While relaxing in the departure lounge of the Brisbane international airport, content once again to have beaten the excess baggage boogeyman I realized that traveling with a bike is real art. The airlines are tough with their baggage allowances and now they are becoming more vigilant at enforcing said allowance, so we have to get smarter with our packing. The old trick of strategically placing the bike on the scales is not as reliable as it used to be and I recall my bike magically gained 3kg at one thwarted check-in when I was asked to “please step away from the scales”. So how do we make the pile of accumulated clothing, nutrition and bike bits into neutral mass so we can be assured our ticket is as economical as first believed?
The first step is easy, do the research and check the sporting equipment allowances of the airline. These days most airlines allow you to check in 20kg in many instances this includes your bike. There are some sporting equipment friendly airlines like Singapore Air that have some leniencies when you are traveling with a bike. When you do the maths excess can add hundreds to your ‘cheap’ airfare so take the time to check your baggage weight allowance.
The second is all about the bike and making it 15kg or less once packed. The most crucial factor is the bike bag, wheels and internal scaffolding add to your total weight and we all have bike insurance for a reason. I love the Ground Effect bags and my SCOTT 29er travels comfortably inside their ‘bodybag’: front wheel off, bars off, pedals off, seat out and frame completely cocooned is some nice cylindrical compressed foam type stuff with bubble wrap for good measure… Today, my bike in bag weighed 14-15kg.
All this, within the regular baggage limits. Not a problem, when you know how. Photo: Naomi Hansen
This means we have 5kg more we can check in and between 7kg and 10kg carry on depending on the airline. Next we will focus on the 5kg to be checked in, I like to dedicate this to bike bits and nutrition. Into this bag I pack nutrition (powders, gels, bars) as sometimes the radiograph and customs guys freak at the liquid and gel allowance and the last thing you need is to have hundreds of dollars worth of nutrition confiscated. Into this bag also goes shoes and pedals, chamois cream and bike bits (multi tool, pump, lube, etc. ). At a pinch shoes and pedals can be included in your carry on cleverly disguised in a ‘duty free shopping’ bag.
So now to carry on and it is very important to maximize your carry on allowance, the CamelBak Vista 32 is perfect as packed it weighs 7-10kg and is dimensionally correct (as recently road tested domestically with Jetstar and internationally with Singapore Air). This bag is part of the Subaru-MarathonMTB.com Team kit out, and is proving to be endlessly versatile. Carry on is for clothes and toiletries, that is all and what you can’t fit in carry on you can buy when you get there!
The helmet is carried on in a helmet pod with glasses stashed on the inside for protection.
So just like that you have retained the economic nature of your economy ticket, packed everything you need for an 8 day bike race in South Africa and left yourself open to purchase new stuff knowing that the 5kg allocated to nutrition will not be making the return journey.