Couplers and stuff will cost you $1500 minimum on top of everything else bike related.
Cable brake AXS bike? And you know how to maintain AXS electronics? There’s your hotspot.
If not, mech shifters and brakes are pretty ok but you’ll have to deal with cable breakers and a mess of wires when you pack it.
650b and DT Swiss hubs (with a removable cassette body) would be awesome because they would clearly fit in the 26” box.
I’ve only traveled a few times with the bike- not enough to justify the cost lol - but it also means that the bike can get smaller than a normal frame and included in trips when car space is limited.
Doing it again ~8years after owning one I would take cues from rinko as well as classic s&s styles. Very interested in the Rob English style but $4k frameset is steep for a travel frame.
Soft sided case and a cardboard box over the s&s box for sure.
Whatever shift group and hydro hose/full housing brake mount.
TA rear with a TA “sleeve” for packing
If you’re building new with a fb: use one of the paragon Santana couplers and a ritchey style seat tube sleeve. Probably the lightest weight combo and you get to use 2x Richard Sachs seat bolts.
Yeah this is the rub. It makes absolutely zero dollar sense to buy such a thing for me, but the desire to have a travel bike that’s “just for me” and folds up all teeny-tiny is irrationally strong.
I should just eat the baggage fees and travel with a bike that I’ve got…
But if you’re a very special unique snowflake and can’t get your saddlebars in the right spot on rentals or if u jes want to flex on your haters like me then get a custom one
I have and have travelled with a Ritchey breakaway road. I have it set up 1x because I haven’t been able to afford robo for it. I had a set of 32 hole dynamo wheels built for it, but the problem is they don’t lay flat enough in the case, so I’ve never actually used the soft case it came with. Keys ATMO
1x or robo for front derailer
Lower spoke count wheels or a travel-able rear hub as Mig says (Ritchey makes one, but only in a set)
The compact-est bars you can tolerate. Width is a non-issue, it’s the drop/reach that makes life hard.
I think TSA is much less determined to get into soft cases. So far I’ve only used hard cases, and while no disasters, they are more challenging for them to not screw up when they put it back together
The black butterfly latch s&s case is floppy af and when some dipshit tsa jerk gets in there everything will fall out or get pinched between the sides. That fucking thing is $500 and it’s absolute crap. Thank you @Straws for the soft side case from years back
I’ve travelled pretty extensively with a non-couplered bike and find it to be totally fine. Airlines are largely doing away with bike fees and having a big bike bag means you can pack quite a bit of other stuff in there (have packed a bike and a week of bike-camping gear in my EVOC and only went a little over weight). Also, less assembly/disassembly to deal with.
@Crustradamus will tell you to just find a cardboard box when you’re going to fly someplace and that’s probably totally fine too, especially if you’re doing a point-to-point trip (as long as there are bike shops at both points).
HOWEVER, a big giant bike bag is, in fact, big and giant and can sometimes be unwieldy to roll around with. If you’re using a car at any point, it’ll need to be one with a big trunk or you need to be okay with strapping it to the roof. Also, people in airports WILL talk to you about your giant bike bag.
Most of this has already been covered (low spoke count wheels, TSA will fuck your packing job, 1x / brakeless fixies / wireless mechs etc are easier)
I’ve flown to/from and inside the US with an S&S hard case and soft case and an airline huge box. Twice the domestic flights lost my bike, but it showed up in a day. A huge box purchased at the desk at the end of a tour is amazing, seat down, front wheel off, bars sideways, pad it with panniers, done.
Have also flown to/from Japan with the same S&S cases once and shipping bike boxes once.
Lugging a bike box 2km at 11pm sucks, an S&S case can be wheeled at least. takkyubin generally won’t take bikes, but will take an S&S case if you play dumb. Shipping boxes won’t fit in most Japanese taxis, good luck finding the one minivan at 1130pm at a small city bus depot.
non S&S frames in boxes allow easy stuffing with racks/fenders/panniers, you can’t put that much extra stuff in an S&S case so you need another box/bag. Discs means removing rotors (6 bolt needs a torx bit/key, but a cassette lockring tool that fits the S&S-pedal spanner would work on centrelock) and hydro lines (unless you have fancy no leak splitters or Hayes CX cable).
I think if I fly a bike again it’s going to either be my Bike Friday tikit in a Samsonite, or a shipping box that also has a skateboard/dolly attached/packed inside it for schlepping.
Everyone (me included) thinks they’ll fly it more than they actually do. If the frame is used and you’re not paying the full upcharge for couplers and case, it can be a nice to have.
(Edit: I bought an S&S SS frame with hard case used, and an S&S CX frame with soft case used. Plus paid the upcharge for sup’s v1 elephant coffee grinder)
The nice thing about a cardboard box is that you can throw it out at the airport and then fit your bike into just about any vehicle. Though I feel like I’ve most often gotten on a train with my luggage and not into a car.
Has anyone used the Muck Off inner tube sealant? I just used up the last of my finish line stuff which has preformed admirably for years. Maybe I’ll just get more of that.
not sure if it was just the batch I got or what, but their sealant was some of the worst I’ve tried. i appreciated the color and it smelled really nice… but I personally had a lot of issues with it not sealing tiny punctures on tires that normally seal up pretty well
- but it also means that the bike can get smaller than a normal frame and included in trips when car space is limited.
