Comments on: Traveling with Your Bicycle – Everything you Need to Know

By: Michael Coo

Michael Coo — Sun, 20 Apr 2025 13:55:42 +0000

In reply to Shannon Ragland. The bikes will be boxed on the evening of the 3rd in Syracuse.

By: Shannon Ragland

Shannon Ragland — Sat, 19 Apr 2025 02:24:36 +0000

Hello,

I’m helping some riders on the Road of Empires Tour return bikes from Syracuse Italy to Catania Italy for their return flights. The tour ends May 3, 2025. How soon thereafter will shipping boxes be available to pack the bikes for the Catania airport? Will the boxes be provided in Syracuse or Catania?

Thank you for your help with this logistical question

By: Chieh Peng

Chieh Peng — Fri, 14 Jun 2024 03:39:44 +0000

In reply to Shanny Hill. Awesome, thank you

By: Shanny Hill

Shanny Hill — Thu, 13 Jun 2024 21:15:00 +0000

In reply to Chieh Peng.

we always make sure our participants have a cardboard bike box at the end of the tour – so that’s no problem if you didn’t arrive with one

By: Chieh Peng

Chieh Peng — Thu, 13 Jun 2024 14:09:30 +0000

Hi, I am planning to do some bike touring self-support prior to join a TDA tour, so I won’t have a bike box. Will I be able to find a bike box at end of tour to fly out?

By: Michael Coo

Michael Coo — Thu, 19 Aug 2021 17:12:57 +0000

In reply to Andy. Hi Andy, For a number of logistical reasons, we do not allow bike cases on our support vehicles. Our riders bring their bikes in the standard cardboard bike boxes and we help them set up their bikes at the start. At the finish we provide a cardboard bike box and help them prepare their bike for the return trip.

By: Andy

Andy — Thu, 19 Aug 2021 03:46:09 +0000

I’m curious – my bike has S&S couplers. I use a soft ‘suitcase’ which the bike fits into and is the largest checkable size. Does tda haul this around as my luggage on a trip? I would put everything inside the suitcase after the bike is reassembled. It’s 62 inches total w/ all three dimensions.

By: Eva Hoekstra

Eva Hoekstra — Fri, 04 Jun 2021 13:16:33 +0000

In reply to Jan Snow. Hi Jan, that sounds like a bit of a headache! Fortunately on our tours we do all the organizing for the riders and have the bike boxes ready for them when the tour is complete. One less thing for our riders to have to worry about.

By: Jan Snow

Jan Snow — Thu, 03 Jun 2021 22:48:24 +0000

Finding a bike box is not always easy! We biked across France and when it was time to start looking for 4 cardboard boxes it proved to be difficult!After calling ahead to bike shops in Aix with no luck we started looking in Provence (we were flying out from Marseilles 5 days later, Aix being our last bike destination and packing point) and ended up going to every bike shop in Bedouin, Malaucene, Beaumes-de-Venise. We ended up with 6 boxes, 2 fit the smaller bikes and the remaining four were cut and fit to make 2 boxes for the large bikes. From Aix we had to rent a vehicle to go back to Beaumes-de-Venise to get the boxes because we couldn’t carry them on our bikes to Aix!!!! Could we have sent the original bike bikes from St Malo to Aix to be there when we arrived? No, the post office will hold items for a certain period of time which we were well over. Needless to say, it caused some anxiety and stress but part of the adventure. Glad we didn’t just assume we would find boxes in Aix!

By: Shanny Hill

Shanny Hill — Fri, 02 Oct 2020 16:39:01 +0000

In reply to Richard Morneau. great! glad to hear that

By: Richard Morneau

Richard Morneau — Fri, 02 Oct 2020 14:35:32 +0000

I find Shanny that you provided here an excellent article. My spouse and I have travelled quite a lot over the last 25 years using only cardboard boxes for our bikes, and by incorporating lots of the points you put forward, we never experienced any damages.

By: Shanny Hill

Shanny Hill — Fri, 02 Oct 2020 13:31:11 +0000

In reply to Martin Forry. Hi Martin, the cardboard box containing your bike will be checked in as part of your checked bags and meet you at your final destination in most cases (just like your bags, it should be tagged to be checked through all your connecting flights). In some cases , when connecting to regional/domestic flights after arriving internationally, you would have to claim your bags (and bike box) and recheck it. Hope that helps.

By: Martin Forry

Martin Forry — Thu, 01 Oct 2020 08:53:27 +0000

In reply to Michael Himes. What did you do about a bike box at every flight? Did you send it ahead?

By: Shanny Hill

Shanny Hill — Wed, 30 Sep 2020 20:04:24 +0000

In reply to Chris Heywood.

Good idea Chris though I have carried the tape in my carry-on luggage without incident, but it would be better to just pop it into the box as you suggested.

Yes, we do recommend cardboard boxes for transporting. On our expeditions we wouldn’t have space to carry bike cases for a group of 10 – 40 people. Cardboard is a reliable system and has worked well for us for almost 2 decades.

Glad you enjoyed the article.

By: Shanny Hill

Shanny Hill — Wed, 30 Sep 2020 20:00:50 +0000

In reply to Michael Himes. Thanks Michael, and good job avoiding the higher bike fees of some airlines.

By: Chris Heywood

Chris Heywood — Wed, 30 Sep 2020 14:47:12 +0000

Good article – but one comment; if you take packing tape with you to reseal the cardboard box you have your bike in (it didn’t jump out at me that you must use a cardboard box with TDA tours, so maybe that could be made clearer) be careful then if you take the remaining tape with your carry on luggage – it can be seen as a potential ‘weapon’ on the flight! I usually pop the remaining tape back into the box after resealing through one of the hand-hold openings.
I’ve flown extensively & had a couple of damage issues – nothing to stop my trip thankfully!

By: Michael Himes

Michael Himes — Tue, 29 Sep 2020 21:09:31 +0000

I cycled 57000km around the world. Took 13 flights over three years. Only paid a nominal 50 USD charge twice, others were all free. One damaged rear wheel (Cathay Pacific from Europe to Hong Kong) needed replacing, but all others no damage. It’s really quite easy. Good article.