Wheels on a Plane

This topic has 14 replies, 11 voices, and was last updated 11 years, 9 months ago by hozn.

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July 30, 2013 at 12:48 pm #976930

Tim Kelley
Participant

Are there Zipps in the Zipp bag?

July 30, 2013 at 12:52 pm #976931

TwoWheelsDC
Participant

@JimF22003 59486 wrote:

I have an upcoming plane trip, and I was planning to take along a set of wheels as baggage. I bought the Zipp bag for the flight:

[IMG]https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcR1NP60oTz4lJ9ClVt6oQ8Iec6jcAxRqp9ERFkJCZe3pASTU9-o[/IMG]

Now I’m getting a little nervous about handing these over to the baggage people. They seem like maybe they are more designed for carrying wheels to a ride in a car or something. They are supported internally but they wouldn’t hold up to being on the bottom of a pile of other heavy luggage.

Anybody else have experience taking wheels on a plane like this?

FWIW, I saw quite a few people with these at the airport in Nice, but they all appeared to be using them as carry-ons rather than checking them.

July 30, 2013 at 2:07 pm #976954

krazygl00
Participant

@JimF22003 59486 wrote:

I have an upcoming plane trip, and I was planning to take along a set of wheels as baggage. I bought the Zipp bag for the flight:

Now I’m getting a little nervous about handing these over to the baggage people. They seem like maybe they are more designed for carrying wheels to a ride in a car or something. They are supported internally but they wouldn’t hold up to being on the bottom of a pile of other heavy luggage.

Anybody else have experience taking wheels on a plane like this?

Definitely don’t hand those over to baggage. Your intuition is correct. Get a cardboard box at a bike shop that already-built wheels were shipped in and use that. Pro tip: use strong cardboard tubing cut to length and placed in-between the spokes as “pillars” to reinforce the box (bike shop may have those too). This may preclude using the wheel bags inside the box, so you’ll have to wrap them in bubble wrap. But keep the wheel bags. If you ever pack a bike in a travel/shipping box they are very useful.

July 30, 2013 at 2:22 pm #976963

baiskeli
Participant

I’m sick of these mothaf***ing wheels on this mothaf***ing plane.

July 30, 2013 at 2:30 pm #976967

creadinger
Participant

@baiskeli 59523 wrote:

I’m sick of these mothaf***ing wheels on this mothaf***ing plane.

Flight of the Conchords?

July 30, 2013 at 2:43 pm #976970

NicDiesel
Participant

@creadinger 59527 wrote:

Flight of the Conchords?

Uh, no.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]3380[/ATTACH]

July 30, 2013 at 6:40 pm #977022

baiskeli
Participant

Weird, I googled “flight of the conchords snakes on a plane” and found this little interview tidbit:

Have you seen Snakes on a Plane?

Jemaine: Not yet. Hopefully I’ll see it on a plane.

Brett: I don’t think they play that on planes.

Jemaine: Snakes on a Plane on a plane.

Brett: I saw it and it was terrifying. I went with a friend who has a phobia of snakes. When there were snakes on the screen, he couldn’t look at it, which is ninety-eight percent of the film.

Jemaine: Where’s he from?

Brett: England.

Jemaine: How did he develop a fear of snakes in England?

http://gothamist.com/2006/09/12/bret_mckenzie_a.php

July 30, 2013 at 6:49 pm #977026

JimF22003
Participant

The plan is to have Mavic wheels on the way out, and Zipp wheels on the way back. Not sure that will affect how they’re handled though

I don’t think I would want to put this thing in as carryon. It’s huge.

I still have the original shipping boxes for my zipp wheels. I guess maybe I’ll just ship them separately from my flight via FedEx. I guess I could bring the boxes on the plane and check them as luggage.

I don’t fly very often, and all this stuff makes me nervous

July 30, 2013 at 7:12 pm #977032

ShawnoftheDread
Participant

@JimF22003 59587 wrote:

The plan is to have Mavic wheels on the way out, and Zipp wheels on the way back.
(

Now that’s a vacation!

July 30, 2013 at 9:11 pm #977055

mello yello
Participant

You could carry on, and the gate-check the wheel bag. On a full flight you’d have to. I do believe the gate checked baggage goes on last and comes off first. Most times the gate checked stuff is brought up to the walkway before you ever get to the terminal, although I’ve had them send it to baggage claim once. The other options is a hard-sided case like the one I saw at Community Forklift the other day. [ATTACH=CONFIG]3386[/ATTACH]

Good luck!

July 31, 2013 at 8:14 am #977079

JimF22003
Participant

Thanks for the advice. Somebody at Freshbikes also suggested bringing the wheel bag as carryon and having them check it like they do for baby strollers. Hadn’t really considered that.

I’ve decided just to put the wheels in the shipping boxes that I have here and Fedex them ahead, and then I’ll swap the wheels and ship them back when I get there. It will end up costing me too much money, but I don’t want to deal with the hassle at the airport.

July 31, 2013 at 3:02 pm #977099

JimF22003
Participant

OK, it was only $25 to ship FedEx ground. Probably cheaper than an extra checked bag. Assuming the box arrives safely, this should work fine.

Assuming.

August 3, 2013 at 8:32 pm #977459

Mark Blacknell
Participant

Glad this worked out. Yes, insane to check Zipps in a softsided bag.

For future reference, I recommend bikeflights.com. And if you live in Arlington, I recommend the dumpster behind FB for bike and wheel boxes on demand. I’ve used both, frequently.

August 3, 2013 at 11:54 pm #977463

hozn
Participant

@Mark Blacknell 59966 wrote:

For future reference, I recommend bikeflights.com. And if you live in Arlington, I recommend the dumpster behind FB for bike and wheel boxes on demand. I’ve used both, frequently.

This is a great tip. Seems obvious now, but I never thought about dumpster diving for wheel boxes. One less reason not to eBay my spare wheels. …Then when I need them again, I will have no choice but to build a new set!
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