Tech Briefing: Violet Hubs, Kids' Components, 87 Gram Tubes, & More - November 2020

 Do they come with Dale from king of the hill to unload your bike?

 And when you get back from your biking holiday you can hoist your bike on to you ceiling with your $45 piece of rope.

 Last time I flew with a bike it sat by the plane in the rain for half an hour on top of the luggage truck then got deliberately dropped/thrown 3 meters onto the tarmac. I watched all this unfold from departures at Munich airport. Bag destroyed and bike damaged, had it all on video and Easyjet still passed me round countless people including demanding a full engineers report on the bike damage.

Free bike shop boxes and double packing since then and avoiding sleasyjet if at all possible.

 @Riggbeck: Had a similar experience with EJ, we were sat in our seats watching some angry swiss man walking back and forth over our bikes and then one fell off the top of the conveyor. Fortunately no damage, though half the plane were riders and everyone was kicking off.

 At the shop I worked in we charged like $20 for a regular cardboard bike box, I felt like such an a*shole every time I sold one.

 @Riggbeck: I saw mine in the trailer laying flat under all the rest of luggage when the box had 'keep vertical' and 'fragile' labels all over...
Unfortunate, but in the end of the day depends not so much in the airline, but how whoever handles the bike feels that day.
How did your story end up?

 Wait, a normal cardboard bike box can't be reused several times? I guess I've been doing it wrong for years. I mean, an actually sturdy plywood crate the size of a bike box would cost way less to make. Would be heavy tho.

 Airlines will always load a big box or crate laying flat. Also never put fragile stickers on anything. Many airlines won't cover damage on stuff labeled fragile. If you're worried about moisture on your bike in its box, use plastic wrap.

 @iiman: actually it hasn't ended yet. They admitted liability straight away then demanded endless amounts of supporting evidence like photos and specifications. Not only once either, after the airport documented it, they had one department for the bag then transferred it all to another for the bike, each time I had to fill in and send all the documentation again. Months of being pushed back and hours of form filling, printed and online. Shocking customer service.

Clearly it was the Munich baggage handlers fault, I had a bad feeling when I saw it on the trucks roof, thats when I got my phone out and recorded them loading the flight. I thought it would fall off while driving to the belt, not get deliberately chucked!

 @HollyBoni: My LBS charges a packet of biscuits

 @Riggbeck:

Had a pretty decent experience with an airline...shocking I know...

Flew from Denver to Melbourne once. Airline went on strike once we got to L.A. for the final leg. Pandemonium ensured and I was told I would be reimbursed the difference if I could find any other way to my destination. So 2 business class tickets via Soul and $14K on my credit card later we boarded and made it to Australia. Bike got lost. Because I was a business traveller there were literally no questions asked and a check for a new bike and rental fee while in Australia was waiting for me at home.

It took 3 months to get my $11,500 Reimbursement check. But somehow as the exchange rate changed I managed to get the full $14k reimbursed (and then some) as I was in Australia at the time.

 @HollyBoni: I walked into a shop asking for a box and they tried to charge me $10...I laughed, said "man, what a racket, getting people to pay for your trash" and walked 15 minutes to a shop that gave me one for free.

 @Riggbeck: terrifying

 And everybody be aware that British Airways does NOT accept cardboard boxes.

 @kcy4130: good luck importing non certified wood into certain countries like canada

 @SleepingAwake: They did for me last summer?

 @SleepingAwake: It depends on what nation you're coming from/going too. Realistically a plywood crate would be impractical, pretty heavy to lug around an airport and could be a pain to store at your destination.

 The way to go if anyone is so inclined is to make a box out of coroplast. Get some foam and cut it to match in places to bulk it up so there isnt any load put on the bike. Light and strong.

 @SleepingAwake: first news of that and nothing mentioned in their policies. Again that might depend on state of costipation of the one in the counter and her interpretation of what's a specific bike box.

@Afterschoolsports: there's websites that sell hardware and panels for custom made heavy duty boxing for instruments/delicate equipment. That plus coropoast panels would make a nice box

 @iiman: bang on. The cases for my big mapping survey drone plane is made from corflute, epp, and penn elcom hardware.

Two of them combined are about the size of a bike box and weigh about 12kg total. They have a lot more foam than a bike box would have.

They weigh about 1/5th of the equivalent aluminium composite cases. They have survived many transcontinental flights.

 @iiman: it was a couple years back and i don't know if it is maybe an airport specific thing but it didn't sound like that when i called them 24h before my flight to reserve my spot. The lady told me yeah no problem then gave me some additional info and threw that "no cardboard" in at the end. Ended up buying an evoc bag and repackaging everything...

 Extra soft in the middle for people who refuse to HTFU.

 I think it's the higher back, you don't really ever have to get out of the saddle on climbs so they have a higher back to make the steep climbs more comfortable

 Some ppl carry spare tubes