For those who have experience doing this, which option have you found is most successful:
contract with Tribike Transport
buy/rent a bike box and ship the bike yourself
buy/rent a bike box and fly with it as checked luggage
The event date is 10-July.
Pro’s/Con’s:
With Tri-bike Transport, the deadline for drop-off at a local participating bike shop is 1-July. That is almost 10 days ahead of the event. Our last few rides would need to be on our road bikes, which is ok but not ideal. But we would not need to buy or rent boxes. It is $400 per bike. This is probably the most economical option.
With self-ship, I need an address in Portland area to ship to. I luckily have a co-worker in that area and could utilize his address. I assume I would still need 1 week to ship it and haven’t checked the cost.
With air checked baggage we retain control of the bike up until day of travel and don’t need an address to ship to. But we would need bike boxes and we are subjecting the bikes to handling by the airline baggage handlers which is probably a lot worse than a shipping company. At least that is my impression.
I have flown with my bike and also used Tribike Transport, and the ease of TBT vs having to get my bike assembled pre-race/broken down after was well worth it to me (stress and time saver for me).
I prefer flying with the bike, but I’m capable of fixing it if something goes wrong. When flying for my wife’s races, I also pack a toolbox so that I can guarantee that I can fix anything that breaks.
So far, for us, we’ve probably made a total of 6 round trip flights with bikes, and never experienced any damage except the first time when I didn’t think to take the rear derailleur off. The hanger got a little bent, but was easily serviceable by hand.
It’s lower-cost over time than any other option because many airlines now offer $30 checked bag fees for bikes. Delta and Alaska come to mind. There are others. You can pack the bike bag full of other stuff and save on checked bag fees, honestly.
It also offers much more training flexibility. ie. ride the bike same day of flying, if desired.
If I were not mechanically inclined, and didn’t plan to fly the bike often, I’d avoid that route for sure, and just do the tri-bike transport deal.
I have used TBT and flown with a bike. If you are only likely to do it once, and you do not have a bike box or bag, then TBT is probably the best all-around. It is convenient, except for the shipping time on both ends. I did not mind the time before the race, and just did my last rides on the road bike. But I had a 70.3 2 weeks after my TBT race. The bike did not make it back in time, so I had to do the 2nd race on my road bike.
I could borrow a bike bag for my other time, and that worked great too. The only up/down side was the bike breakdown and setup. I am a good mechanic, so this was not a big deal.
I thought that TBT was pretty expensive compared to the plane option, and I liked having control of my bike the whole way. So, I will likely fly with mine in the future.
What bike box do you use? I’m considering a Bike Box Alan for the convenience of not having to break down the bike too much but the dimensions are a concern.
Scicon generation 1 or 2. Wheels off. Rear mech off. That’s all. Any bag/case you get, if you’ve got a thru-axle, make sure it’s compatible, or be prepared to make modifications to the mounting system.
Biggest issue with flying with a bike is getting it into the rental car on the other end. I’m flying to Orland with my family this weekend, I’m not flying with it for this reason. I’ve got some portable straps, but they don’t want to wait for me to do this. https://www.amazon.com/...ps%2C104&sr=8-12
Shipping, you have ship to a Fedex Kinkos location, hotels (make a reservation at the hotel, then cancel it), and bike shops (call them). A UPS store might do this for you too.
Personally, for me, TBT all the way. Makes my life (and my wife) so much easier!! Well worth it. See my disclaimer at the bottom.
On the Scicon bag - I have worked with pros (who were sponsored by them) who stopped using the Scicon do to damage to their bike. Again, see disclaimer at the bottom.
Lastly, I have also flown with my bike many times. Hassle, but it can be done . . . many moons ago before TBT did it with 3 kids, a double stroller, car seats, and more crap than you can imagine. TBT to the recue!!
buy/rent a bike box and fly with it as checked luggage
If this is a singular one-off for you or even just a ounce-a-year thing, ie you don’t plan on flying to other races, or traveling to go training/riding somewhere, regularly, then I would suggest TBT. For the piece of mind and the mechanical set up, help and check-over at the race location - well worth it. You can also send along other gear that may be a pain to travel with as well. I wouldn’t worry about having to do a few days of riding on your road bike.
Now if traveling by air to races is going to become more regular for you, and you are planning on possibly going on other trips where you will ride or train, multiple times a year, then traveling with the bike, and purchasing a dedicated travel case, is worth your while. The one caveat here, is you need to be reasonably DIY and self-sufficient with the mechanical working order of your bike. The front-ends on some of the newer super-tri-bikes . . . wow! I’m pretty handy around bikes and we have ALWAYS traveled with our (road) bikes (in a normal years that’s 2 - 4 trips/year for us), I’d have to go to a special mechanical school to sort all of that out!
Definitely fly with the bike and use a HARD CASE! Some people even advocate using the GPS tracker in the case. My old Tri All 3 case is still going strong and it’s had many, many trips with no issues.
I’m a fan of a free cardboard box from the shop and break it down and pack it up. If you are comfortable doing that then as you mentioned you have the bike right up until you want to leave.
Since you have two bikes in those great big boxes you end up needing to consider some kind of an SUV or pickup truck as a car rental which does get a little bit expensive.
I’ve flown with a lot of bikes in cardboard boxes and it’s never been an issue.
I’ve done all three and with the drop in airline fees my vote is to fly with the bike. Someone else mentioned the biggest “worry” for me and that’s getting a rental that will fit the case and whatever family I’m with. Full-size pick ups have been great for me! My last travel-to race was AZ 70.3 and I went full-size Uber to and from my hotel and it was a steal!
I’ve done all the options you are considering. I purchased a hard case back in 2019 when I raced in Europe and then in Kona. TBT wasn’t an option when going to Europe. I’ve also driven quite far (up to 14 hours) with the bike.
My general rule (well, more that of my wife) is that for shorter flights (domestic in the US) when the family is coming I’ll always go with Tri Bike Transport. It probably ends up being a bit more $$$, but the lack of hassle in terms of building the bike and worrying about damage in transit is awesome. It also makes it a lot easier after the race to simply take it to the TBT area and walk away.
The downside to TBT is the time your bike is away from you pre and post race. I do almost all of my riding on the trainer and do have a road bike I can use. If you don’t have this option, that flying with your bike is the way to go.
The case I ended up with is the hard SciCon one with four wheels. Four wheels makes it so much easier to travel with. My kids (currently 8 and 5) loved helping on the longer trips to push the bike in the airport and other parts of our trips. With my bike in the case I can still add around 5 pounds of gear, which helps a bit - generally bike tools is what I add.
I’m racing St. George in a bit under 8 weeks and the family is coming along, so TBT is what I’m using.
Edit: one more thing to add is that with a large bike case you will often need a larger vehicle when you rent a car. This can add to the cost of a trip a bit, especially with the current cost of rental cars being pretty crazy.
I’ve used tbt and flown with. Flying with bikes is a pain (and very expensive at the time). I’d 100% go with tbt since you have another bike to ride once it’s been dropped off. Not having to deal with the bikes after the race is a really nice perk.
Sounds like TBT is great for Ironman events but TBT doesn’t transport to PTO or Clash events. Is buying a bike box the only alternative for those events?
Sounds like TBT is great for Ironman events but TBT doesn’t transport to PTO or Clash events. Is buying a bike box the only alternative for those events?
TBT does go to other races and there are other companies that offer a similar service. I’ll let you research for your specific race.
You summarize the points well and lots of good feedback so far. My experience:
If you love, and are good at, wrenching bikes and will fly with it more than once, get a case and fly with it. With how many major airlines have bikes as standard checked bags now instead of like 150 each way, it becomes appealing price wise. 5 years ago I bought a used soft case on these forums for 200 bucks, I have used it for 5 trips and had no issues.
Another argument to have a case is you can fly with your bike somewhere even if you aren’t racing. Multiple vacations I’ve brought it basically just because I had the means and I’ve had some of the best rides of my life on trips to Colorado and Tucson because of that. Nice hidden benefit to the case.
One factor to be mindful of, the first time I flew with it, I was genuinely terrified of damage at the destination and was a nervous wreck until I unpacked it at my final destination. I was not going to a race, just vacation, so if there was an issue it would not have been a big deal, but if you show up two days before a race and something breaks in transit, you could be in a tough spot to replace/fix it. By now I’ve flown enough with it that I know my case and packing method is dependable but for the first trip (or if using a rented case you’ve never used before) you don’t know that and it is very stressful for those of us who love our bikes (and if you’re on this forum, you probably do!).
I looked into shipping and always found it logistically challenging. Never ended up doing it for that reason
My sister did TBT for a race we did together (because I had my case already, I flew with mine). Convenience cannot be beaten, but you pay a premium for it and not having the bike for 10 days before the race was not ideal, but can be overcome.
Option 4 - rent a bike. Just make sure you make sure everything is properly tightened (i.e. so the seat doesn’t slip down)
On TBT - they are great but limited locations
Checked luggage - airlines do break bikes (my experience - never do that again, highest level of airline status and they did nothing as I couldn’t prove they broke it)
Self ship - I bought a disc wheel years ago and it got damaged in transit. (detailed pictures on both ends and they said it wasn’t their fault after weeks of dealing with them - so with that, I would not ship my bike)