Bike Bags

cunnins4

I've to take the bike up to galway in a few weeks on a bus so I reckon i'll need a bike bag. I know wheelworx rent cases for 50quid, but i was looking at this with my loyalty card i can get it for €65.

Would the bike get wrecked under a bus in that? Since buying my road bike i've felt like I need to swipe my credit card just to ride it because i've spent so much on gear this summer! I suppose this would be the last thing i'll need to get and after that I won't need to buy anything major for a while. I don't wanna spend a lot, so if anyone has any recommendations etc... i'd be much obliged!

Cheers.

ba

you could wrap it like a breakfast roll with 'cling film'. dismantle your bike just like in the image, then wrap it like crazy making sure to keep the 'film' tight.

i did this to put my bike on a plane, works grand. only costs a few euro.

cunnins4

ba wrote:

you could wrap it like a breakfast roll with 'cling film'. dismantle your bike just like in the image, then wrap it like crazy making sure to keep the 'film' tight.

i did this to put my bike on a plane, works grand. only costs a few euro.

didn't think of that...good idea.

I'll be traveling to a fair few triathlons next year, so i'd probably need something anyways, so would the bag still be a good investment or should i just keep brekkie rolling it!!!?

ba

my patented brekkie rolling takes ages to do. you gotta wrap the bike many times for the strength of cling film to be beneficial. 1/2 hour effort.

given ur circumstances, you should get the bag.

blorg

Could you not get the train? You can put the bike in the guard's van, completely upright (I hang mine from the hooks with cable ties.) I do Dublin-Cork regularly and have never had a problem. I've also taken trains outside Ireland.

By contrast I have had more than one bike ruined under a bus. The horizontal position is not good for the bike at all, things get dumped on top of it and it gets shunted around.

Note on that bag you link to: "Note that bags don't provide much protection for airline use" - and my experience with buses is that they are _far worse_ than airlines in general, certainly if my damage record is anything to go by ;-)

cunnins4

I'd prefer to take the train, but unfortunately the tickets're so god damn expensive! €52 return:eek: The bus is only €15! But, if my bike's gonna get knackered on the bus and I can take it on the train no bother, maybe i'll just go with that then! Really don't want to damage the bike at all. I'll phone Iarnrod Eireann tomorrow just to ensure I can.

I never get the train - where's the guard's van? do many people do that?

the only other benefit of the bus is that it goes straight to loughrea-the train only goes to galway, so i'll still have to get a bus/taxi to loughrea so i'm still unsure of what to do!!! I could always ask the driver on the bus to keep the bike upright? I'm sure there'll be a few other competitors heading down that day.

Urrhhh, should've just stayed local. I've paid for the B'n'B already, so I have to go down!!!!

clem

when i travel abroad with the bike i get a cardboard box from the local bike shop and pad it up with newspaper. i'm sure rob in wheelworx would give you a box if you asked.

Quigs Snr

I just keep thinking back to the guy who had his pinarello smashed to bits in a cardboard bike box when flying out to last years etape. Was on same flight as my bike which was in a bike case. Remember thinking at the time that icase was the best money I ever spent !

You know yourself, if you are transporting something fragile in a non-hard shell case with padding you are taking more of a risk. Some/most people get away with it, but I am not a gambler. Your call ! 50 bucks is quite steep for a rental though, maybe an investment in a case if you are going to be travelling a bit might be worth it in the end (or get a car and transport it safely on the back seat like I do !)

ashj

I've chucked my bike into coaches and it does take a bit of a beating. It won't sit upright in the luggage compartment, so you can rule out that idea! They also sometimes will charge you 10euro for carriage... If you're gonna be doing this often then maybe a box would be good - they sound like the real deal... go for it, esp if yours is a fancy bike.
Also, ask everyone how they're getting down and see if you can scab a lift!
Good luck in your race

blorg

From a purely financial point of view I would spend the money on the train. You can take bikes on the intercity services although it's not cheap (extra €8 each way.) The guard's van is right behind the engine and you can put your bike in very quickly and neatly (note I would suggest also sticking in a fork spacer if you have to take off the wheel):



Loughrea is a bit of a problem though. Maybe you would have more of a chance of a lift from Galway?

As ashj says, it's not possible to have the bike upright in a bus, and I don't see that bag as providing much worthwhile protection at all. For bus use ideally you want something like this which is quite expensive.

Having said that if your bike isn't carbon you could risk it. Typical things I have had with the bus were buckled wheels, bent chainrings, bent derailleurs, I never had frame damage. Wrap the derailleurs in bubble wrap at least.

If you do get the bus try to get the bike in a different compartment from the rest of the luggage, I've had success with this before.

nochain

gotta agree with quigs here.bike box is scandalous money considering it only an oversized suitcase.however you cant beat the peace of mind and it will be an investment for years to come

Quigs Snr

Aye, they are a pain in the backside to store when not in use though ! Mine is taking up half my garage at the minute. I have one of the cyclesuperstore ones, cost 275, but when I saw that poor sods 3 grand frame in several pieces I was thinking it was very, very cheap indeed.

Depends if you have an aluminium frame too I guess. You might take a chance with one of those.

Cianos

Would it work just putting the bike in a bag and then shoving loads of bubble wrap into the bag to fill the empty spaces, as well as wrapping around the more fragile parts?

You may be able to find a bike/box cheap on ebay?

Bricriu

Bringing your bike on Iarnród Éireann's trains is not as straightforward as some people suggest. Some trains don't have a guard-van. I was caught out coming from Galway recently. I checked with the station the day before travelling, as IÉ recommend and was told that all the trains the following day would carry a bike exccept the 9.15 a.m. one. I went for the 13.05 train and when I went to have my ticket checked I was told there was no guard-van on that train. No apology. I just had to wait for the next one in 2 hours time.

I also hear that bikes won't be carried on any of the new trains being gradually introduced. I don't know how true that is but if it is true, it makes a joke of the state's efforts to move us out of our cars, and of the recent promotion of Ireland in the Tour of Ireland Bicycle Race, and the moaning of the tourist industry about cycle tourists numbers being drastically down over the last several years (I suggest they try to cycle on Irish country roads and see how they like it).