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Countries Routing Bike Travel

Your bike needs to travel, but how?
Unlike the young man I met near Besancon that was going to throw away his bike at the coast, we intend to keep our bikes. This creates a problem. Where do you keep that big bike crate? Different airlines will charge various amounts for the privilege of transporting your bike. I use the Austin airport, and have seen some people get charged, others not, all on the same airline. Check before you buy that discount fare, as the sticker shock can be over $100 each leg.

My first overseas trip, I flew into Munich, out of Wien.
I used a cardboard box for the bike, which was thrown away at the destination train station, and rode away. At the end of the trip, I had arranged with a bike shop in Wien to get a couple of empty boxes. Bike made it without a scratch.

On my next trip, I found a more permanent solution in a hard case found on Craigslist. The problem with the case: what do you do with it when you are riding?
Best solution is to contact the hotel you will use on your first and last night. They will usually keep the box for you. This ties you to a city that has good train connections. This is easy to do in Europe, tough in the US.

A more recent addition to my stable is a custom Bike Friday. This solves various issues. Airlines see the travel case as a suitcase and do not charge extra for it. Since you pull the case with you as a trailer when you ride, flying into one city and out of another is simple. I have put the bike together on the train before. This is my preferred bike to tour with when air travel is involved.

You get a lot of ‘respect’ when climbing the big mountains, or riding the little towns while touring.